Riding Between Rainstorms

The weekend forecast seemed to be a wall of rain. At least at first blush.

I, however, have learned to use the radar feature on weather.com to identify any small break in the rain and today that served me well.

I managed to get 1:45 of my 2 hour bike ride in before thunder crashed, lighting struck and the heavens opened up on my head.

Here’s what the radar looks like when there’s no hope of a break (green = rain):

There are a few key items that make riding in the rain fun.

1. A fender for the rear wheel.
2. A fabulous rain shell – mine is made by Shebeest and I love it.
3. Wool knickers – mine are Ibex and no matter how wet they got they were still warm.
4. Booties for my feet – I have them and forgot to wear them. My toes were ice-cubes by the end.
5. A smart phone with the weather.com app installed so you can check the radar mid-ride.

That last one is key. I got to the top of my first climb and it started sprinkling. I panicked and headed back the way I came down the hill. Then I stopped, double checked the map and saw that the next wave of rain was still a ways off.

And then I looked out over the ocean and reconfirmed the lack of big scary black clouds.

So I turned around, climbed back up the hill, down the other side and went along my merry way. It was awesome.

About these ads