if ONLY 'like clockwork' WAS an absolute - it's something we like to say but reality - ?
NO way -

the poster is correct - they are typically 15 min (ishd) so we can wait - but wait where - NOT under trees -

Hummm - we'll just have to 'roll the dice on this one' - or get off the bike and crouch done and pray -

Fritz

Gators......

Back to op though, I've been out during that season of Florida (grandparents live in St Cloud). Though not as nasty as the ones on Storm Chasers (those guys are crazy.....:twitchy:), but I digress. Just wait it out. The best thing about them is they occur at the same time just about every day. The only good thing about it is you can plan around it. :D

I miss that predictability...

I ride all the time in storms but not the super bad ones that catch you 3 or 4 times a year, but that is do to the wind.

No, it's not safe at all, because in puts you in proximity of a high likelihood of a strike. Like the other guy said, lightning doesn't have to strike YOU to be immensely dangerous.

It's not the structure or the possibility of getting hit by lightning under the bridge that you should be concerned about. It's the flash flooding.

Absolutely untrue.

There was a thread on this a year or so ago.

Mate of mine was struck by lightning cycling home from work many years ago. Survived.

His name was Alan Crisp :)

It sounds like the prudent thing to do is plan so that you leave work after the daily storm, or plan so that you get home each day an hour before you'd expect "early" storms to hit. Definitely scope out your route for safe shelter points either way.

Whatever you do, do not wear metal pant clips. Rubber bands just don't
attract lightning like they do!

Good point dude and with 700x28c's on my new commuting bike I wonder how they will do in a two -3 inch river of rain.

Fritz

I ride out of necessity but it gives me the willies, especially when I'm on the overpasses. There are several restaurants and gas stations I can seek refuge but haven't yet. Our storms aren't as bad or frequent as the ones you guys get. I also watch the radar and plan accordingly.
National Geographic just had a lightning special last night. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a potential target because of arcing.

I'll hazard a guess that anyone able-bodied enough to ride a bike can get out from under a *footbridge* without being drowned. Come on.

I'll tangle with a foot of moving water over tornadoes and lightning any day, thanks.

You're kidding right? I wade rivers all the time and anything over mid-calf with any force behind it is difficult. Slow water - drifting along at 1 to 2 mph - can easily be waded to about chest height. Fast water , which is what we get in flash floods around here, is extremely dangerous. Some of them move with enough speed to out run cars, for example the Big Thompson flood of 1976. Another, in the early 1900, washed a train off the tracks outside of Pueblo.

This thread has provided a good amount of laughter on my end. My personal rule is to avoid riding in rain whenever possible. Would love to see a good lightning storm here, though. Maybe this summer...

I live in Tampa also, I am still in my 1st year of riding to work. Flash floods here are a non factor they just do not happen. Florida is FLAT. As for the lighting it is an issue, (I have seen a guy get hit in our parking lot at work and live but sure it shook him up) but I plan on either just waiting it out at work or at the one of the local 24/7 stores along the way.

BTW nice see another person from Tampa here.

I've been pondering this and have realized that it is a regional issue. For example, in Denver, there is a 500 (5700 feet to 5200 feet) foot drop between where I work and the Platte river about 10 miles away...and that's the flat part of Colorado. I forget that other places in the country don't have those kinds of drops.

I thought this thread was about how fast I am.