Originally Posted by
prathmann
But 45 years ago I couldn't bring up an animated image of the local weather radar pattern on my phone to see how fast and in which direction the storm cells were moving and if there were additional rain cells coming in behind them. Lately we've found that ability to be quite handy even on group day rides to decide if we should continue riding or hole up in a Starbucks or other convenient establishment for a while.
Even before modern tools we had the ability to make judgements about how long and hard it was going to rain. It wasn't spot on, but was decent enough to make decisions. These days I'll use radar maps to plan short rides,commuting times and errands, but when touring, I just take the weather as it comes.
Part of that is because we all used to organize rides on a "rain or shine" basis, and simply got used to it. My funniest memory of rain and organized rides was an annual century ride I organized and used to lead. It rained 7 years straight, yet the ride kept growing. One year it not only rained but got very cold, and out of almost 200 who started only a dozen or so finished. The next year even more signed up. Despite the misery of some of the rides, people kept repeating because they were afraid that one day it might be sunny and they'd miss out.