Re: wet weather cycling

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Adam Lea

(') said:

Having just got drenched on my commute home today (and finding out that
the quoted battery life on my front light is out by a factor of two)
could anyone suggest the best to keep the rain out for 50-55 minutes of
road cycling (and a mile of forest track). Even with waterproof coat and
trousers the rain found its way in and got in my shoes and just about
everywhere else. What do you wear on a wet day?

Rain, sadly, trickles downwards. Consequently unless you have waterproof
trousers that extend down below the tops of your boots, rain is going to
trickle in. This applies equally to waterproof socks such as sealskinz.
This isn't as bad as it sounds, since the sealskinz will work as wetsuits,
retaining warm water against your skin, but it isn't wonderful for going
to work.

If you /do/ wear waterproof trousers, you will find that you cannot cycle
so quickly in them, so your fifty minute commute will get rather longer.
Not only do you get the boil-in-the-bag syndrome, but the relatively stiff
material of waterproof trousers tends to impede pedalling.

My solution in not-very-cold weather is just let your legs and feet get
wet. They generate enough heat while cycling that except in the depths of
winter this is OK, but you'll need to keep a towel at work to dry off
before changing into work gear. For very cold weather you can get
bib-longs with waterproof fronts and breathable backs, which look very
practical indeed, but I don't have personal experience of them.

Frankly in very cold wet weather I'd leave the bike at home, but that may
not be an option for you.

I do leave the bike at home if it looks really threatening outside but it
seems a shame to have to do this in a way. I have seen posts on here about
how people have given up their cars and claim to have not missed them so I
can only presume that they have managed to make wet weather/winter cycling
more pleasent somehow.

Simon Brooke wrote on 29/09/2006 07:30 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Frankly in very cold wet weather I'd leave the bike at home

That'd be all winter in Scotland then ;-)

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Adam Lea wrote on 29/09/2006 08:16 +0100:

Quoted message said:

I do leave the bike at home if it looks really threatening outside but it
seems a shame to have to do this in a way. I have seen posts on here about
how people have given up their cars and claim to have not missed them so I
can only presume that they have managed to make wet weather/winter cycling
more pleasent somehow.

It actually rains very rarely in a year during a commute - I recall
Richard's Bicycle Book said it was 6 or 12 days a year. Personally I
wear cycling longs and just let my legs get wet. It comes from my
student days as a postie in the holidays. It was far worse worrying
about getting wet and trying to avoid it than just accepting it was
going to happen and get on with it. Modern cycling clothing is warm
when wet and dries out very fast once it stops raining. YMMV

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

"Adam Lea" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I do leave the bike at home if it looks really threatening outside but it
seems a shame to have to do this in a way. I have seen posts on here about
how people have given up their cars and claim to have not missed them so I
can only presume that they have managed to make wet weather/winter cycling
more pleasent somehow.

My offspring does a 13-mile each way commute for the full academic year. He
cycles when it's raining. For the most part, modern fabrics make cycling
fine - as many are quick drying. Don't cycle in jeans or cotton - it retains
the wet. His pretty much standard commute-wear is cycle shorts with a pair
of Bikesters on top if it's cold. Sealskinz if it's wet. He does also have
overshoes. Various cycling top layers, including wind/waterproof. He has
waterproof overtrousers but he hardly ever has to wear them. He has changing
facilities at college so, he does a quick change out of commuting clothes
into 'normal' wear. On the plus side, he's said the ride into college really
wakes him up and he gets to college fresh, alert & ready to go, whereas some
of his mates are not exactly awake when the school bus drops them off each
morning. You don't have to spend vast sums of money for stuff that's
perfectly adequate for commuting wear. The offspring's commuting wardrobe is
mostly items from Aldi, Lidl or Tchibo..

Cheers, helen s

Adam Lea said:

I do leave the bike at home if it looks really threatening outside but it
seems a shame to have to do this in a way. I have seen posts on here about
how people have given up their cars and claim to have not missed them so I
can only presume that they have managed to make wet weather/winter cycling
more pleasent somehow.

Its more about attitude than keeping the water out. Try to think like
a kid having fun splashing in puddles rather than Eyeore. As long as
you can change at the end of the ride it doesn't really matter if you
get wet because cycling will keep you warm and skin is waterproof. On
anything more than a few miles you can choose between letting the rain
in or keeping the sweat in.
If you get soaked in the morning you'll want to get your stuff dry for
the evening's return journey, CRT computer monitors used to be good for
socks but the new flat panel jobs don't really provide enough heat.
I've made some waterproof shorts by cutting off the legs of some cheap
overtrousers. They prevent the horrible damp crotch feeling caused by
all the water running off the front of your jacket, without causing
sweaty legs.
Currently I'm getting wet and muddy on my commute from all the puddles
on the towpath long after the rain has stopped. I wear overshoes to
keep my shoes and socks dryish because they were getting completely
soaked and the shoes take ages to dry.

Tony Raven said:

Quoted message said:

Frankly in very cold wet weather I'd leave the bike at home

That'd be all winter in Scotland then ;-)

All winter or all year? :P
--
Chris Johns

Tony Raven said:

Simon Brooke wrote on 29/09/2006 07:30 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Frankly in very cold wet weather I'd leave the bike at home

That'd be all winter in Scotland then ;-)

Summer dear boy, In winter it isn't wet cos it is all frozen ;-)

...d

POHB said:

Adam Lea said:

I do leave the bike at home if it looks really threatening outside but it
seems a shame to have to do this in a way. I have seen posts on here about
how people have given up their cars and claim to have not missed them so I
can only presume that they have managed to make wet weather/winter cycling
more pleasent somehow.

