Commuting in the Rain?
 

Well recently I have been taking my bike everywhere, but I have snared a problem, we get some strong rains in texas and it makes it very hard to find the drive to go. Anyone have any tips for downpour riding? Or should I just suck it up and hope in the car and waste more money?

Elvish

Ridding int he rain is fun! All you need is good rain gear and shoe covers.

Get a shower cap and put it over your helmet (assuming its not too hot out) to keep your head dry. Those saran wrap bowl covers also work well for this: Get the mixing bowl size. Use full coverage fenders to keep the spray off of you and your bike, shoe covers and rain gear and you are good to go. Oh, and if you don't already have them, get some lights (red blinkies & white front light) so the cagers can see you.

Did I mention that the only place to park a bike on the school is with out cover? And that is no good! I may have to try and talk one of my teachers (he bikes to work a lot) to let me park it in his room.

also check with the janitor. there might be an open spot in a maintenance closet. or if you have one the auto shop classes or agriculture classes. they usually have some kind of shop space that could be negotiated for,even if you dont take those classes.

If you're talking about a real devilish downpour, I doubt if it is possible to stay dry. you will probably have to change after youreach your destination. Even then, the "dry" clothes you have in your backpack or pannier might be damp too, even if you had the foresight to put them in a plastic bag. At least cycling clothes and other exercize clothes dry pretty fast.

My biggest problem--and it can be quite dangerous--is that my glasses get so wet that I can't see. I don't know what to do about that!

Well its 2 miles to school, generally takeing me about 10 mins give or take. But my concern is that when it rains it has a tendency to pour! And then when its not raining its freakishly hot 100+ or freakishly cold 30 give or take +winds. That is very cold for someone who grew up in califorina (or hot)

I always wanted some fenders that would cover the tire on the sides aswell as the top, cause i always found that the water used to just splash out of the fender down around the bottom bracket..

Solution: use your previous prescription (assuming you got new glasses & frames) and use RainX. Works like a charm. I don't have any of those fancy schmancy lenses, so there isn't much trouble with the potential ruining of the glasses. I didn't want to use my current glasses though for fear that it may have ill effects after long periods of time. Your optical shop won't be happy that you're doing it. It worked for me though, and I can see with them, so I still use them. Rain runs off immediately and I don't fog. Also, you can wear a baseball cap under your helmet and the brim will keep you mostly dry, but I don't know how well that would work in a downpour.

If I wear "breathable" rain gear, I'll get wet in a serious cloud burst. If I wear plastic, I'll get wet from sweat. The breathable stuff is OK for light rain or drizzle, but for serious downpours, I prefer plastic, and just take it easy so as not to sweat too much. It's hard to go more than 5 miles with either system in a strong rain and not get wet. I still haven't found the ideal glove solution for winter wet riding. I use rainx and ski googles in winter and rainx and eyeglases in summer.

Where do you buy RainX?

Here's what I do when it's cold and rainy. I put on my gloves, usually fleece. Then I put my hands in plastic shopping bags (from anywhere-Giant, Target, WalMart...) Then I carefully put my rainjacket, a plastic one from Performance, on. Upon doing this, the elastic in the wrists of the jacket automatically cinches up the bags. Then I carefully open up my hands to pull a little extra bag material out so it's not too tight. Believe it or not, my hands remain dexterous but most importantly, totally dry.

auto supply store

It gets really hot and humid and rains quite a bit here, too, so I'll share my tricks. The only part of my bike I mind being wet is the seat, so I carry an extra plastic grocery bag or two to put over my seat, and then close it with a twist tie around the seatpost. I wear a yellow poncho in the winter when it rains, with a sweater underneath. In the summer, with the heat and humidity, I usually just get wet. The rain, in my opinion, feels better than sweating,(and getting just as wet,) under rain gear. I hate to tell you there's no way to keep dry in summer, but it's true. This is the confederacy.

Its not that I mind being wet, its that I mind looking like I swam to school. In a light rain I just grab a light jacket(one of my running ones) and go, but in the spring rains texas likes to have I'd be drier swiming)

Howdy from the rainiest city in the US. (That's kind of misleading since we get our showers in short bursts, rather than the day-long drizzle some places have) I actually don't mind the rain, since its cooler when it's raining, and the world just seems quieter and more natural somehow. I don't like the Sun anyway. I have some waterproof pants (waterproof shorts would be better) and put on a poncho over everything up top and just take it slow. Fenders would help immensely, but I haven't got around to that yet. Remember, being soaked with rain is much cleaner and more comfortable than being soaked with sweat!

Now, wind-driven freezing rain is another matter entirely...

While I have only had one wet ride recently I have often ridden in the rain. I just put all my stuff in a strong plastic bag inside my pannier and deal with getting wet. Its not too bad, and with a nice warm shower at work, which I take rain or not, I feel great afterwards anyway.

a

Yeah, that's a huge problem. Especially at night, when car headlights shine off the drops and get quite blinding.

Works Great! I use it for snowboarding as well. both rain-x and rain-x anti fog. You can get it here if you want it delivered to your door. lol. :)

Rain-X

A cheap alternative to Rain-X is to put a drop of dishsoap on your lenses, then rinse lightly and let them air dry. The soap leaves behind a thin film that has a similar effect.

A really cheap alternative is to spit on your lenses and smear it around a bit :)
It's not as good as soap, but you can do it on the road if you forgot to put on soap/Rain-X before leaving.

Riding in the rain is fun. Another thing I like about it is it's an easy way to clean the braking surfaces of my rims. I can just wipe them off when I reach my destination and I'm done. The fogged glasses thing I haven't quite got down yet, but I've found if I go faster the wind clears that up. :)

See my last post, #8028, over on "How was the Commute Today?" :D

Did this work for rain or for steam? I have found nothing yet that helps for rain, but I will try RainX. Currently, I wipe them with my fleece gloves while riding, but I still have to stop frequently to wipe them better with a cloth I carry for that purpose. A pain in the butt, and dangerous too!

I have no advice for glasses, but as for getting wet, my advice is this:

skin dries fast.

My habit when riding in the philadelphia area last summer was to ride in shorts, and no shirt. If you want the best chance of being fairly dry when you get where you're going, wear as little clothing as possible. For me, briefs rather than boxers. Non-baggy, not-very-long shorts made of quick-drying synthetics. For my feet, i would put on aqua-socks, though I imagine sandals could also work well. I would put on a shirt and switch shorts when I got where I was going.

For the rest of my stuff, i figured a way to bungee-cord a plastic tub to my rear rack. perfectly waterproof when held upright.

I find it works pretty well for both. You still don't have perfect visibility (especially with the spit method), but it does help. Also, I have a visor on my helmet which keeps some of the rain off my glasses.

Ditto. But I have only been in a solid rain, not a downpour. YMMV.