eugkim

I was having a pretty good ride yesterday when, suddenly, the sky turned black. Usually, I wouldn't mind getting caught in rain, but there was lightning as bad as I've seen here. I took the quickest way home, but endured the worst of the storm. I have to say that I was as worried as I've ever been, as sheet lightning was all around. I stopped for a couple minutes to shield myself under a church doorway during part of it, then resumed when I thought the lightning passed. Unfortunately, it started again anyway.

Anyone every get caught like this? I'm sure the smart thing to do is to ride it out under cover.

roadwarrior

Where?

Getting into a structure is best. Or calling for the "team car" to come and get you...

mustang1

was you on a carbon bike?.. they're plastic dont ya know.

jupiter422

Can you still hear? If so, there was not lightning all around. If lightning strikes within 1000 feet of you in the open, your ears will ring for a couple of days and you will have very little dynamic range.

The odds of being struck by lightning are so minute that the amount of time removed from your life expectancy due to the stress of worrying about it is probably more important.

GuitarWizard

Really?

I've had lightning strike within 200 feet when I was outside and could hear fine afterwards.

The_Guru

Sheet lightning is fine, and not dangerous. Watch out for strong winds if there's a low pressure system though. It's fork lightning you gotta watch out for - more so if you're the only elevated thing in the savannah for a good few miles, but chances (by statistics) are that you're still reasonably safe.

...

May not wanna fly that kite+key though.

swieton

Check out https://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlightning.html

I wouldn't worry about lightening. I'd worry about visibility to drivers and the wind, and depending on the weather hypothermia. If those aren't a concern, ride all you'd like and don't let the weather dictate your ride.

jupiter422

You're pretty lucky... and not just to be hearing...

ncherry

I do long rides and I've been caught out in many storms. So far the most I've endured is rain (the lightening wasn't local). What I do worry about is hail, wind and visibility. Hail is obvious, it can hurt you. Wind is obvious, it can knock you around and with the recent weather I'd worry about tornadoes. Visibility is obvious, if it's raining hard enough drivers can't see you. And many are willing to take that chance.

PunkMartyr

lol I saw the thread title was going to ask if you made your peace with god

scattered73

Mothers day I rode through a nasty storm at about 4 am, though I stopped for a bit when I couldn't see few feet in front of me even with my light on the highest setting. Don't worry to much about lighting in the city there are a lot of taller things for it to hit first.

Wested

I got caught in a nasty storm a few days back. Knocked out power in my area for a day or so. Best part is that I was walking the bike home with a flat when I got caught.

I was carrying the bike and sprinting up my driveway when a tree fell down behind me and squashed some poor sap's Mercedes.

dark13star

Carbon fiber is a form of graphite and it conducts electricity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite

The ears ringing only happens sometimes. I spend a lot of time above treeline in the backcountry of Colorado and have had some really close calls with lightning. It is about the most scary thing imaginable when you are crouching on your thermarest pad in the biggest indentation you can find and you are still fully exposed. The noise and the display as it strikes the mountain are overwhelming and it really does make your hair stand up.

The odds of getting struck by lighting are extremely low in aggregate, but can become quite high in context. For backcountry hikers and climbers, they are actually up there (for golfers in FL as well ;-).

wants185s

I was caught in a severe thunderstorm a few years ago on a very hot day. I was about 3 miles from home. The sky had taken on a dark green color, rain was very heavy with alot of water on the road, lightening was almost continuous all around (thunder was very loud but didn't leave any lasting effect in my ears). I had to slow down to ride safely but by the time I reached home I was completely exhilarated. I don't know if it was from the ozone in the air from the lightening, the danger of the riding condidtions or the cold refreshing rain or all of the above. I would gladly experience that again.

BikingGrad80

On a commute once I got caught in a storm with marble sized hail. My helmet got pelted good until I got to a bus shelter and waited it out.

eugkim

I guess I might have tried, but alas the door to the church was locked. I only used the awning over the front door.

eugkim

One thing that I found - Swisstop pads are the best on carbon rims, but they are incredibly ineffective when the rims are soaking wet.

merlinextraligh

This is dangerously stupid advice.

Lightning strikes kill more people than Hurricanes and Tornados. https://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/PrevGui...3/m0052833.asp

I don't think I want to ride in either of these.

Admittedly the absolute number of deaths is not terribly high. In part because most people are smart enough to seek cover when lightning is present.

It's extremely foolhardy to ride in a lightning storm. Riding a bike, you're sitting up high, typically in an exposed area. You have metal around you, and the bike doesn't provide the prtection from lightning that a car does.

When you're caught in a lightning storm you need to seek shelter, and if that's not available you need to kneel down in the lowest point available, away from trees, and away from your bike.

MONGO!

Tires are made of rubber

dark13star

True, but the distance between an aluminum rim (if that is what you ride) and the ground is small enough to allow arcing of a ground charge from a nearby strike.

Ai52487963

A 50 miler one time took me from snow to calm to windy to hail the size of BBs to rain to sun.

Chris_F

So to escape the lighting you stood under the tallest, pointiest thing you could find???

Chris_F

And after traveling through perhaps miles of atmosphere a lightning bolt is going to be scared away by a couple mm of rubber?

eugkim

Actually, the church had no steeple. More like a typical 2 story building. However, I stopped just minutes before under an abandoned gasoline station canopy, made of metal. Took about 2 seconds for me to realize that wasn't the place to be.

roadwarrior

Really, the best thing to do is to carry a 1 iron with you and hold it straight up in the air....

As Lee Trevino once said, "Even God can't hit a 1 iron."