Originally Posted by
chefisaac
Well, I left the house and I knew it was going to be warmer and windy. So I dressed in as I would for the weather and about 3 miles into my 11 mile commute, it started down pouring. I couldnt see with my glasses on so I took those off and within 2 minutes, I was soaked. The wind I can handle, the cold isnt too bad yet the rain... well it was fun!
I do have a few questions:
1- I use clear safety glasses and I couldnt see when I was riding. Is that typical?
2- The glasses also fogged up... is that typical too? (problem solved taking them off but it was annoying to have water in my eyes)
3- Do you all get soaked in the rain when riding or does it come down to the clothes still? Or do you just live with the fact that you will be soaked?
4- Do you go home in wet or damp clothes? Do you bring another pair or riding clothes with you? Normally I would think riding in the same clothes would be ok going home but I am a little nervous for today. The winds will be 40 mph at cold... down to the 30's.
5- Anyone trying to dry their clothes at work? Since I would in a kitchen, I attempted to dry my gloves off in the stove at a real low temp. Worked ok. I just hung up the rest.
Any tips, suggestiones, tricks of the trade?
Thanks!
Not a regular commuter but I've had my share of soakings on the bike.
I wear polarised sunglasses when riding during the day. When it rains hard they tend to get water on them which makes them harder to see through. When it's humid and I'm working hard they steam up very soon after I stop. Put the two together and I might as well be cycling with my eyes closed.
If I'm expecting rain I'll wear a waterproof, which has the advantage that it's also windproof. The downside is that when faced with a headwind it feels like it acts as a giant sail because the wind can't just blow through it, but when it's wet and windy it means that from my waist up I'm dry. It also means I tend to sweat more inside it
Cycling in wet clothes isn't a lot of fun. I don't use anything waterproof from the waist down, but if I were committed to cycling to and from work every day (i.e. I didn't have the option to look out of the window and decide not to ride at all) I most likely would. In the summer getting soaked isn't too much of a problem because when the sun comes out you dry off again. In the winter the combination of very wet and cold winds can be very nasty, so I'd say the waterproof is the way to go.
The time I got the wettest on the bike was a ride that ended at a friend's place. I took my shirt off in their bathroom and wrung it out into the bath. I had to put it back on because I didn't have any spare clothes with me, so I wrapped myself in a towel they lent me to dry off as best I could. When I rode home it was still raining very hard, but by then my wife (who had spent the afternoon with his wife) was around and had my waterproof cycling jacket so I didn't get any wetter on the way home.
For good measure the waterproof is hi-vis yellow, and in the rain anything that aids visibility is a good thing.