Maelochs

Using them when you need them every three or so years? Do you have a spare tire in your car's trunk?

Personally I say, who needs fenders? But then I would probably wear a brown jersey if I were riding in rain, because it would be a jersey with a racing stripe otherwise.

Heathpack 

Lol, I forget that we used to be like this when we lived in Maine: if there wasn't snow on the ground, it was shorts weather.

BillyD

Defies logic, to me. Some would rather endure a drought than lose riding days.

I guess until there's literally nothing to bathe in its really not a problem.

RaleighSport

... be glad those of us up north are getting this much rain, it's helping the reservoirs that the south gets much of it's water from. FWIW, a lot of riders up here just go out in the rain, regular kit, regular bike and have fun. I'm more uptight about it I guess.. I have a full cycling specific rain suit and a couple of fenderized rain bikes. So let's keep praying for more rain instead, we need it!

Aubergine 

So true! When Claire and I moved to San Diego, we had to laugh at our neighbors who were pulling out their down coats for 60° weather. We definitely were still wearing t-shirts.

3alarmer 

... if you had been paying attention, you'd know that you can buy Berthoud carbon fiber fenders now. Those are worth the money even if you hardly ever use them to full potential, because carbon fiber is just worth whatever you pay for it. Ironically, most carbon fiber bikes are insanely resistant to mounting fenders, but it's well established we need these.

I hope this clarifies the issue. #rustneversleeps

3alarmer 

...bathe ??

Stravacyclist79

Only because the Dummies in charge won't build dams.

3alarmer 

.
...the relationship between dam building and increased precipitation was first scientifically linked in 1957, as is well proven in the 21st Century. It's similar in nature to "Rain follows the plow", which is also an excellent principle in life.

TrojanHorse

Hm, over priced and suitably blingy. Does the oil soaked leather mudguard attach to the carbon fiber fenders?

DrIsotope

This thread has almost reached the appropriate BF level of ridiculousness. "Ohhhh, people in California just complain, they won't even ride in the rain!! They don't know what cold is!!" Well truth be told, riding in the rain round here (SoCal) is significantly less safe than riding in the dry (or even other places wet.) We don't have an infrastructure for it. City streets will flash flood and become debris fields. We had flooding two years ago where dry creek beds got so full so fast they breached roadways and swept cars downstream (with accompanying fatalities.) One inch of rain in a day might not mean much to others, but here it means the end of the street is going to be a pile of washed away garbage cans, and Google Traffic is just going to be a tangle of angry red lines and accident icons.

The non-cyclists of Southern California (meaning the 99% of people on the road) don't know how to drive in inclement weather, because there isn't any. We've had less than 7" of rain in a full year, people. The wettest year on record here was half an inch shy of the annual average for St. Louis. An inch in a day and people start thinking it's time for an ark. I don't ride in the rain because SoCal drivers are terrifying in most cases when it's bright and sunny. In the rain all bets are off. And forget the river trails. If the smell isn't enough, the massive patches of +3" deep peanut-butter-like silt all over the trail certainly is. I choose not to ride in the rain here because I choose life.

Well, that and I own exactly zero pieces of rain-oriented cycling gear... because it doesn't rain here. Nagging a (Southern) Californian for not having rain gear or fenders is like asking a Florida guy why he doesn't have studded snow tires.

diphthong

i'll be working on my underwater clipping in skills the rest of the week.

Aubergine 

I should add, many streets in SoCal and other desert areas are designed to become large troughs for water control when it rains. That is one reason why the roads flood during storms; they are the outlet for all the water.

Coming from Seattle, it was an interesting phenomenon to see. I love riding in the rain in Seattle, but it quickly became apparent after I moved south that avoiding the roads (in a bike OR a car!) was the best practice when it poured.

RaleighSport

@DrIsotope

You'll notice the original post basically says all of California, yes that includes us northerners too. Yes you will be ribbed for complaining about desperately needed rain hindering your riding for such short times. Yes we do get jealous of how many more riding days a year you guys get.

RollCNY

After careful review, all of my California based prayers are earthquake/apocalypse related, and truth be told, not in the "spare us from" camp. If I encounter one in my prayer card catalogue that seems apropos, I will use it for the benefit of @Heathpack and @3alarmer.

allen254

California here,, Here is a river next to my house it stopped pouring maybe 20 minutes ago,, but there is no way i'm riding on a river of water,, the street gets fully flooded when it actually rains and turns into a raging river literally.. it suck because we never get rain so everything just gets flooded and muddy and slippery. i live right next to the foothills so that rain comes down from the mountains as run off and floods everything thre 5 south freeway is also flooded right now.

Riding your bike during a rain storm in california is like suicide,, drivers here are the worst they don't know how to drive on dry roads let alone on wet ones haha.

banerjek

There is a slight difference. One is that the real issue for most people is they're afraid of getting wet even though they probably take a shower every day. And there's no safety concern unless people are being total nitwits. But then again, I notice that people don't like water skiing in the rain either. Never could understand that.

You guys should try ice. We've had quite a bit of that lately. Wicked slick doesn't even begin to describe the streets we've had for the past 3 days and my commute involves over 1000' feet of climbing on grades that go over 10%. I actually decided to bring out my ice bike today....

CliffordK

Man, these California people, complaining about not enough rain and rationing.
Complaining about a few sprinkles.

Come up to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. I think it rained every day in December. One just prepares for the rain, or has a very slow season.

Don't they have any storm drains in the roads? It looks like an engineering problem. It makes for nice photos, but if the roads flooded with every rain storm up here, one wouldn't be outside from about October to May.

allen254

lol no you're right its not raining enough for everyone to be acting like a hurricane just hit, but apparently here in cali a small amount of rain ruins the hole day not only for cyclist but for drivers and lots and lots of deadly accidents,,yes definitely it's an engineering problem for sure all the drains are clogged up with dirt that has built up from years of no rain it's sucks because i can't go ride cause most intersections are flooded. i got caught in a rainstorm once and it came up to my feet in water the force of the water would pull bike in all directions and lets not mention pot holes around here are a big problem also. also there has been a bunch of small earthquakes making things worst.

Heathpack 

Thank you kindly, sir.

I saw a funny video on Facebook yesterday that made me think of you. Three ferrets doing battle with a remote-controlled Yoda doll, which was wielding a light saber. I thought to myself: "This is *exactly* what Roll is missing by not being on FB and he doesn't even know." Then I said a little prayer for you.

rumrunn6

good luck - just saw a FB story about a bad rain/flood year in the 1800s

BlazingPedals

I'm trying hard, but I can't quite reach far enough to feel for ya. One or two inches in a day??? Sheesh. I was on a bike tour once where we got 8.5" in a single afternoon. And I had to ride in the rain the next day, too. (Mandatory bike content.)

Elvo

.be

3alarmer 

...that flood of 1850 were a bad 'un, that's fer sartain. Had to pick up an' move to higher ground, we did. *ptooo*

dcsix

Like I said, you'll just need one of them fenders