I'm an Oregonian, you live and play in the rain or you move out of state.

I agree with Wind 'N Snow. Safety is paramount. Forgive me for not taking up this subject in my previous storm post. During my 8 years in the Marine Corps and 8 years as a Corrections Officer/Sergeant, safety was drilled in to us the entire time, every day, all day, therefore I now instinctively think safety in every thing I do ( sometimes a detriment ). Because of this, I sometimes forget others have not had the same conditioning. My post probably seemed as if I had thrown safety to the wind ( no pun ) but in truth, every moment I was in the storm I was continually evaluating the best possible course of action and watching intensely my surroundings for possible dangers. Due of my years of service, especially in Corrections, I became a bit of an adrenalin junkie and I sometimes get a bit carried away with the biking. There are far superior ways to get the rush, the main one being racing and I strongly suggest that others take the racing course of action rather than pulling silly stunts like what I did. Being a teacher now, I hereby chastise myself for not ensuring that it was understood that one should be diligent in ensuring safety. Thank you Wind 'N Snow.

Trevor98,
Good to see someone else on here from VA Beach. I usually try to mix up my rides. Ridden out in Pungo (flat and fewer cars), over at Ft. Story (few cars with a low speed limit and some hills), few nearby neighborhoods (Chix Beach, Thoroughgood, Lake Smith...good when I'm pressed for time), a loop over by Norfolk Intl. Airport is not bad at all, but my favorite for long rides lately has been to run over the Bay Bridge Tunnel to the Eastern Shore. That's an awesome place for my long rides. They only charge half fare on the way back over on the same day.

Where are you in VB and where do you usually ride?

I don't mind the rain too much, though sometimes it is tough to get off of the aforementioned "I won't leave the house in the rain, but I'll keep going if it starts" plan when it's a heavy, steady, cold downpour such as those that figure prominently in Northern California winters (summer rains here are almost unheard of).

When it looks like it might rain while I'm out, I take my lights and try to wear brighter colored jerseys. I don't have any rain-specific gear. If it's cold I'll wear or take along a fleece sweatshirt (which will get soaking wet, but the nice thing about fleece is it retains much of its insulating power even when wet).

I get wet from sweat so getting wet from rain is (usually) no biggie as long as I'm warm. I just don't like to be cold and wet; that's no fun.

Re safety: If you're riding in the first rain after a long dry spell, you need to be extremely cautious at intersections. The rain will cause the accumulated oil in the pavement to rise to the surface. It seems to collect at intersections because of the cars stopped for the light or sign.

Also, at least in NorCal, during the first rain the drivers are morons, forgetting everything they learned the previous winter about driving in the rain. I usually assume that drivers aren't looking for me; in the rain, I just assume I'm totally invisible to them. So give them a wide berth and anticipate their (usually boneheaded) moves.

One of my most memorable and fun rides was during a huge rainstorm a couple years ago. I was just riding 15 miles on neighborhood roads so traffic was not an issue. This was inch an hour type rain. No ligthening, so I just decided I'm soaked, might as well just keep riding. It rained for about an hour, poured, but I loved it. At first I worried about hydroplaning but the bike handled fine, I had some Kenda's with grooves so that helped. The experience was like swimming, that's basically what it felt like, I did get some very odd looks from the few drivers that passed by. I'd love to do it again, but that was with my old bike, and I wouldn't want to get my current bike wet.

I'm reviving this thread because because I got caught in the rain for the first time last week and have a question. I felt like my brakes (I have a Trek 1000 - no fancy disc brakes) were bordering on unsafe. I ride my bike in the city and my stopping power was greatly reduced. I took it slow and was always able to stop at interesections, but was white knuckled if I was going down a hill.

Is there anything as far as braking technique or an adjustment or new pads or something else that will improve brake function when its raining?

I plan to continue my commute through the rain season this year. I'm wondering though, do you guys cover/protect your electronics somehow? Computer, lights, etc.

All I have is a relatively inexpensive speedometer but it must be rainproof because it survived quite a deluge. I cannot vouch for the higher end equipment other people might have. The one thing I have to tuck away is the garage door opener. I have it normally clipped to the bike but even a light rain will make it croak until it dries out so I tuck it in my pouch with my wallet etc and it stays comfy dry.

I have taken my Cateye Mity 8 through some pretty righteous downpours. They stop working when it's really wet, but they always perk right back up again when they dry out. As far as lights go, I've gotten some of mine pretty wet as well. Some of them are made to be waterproof, so if that's a concern, you may want to check out some waterproof lights.

Good point. I had a cellphone die on me when it got soaked. I now put it in a ziploc bag if it looks like rain.

This post is worthless without pictures.

Rodney, not trying to be a killjoy, BUT...riding in a lightning storm is just asking for it. Bike tires as well as car tires provide zero protection from lightning strikes.

It's a common misconception that it's the car's tires that protect you from lightning strikes. The reality of it is it's the metal body of a car. Lightning is high frequency electricity and it tends to travel along the surface of a metallic object, not through it, to ground. AKA "The skin effect." Since you don't have a metal covered body, a lighting strike while riding a bike will most likely kill you.

Many years ago, I was driving a car in a bad storm. The top of the car ended up taking a strike. The strike went along the body and through the tires to ground. The paint on the roof was badly burnt and blistered, the metal had burns and was galled, and I had 4 flat tires as the rubber melted. Had it been my Miata, I most likely wouldn't be posting here today as it has a canvas top.

You could also think of it like this, the lightning bolt just cleared a 5 mile spark gap. That amount of power is truely unimaginable. What possible defense could a 16" car tire provide, yet alone a bike tire.

Car tires do provide some degree of protection from downed power lines. This is because the voltage is many orders of magnitude lower and it doesn't exceed the break down voltage of a rubber tire. If a line lands on your car, don't get out of it.

Be safe, seek immediate shelter in a lightning storm.

And this is precisely the type of input I was hoping for. That is why I repeated your post in quotes. Note I again recommend, as I did in a post just following that one, that a person take up racing rather than pull a stunt like I did. I don't mind the input, especially in an open forum, because through my experience and the knowledge of others we are hopefully making people more aware of potential dangers that they may not have thought of. Despite my background, I never associated the magnitude of the energy released with the lightening bolt. This is probably due to stories told in my youth of my grandmother surviving a lightening strike out in the garden where she was working. ( see how previous knowledge can skew learning !) When you said "like a 5 mile spark gap", ding! the association struck home. ( pun kind of intended )