Rain ride tips

[Lister Farrar]

Besides having folks to ride with (thanks to all the brave souls this am; think we had 14 despite the unequivocal weather at alarm time), some tips and techniques have undoubtedly been learned to make rain rides more appealing. How about we list a few? Good for newer riders who haven't read all the threads yet , maybe even old dogs will do a 007 and learn a new trick or two. (Skyfall reference).

Equipment is key, but include psychological tricks that work for you too.

Here's a few that work for me:

Persuade myself its usually warmer on rain days than sunny days in winter
Rain rides count double; you're getting fitter, and your rivals who stayed in bed are getting worse
Fender flaps, rain shell gloves, second dry pair of liners in a plastic bag.
Have a fast cleanup routine so you're not worrying about maintenance before you go. I hose my bike as soon as I get home, rinse the shoes and outer wear and hang over the laundry tub, everything else straight in the washer. Done in 5-10 minutes. The bike's not pretty, but its not gritty either.
I use a heavy lube, chainsaw oil. Lasts through a rainy ride and doesn't fully wash off with the hose.
Plastic cycling rain jackets seem warmer to me than breathables.
Mtb helmet with visor reduces rain on glasses.

What're your tricks?

[JohnT]

Realize that Peter is there taking attendance. That used to work for me. Not sure why it didn't this morning.

JT

[AlW]

Persuade myself its usually warmer on rain days than sunny days in winter

For me, it only took one ride in a 2 degree downpour to shatter that illusion permanently.

Rain rides count double; you're getting fitter, and your rivals who stayed in bed are getting worse

I'm more likely to stay in bed if I believe my rivals are doing the same.

Fender flaps, rain shell gloves, second dry pair of liners in a plastic bag.

Definitely. Watch out for those MEC Drencher rain shell gloves though. They fill with water.

Have a fast cleanup routine so you're not worrying about maintenance before you go. I hose my bike as soon as I get home, rinse the shoes and outer wear and hang over the laundry tub, everything else straight in the washer. Done in 5-10 minutes. The bike's not pretty, but its not gritty either.

I find I don't need to hose down the bike after days like today. The ride IS the hose down.

I use a heavy lube, chainsaw oil. Lasts through a rainy ride and doesn't fully wash off with the hose.

Phil Wood tenacious oil also works very well

Plastic cycling rain jackets seem warmer to me than breathables.

Agreed. Those Louis Garneau "shower curtain" jackets get pretty toasty

Mtb helmet with visor reduces rain on glasses.

I find a cycling cap works best as you can get the peak closer to your eyes. Particularly good if you wear glasses.

[DavidB]

Definitely. Watch out for those MEC Drencher rain shell gloves though. They fill with water.

Tuck the sleeveie bits under the sleeves of your jacket. Makes the eater run over them, not into them.

I find I don't need to hose down the bike after days like today. The ride IS the hose down.

DIIIIIIIRRRTTTT.

What I will also do, and this sounds lame, but plan my laundry ahead of time, to have a warm pair of pyjamas or sweatpants and a hoodie ready for when I get home.

Also, give in, and accept that your legs and feet are going to get wet, and there's nothing you can do to stop them.

[John D]

To paraphrase Sylvan on similar threads, just HTFU and get on with it.

And yes, before anyone else points it out, no, I was NOT there this morning.

J.

[Rolf]

I find riding between or around the raindrops really makes things less wet.

[Lund]

I find riding between or around the raindrops really makes things less wet.

In the spirit of oneupmanship...

I find that if I apply Zeno's Paradox to the weather, I never get wet.

In a nutshell: for a raindrop to fall from a cloud to my head, it must first cover half the distance. Then, it must cover half the remaining distance. Then, it must cover half the remaining distance...and so on perpetually. The consequence is that I never get wet.

This is also the reason your bridging attempts are futile if I should choose to attack.

[Lund]

Oh, and it's also the reason I never made it to the ride this morning.

[Mark C]

I would have loved to have been out this am but I woke up to 4" of snow in beautiful downtown Vernon, can't wait to get back on the bike! see you all Sunday

[JohnT]

Warmer when raining certainly applied today. >10C = shorts!

[Anika]

Some things that work for me:

Waterproof gloves but the good ones, the cheap ones aren't water proof. Gore makes an excellent water proof glove. If waterproof gloves don't work then gloves that stay warm when they get wet like the sugoi firewall gloves (synthetic down material called thermolite that traps warmth even when its drenched.

