being a daily bike commuter for over 4 years now (two years going all 4 seasons) has turned me into an amateur meteorologist because i don't enjoy riding in heavy downpour/thunderstorm conditions (regular rain and drizzle are fine with the right gear). the first thing you learn when you start paying really close attention to the weather is that a forecast of rain tomorrow really only means it's going to be raining at a specific point in time for an unknown duration sometime during the next 24 hours, it doesn't mean that it going to rain solidly for the next 24 hours (at least not here in the american midwest).

getting a good weather radar app for your smart phone is key. i probably look at the weather radar 10 times a day. i'm just obsessed with knowing what's out there, what's on it's way, learning patterns of how systems develop and move through and across my area and how strong or weak they might be. i like tracking systems as they move across the great plains even days before they may get to chicago. i dig deeper into weather forecasts for hourly info to learn what precipitation chances are on an hour by hour basis and figure if the times when i'm gonna be commuting tend to work around those times. and if worse comes to worst, if i ride in the morning and a major storm pops up for the evening ride home i can either just try to wait it out a bit at work (T-storms tend to move pretty damn fast) or if the rain looks unrelenting on the radar, i can as a last resort leave the bike at work and just take the train home and do the same on the way in to work the following morning.

dig deper into the weather in your area. learn more about it. get a radar app. become familiar with the patterns of how systems move through your region. the more you learn about weather, the more you'll be able to stay dry, even on days when the TV weather guy say "well, it looks like rain tomorrow, so grab your umbrellas folks".

People: "You rode in this weather?"

Me: "I can't make it stop raining!"

I hate rain. I won't run in it. I don't like riding in it. I don't like very much about it at all. I like to annoy the field men at work who are trying to get some crops planted by saying things like "We need the rain."

I wonder if I could be hypnotized to think I liked it.

Steely - sounds like a lot of work. I look at Wunderground's wundermap and hourly forecast for a few minutes in the morning and I can usually tell what it's going to do when for the next 12 - 14 hours.

I use their site too. (Who knew, before the last presidential campaign, that Weather Underground used to be a terrorist organization?) But lately all it does is make me depressed. Well, maybe Friday will be OK.

I frequently check the weather. I have NWS from NOAA set as my homepage. I try to plan my departure times based on the hourly forecast. It lists inches of rain by the hour. I carry extra socks. I don't care about the rest of my clothes. I just can not stand wearing wet socks. The shirt usually stays dry with my jacket.

40 & rain - sucky, 70 & rain no big deal. I like NOAA, mostly cuz work lets me access it!
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/

We hit the all time highest March temp today of 83. Normal high for the day is 42! Normally I'd just be starting commuting this time of year, riding here & there around weather. Have over 600 in so far this year!

The only thing that's more fun than riding up under the awning during a hailstorm while people watch you approach is riding up during freezing rain, then having a 1/4" thick shell of ice crack off and crash to the ground when you stand up and shake your arms. I've done both. People were impressed both times, though I think I know what thought that cemented in their mind about me.

Honestly, the hail was a little irritating because I had to tip my head forward a bit more than I'd like to keep from getting hit on the face (visor not long enough), but the rain is never really an issue, I really don't even notice it. Good rain gear is very much worth it.

My water bottle froze solid a few times in the Winter of 2010 (or was it 2009?). But that was the only Winter I rode like that, then I lost the inspiration and self-discipline and chickened out on the coldest days.

NOAA was telling me 30-50% of precipitation for several hours, and it hasn't rained for a while. I checked weather.com, and it was telling me 10% chance until 8 p.m. for 40%, so I figured what the heck I'm going to leave before it gets worse. Well, I got caught in a thunderstorm. One second there's no rain and the next second bam a massive downpour. There was a bit of flooding and lots of thunder. Much of the time my bike was on the bus rack. It rained so bad that when I got home to wipe it down, there wasn't much black oil left. The cassette looked pretty clean. I'll have to lube it in the morning.

I stopped bothering carrying water when a Polar bottle full of warm water froze by the time I got halfway to work one winter.

To this day I don't carry water on my 11 mile commute until the temps get well into the 90s.

My wife loves the rain. She starts getting sad toward the end of summer because it hasn't rained in so long. She moved here when she about 6 years old. I think it must have been a survival adaptation. You're probably too old to make the same adjustment now.

+1, bad weather really make us crazy

your wife is really special

I frequently ride in below 0 weather but it's been a couple years (I think) since I've had a water bottle freeze solid. It's not unusual for the spout to freeze up bad enough though that I can't get any water out.

In spite of that, a cold water bottle is one of the more enjoyable parts of winter riding. Nothing tastes as good as water that's just a notch above freezing when you're hot and thirsty. I love standing in the elevator after I get to work and squeezing the bottle to break up the ice lining the inside then taking a big swig.

Anyway, back to the original subject. I think a lot of us start as fair weather riders and then figure out over time that riding in the rain isn't so bad for you or the bike. Since I've started commuting pretty much all the time I've found I'm not as easily bothered by "bad" weather. Could be just that I'm getting older too and I have found other things to worry about. No use getting upset about things you have no control over.

Today was the 4th straight day where rain has been predicted. Tomorrow will be the 5th. So far at least 3 of those days have been dry during typical commute times. I had to drag my kids inside from playing in the rain to eat dinner. Why do we grow out of that?

Great ride to work this morning!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7223/6...562eac36_b.jpg

so early!

Good gawd man, are you invisible?! How do you take a picture of yourself when you're invisible!?