Its more about attitude than keeping the water out. Try to think like
a kid having fun splashing in puddles rather than Eyeore. As long as
you can change at the end of the ride it doesn't really matter if you
get wet because cycling will keep you warm and skin is waterproof. On
anything more than a few miles you can choose between letting the rain
in or keeping the sweat in.

Top advice. It took me quite a while to figure that out, but its true:
just enjoy the rain.

The Shimano W101 boots are worth having, cuz wet feet aren't much fun
(just make sure the socks don't come higher than the neoprene cuff,
though, as they wick the water in).

When it gets cold & wet, a loose cycle rain jacket is OK, as you'll not
be sweating quite as much, and tights work well, even in a downpore.

Below zero, stick with the boots & tights, but swap for breathable,
thermal cycling top + as many underlayers as the conditions call for.

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Frankly in very cold wet weather I'd leave the bike at home, but that may
not be an option for you.

Thing is you tend not to get very cold and wet at the same time - if it's
very cold, the wet has frozen and is now snow, which is a lot easier to deal
with.

Or are you using some English definition of very cold? :-)

I've not found weather which will stop a commute yet - even though it may
involve proper waterproof, thickish jersey, short sleeved jersey, shorts,
bib longs, ron hills, fleece gloves and walking 'waterproof' mittens and a
balaclava. Oh yes - two pairs of socks and the W101 boots. I think that's
it - I've not got anything more to put on at that point.

cheers,
clive

Clive George said:

Thing is you tend not to get very cold and wet at the same time - if
it's very cold, the wet has frozen and is now snow, which is a lot
easier to deal with.

Or are you using some English definition of very cold? :-)

Thing is if you're soaking then you get quite a bit colder because water
conducts the heat away so much better than air. Being soaked through at
2C is a subjectively colder experience for me than being dry at -5C, and
it's certainly a lot more miserable!

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Clive George said:

Thing is you tend not to get very cold and wet at the same time - if
it's very cold, the wet has frozen and is now snow, which is a lot
easier to deal with.

Or are you using some English definition of very cold? :-)

Thing is if you're soaking then you get quite a bit colder because water
conducts the heat away so much better than air. Being soaked through at
2C is a subjectively colder experience for me than being dry at -5C, and
it's certainly a lot more miserable!

Much more uncomfortable and more dangerous. You lose heat faster with
wet clothes. I hate it when the temperature rised to around0 C in the
winter. Minus 5 makes for much better cycling.

John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

in message <[email hidden]>, Tony Raven

(') said:

Simon Brooke wrote on 29/09/2006 07:30 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Frankly in very cold wet weather I'd leave the bike at home

That'd be all winter in Scotland then ;-)

Rubbish. Three or four days a year. It's wet here, but it isn't often cold.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; It appears that /dev/null is a conforming XSL processor.

Simon Brooke wrote on 29/09/2006 17:12 +0100:

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Tony Raven

(') said:

Simon Brooke wrote on 29/09/2006 07:30 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Frankly in very cold wet weather I'd leave the bike at home

That'd be all winter in Scotland then ;-)

Rubbish. Three or four days a year. It's wet here, but it isn't often cold.

Stimulus-response ;-)

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Simon Brooke wrote on 29/09/2006 17:12 +0100:

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Tony Raven

(') said:

Simon Brooke wrote on 29/09/2006 07:30 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Frankly in very cold wet weather I'd leave the bike at home

That'd be all winter in Scotland then ;-)

Rubbish. Three or four days a year. It's wet here, but it isn't often cold.

Stimulus-response ;-)

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

In article <[email hidden]>,

John Kane said:

Quoted message said:

Thing is if you're soaking then you get quite a bit colder because water
conducts the heat away so much better than air. Being soaked through at
2C is a subjectively colder experience for me than being dry at -5C, and
it's certainly a lot more miserable!

Much more uncomfortable and more dangerous. You lose heat faster with
wet clothes. I hate it when the temperature rised to around0 C in the
winter. Minus 5 makes for much better cycling.

Yeah, but your -5 is by the thermometer. When Brits speak of -5,
they're generally playing with windchills to make it sound colder
than an actual temperature of +5, or even higher. Yet our damp
makes it *feel* much colder, so that my (swedish) grandmother found
the english winter subjectively colder than back home when visiting.

(OK, they very exceptionally get a real -5 in Scotland and eastern
England. Here in the southwest I'm not convinced we've ever dropped
that low, even on what passes for high ground, at least since I moved
here in '98).

--
Nick Kew

Tony Raven said:

TonyTony,, youyou areare doubledouble postingposting!!

--
Don Whybrow

Sequi Bonum Non Time

Freedom defined is freedom denied. (Illuminatus)

in message <[email hidden]>, Tony Raven

(') said:

Simon Brooke wrote on 29/09/2006 17:12 +0100:

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Tony Raven

(') said:

Simon Brooke wrote on 29/09/2006 07:30 +0100:
> Frankly in very cold wet weather I'd leave the bike at home
That'd be all winter in Scotland then ;-)

Rubbish. Three or four days a year. It's wet here, but it isn't often
cold.

Stimulus-response ;-)

At least I don't repeat myself...

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Anagram: I'm soon broke.

Don Whybrow wrote on 29/09/2006 21:02 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Tony Raven said:

TonyTony,, youyou areare doubledouble postingposting!!

Blame it on Vodafone 3G on a fast moving train

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

on a fast moving train

Not in Britain then?

T