Bontrager makes excellent waterproof booties both in a thermal and race version. I have the race version and they're quite warm, I think Peter has the thermal ones so he might have a better opinion on those.

Cycling caps! They're awesome. Also, rain appropriate glasses. Oakley jawbones with the slotted lenses don't fog up and they also make "rain jackets" that have a slotted frame and slotted lenses. Bryson has a pair and they are great.

Rain shells. For those that get cold Gore makes a great shell with a performance fit. Water proof with neoprene cuffs and neck. Its super warm but you will stay dry. A less warm version is the popular clear jacket a lot of people have already. Assos, sugoi, specialized, pearl izumi and mavic all have versions of this jacket available. Because its clear you can also wear it during races as your number is visible through the jacket. Most of these jackets are super thin with a water proof membrane coating the jacket.

Finally, its never that bad when you're actually out there. The hardest part is getting out the door. Just get dressed and leave, you can always turn around if its too gross once you're actually on the road. See you all on the road! Lets try not to drown

[katew]

Perhaps because I come from the running world, I have never taken staying dry too terribly seriously. Anything designed to keep rain out keeps sweat in and you get wet anyway. I focus on having enough of a synthetic layer that will keep me warm even if I'm soaked to the skin and then enough of a wind barrier that evaporation won't cool me too much.

Now, cyclists are moving faster and wind is more chilling... but on the whole, I assume we're going to get wet anyway. I like the MEC Drencher glove + liner because it dries out quickly after. It *is* true, however, that at a certain point, the Drenchers give up keeping water out and start collecting it instead.

There was this time, a TS morning ride a few years ago, when a small-ish group of us all landed at Discovery Coffee on Menzies. It was *bucketing* rain. Stupid, ridiculous, outrageous rain. We got off the bikes and I remember pouring a cup of water out of each of the Drenchers and then wringing out another cup from each of my liners. (Then I left them spread out in the rain so they'd dry out some more while we had coffee).

Everybody squelched into the shop, horrifying the clientele. We grabbed tables and started ordering and Disco dispatched one of the baristas with a giant floor squeegee to start cleaning up after us. I am not making this up.

Peter radiates some kind of Leader of the Pack thing even when he isn't ordering people to turn off their goddamned blinking tail lights, and the last remaining regular sidled up to him. He waved at all the bright TS gear.

"Are you guys, like, sponsored or something?" (because no sane people would be out in this unless someone was making them do this, surely...)
"Yes," said Peter, then in a conspiratorial tone, "But let's keep it between us, because this sort of thing doesn't reflect too well on our sponsors."

[Alan]

This (Kate's rant) probably rates in the Post of the Year category for being so fricken funny. Plus true. I was probably on that ride (or a similar one) where after coffee we looked down on the floor of the coffee shop as we stumbled to our feet to leave and it looked like we'd all peed our pants or something because the nice hardwood floor was covered with large embarrassing puddles of water that probably dripped out of every orifice possible. I can't remember who said it, but someone tossed out an insouciant quip to "the help" as we donned our helmets to head home: "Heya, someone should get a mop, because, er you've got some puddles there on the floor."

[trevor]

I almost broke my neck slipping on my way to the washroom in an attempt to thaw out my hands under some hot water.
I guess the rain helps strengthen our memory of the experience as this particular day (or one just like it) rings true to me as well.
Good hard people. Well done y'all.

[AlW]

This (Kate's rant) probably rates in the Post of the Year category for being so fricken funny. Plus true. I was probably on that ride (or a similar one) where after coffee we looked down on the floor of the coffee shop as we stumbled to our feet to leave and it looked like we'd all peed our pants or something because the nice hardwood floor was covered with large embarrassing puddles of water that probably dripped out of every orifice possible. I can't remember who said it, but someone tossed out an insouciant quip to "the help" as we donned our helmets to head home: "Heya, someone should get a mop, because, er you've got some puddles there on the floor."

+1

I remember that ride, which may explain why I stayed in bed on Tuesday.

We may have been a small-ish group but we pretty much took over the place. And what a mess we made. Everyone had 2 puddles under them (one for each foot), the windows were fogged up and a poor guy with a mop was attempting to make the place look presentable.