Tag Archives: cycling

Do not fear the yellow blob. Embrace it!

Personal stuff, Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride, Web General, , , , , , ,

By sheer will I am going to make it stop raining. Last night, I told myself this is it. This morning’s ride was going to be the last rainfall on one of my ride days until early November. That big yellow blob, supposedly representing high winds & heavy rain in the forecast? Bring it on. One last time. After the ride, I told myself, my rain bike goes back downstairs, into the garage, where it will sit, lonely, for the next six months.

Well, that was the plan, and yes, I did ride this morning, but in the absence of photographic proof (cameras don’t do well in the rain) and nobody else showing up, how can you really be sure that I didn’t decide to stay home? I actually thought that one through ahead of time, and turns out, there’s an app for that! LocUpdater works on iPhones running IOS4 (the latest version of its operating system) and can be set to send emails to addresses of your choosing, at either 5, 15, 30 or 60 minute intervals. Here’s the string of emails from this-morning’s ride (emails at 8:35 & 8:50 are missing; those two were up on Skyline and possibly not in range of a cell tower at the time the message tried ot transmit).

Do not fear the yellow blob. Embrace it! If you dress appropriately and have a suitable bike, rain & wind don't have to keep you off the bike! I am still trying to find adequate waterproof gloves though.

Speed 7.93 Mi/h
Altitude 839.12 ft
3/24/11 8:04 AM
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.4364,-122.292
Speed 7.90 Mi/h
Altitude 1469.29 ft
3/24/11 8:19 AM
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.427,-122.299
Speed 15.86 Mi/h
Altitude 405.53 ft
3/24/11 9:04 AM
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.4307,-122.276 
Speed 34.69 Mi/h
Altitude 569.94 ft
3/24/11 9:19 AM
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.4597,-122.263 

Looks to me like my "last ride in the rain" might have done the trick! Starting Sunday, no more rain in the forecast. You can thank me by sending a donation to my favorite charity, the Becky & Kevin College Fund... 🙂

That’s my proof that I was out there. That and my lone witness, the woman we see out there jogging, as consistent about being there and schedule as we are (the woman sometimes referred to as “articulated lady” because of the interesting way her body moves, as if she’s put together with hinges).

So is my bike in the garage now? Not yet. It has to do some serious draining first. It would be interesting to weigh my bike and clothing before the ride, and after. But I feel like I did my part to stop the rain. My next ride is Sunday, then Tuesday, then Thursday. So, did it work? Check this morning’s forecast.

Of course, if the rain does stop, I’ll have to wait another year to come up with a “waterproof” glove that actually works. The Gore gloves I used this morning? Near total failure. Cuffs way too short to fit under rain jacket, so water came down into the fingers and stayed there. Thank goodness I brought along an extra pair of gloves to change into up on Skyline!

Rain in the forecast… it’s just that, a forecast. This is California. There will be opportunities to ride!

Ride reports (not Tu/Th), , ,

Day after day of seeing long-range forecasts showing rain, rain and more rain… if you enjoy riding a bike, don’t let it get you down!

  • The weather forecast is often wrong, and when it’s not wrong, it’s at least exaggerated. It hasn’t rained 10 days straight in California in ages, and when it has, it hasn’t rained every single hour on each of those days.
  • You can ride in the rain. Whether it’s a drizzle or a downpour, you can set up a bike for rain use and pretend to mind you’re not getting wet.

Today was one of those days where you wonder how many people stayed home instead of riding and missed out on at least a couple hours in the afternoon when the sun came out, the roads dried, and the clean air & lightly-traveled roads made it a joy to be out riding. But for Kevin and I, we first had to pay our dues.

We got out to a late start (yeah, pretty much the norm), around 11:45, and headed south. The original idea was to ride through the foothills to our Los Altos store, grab a quick bite to eat and then head up Redwood Gulch to Skyline, head north to Sky Londa and home. After spending a bit too much time in Los Altos we modified things a bit, heading north along Foothill and then up Moody & Page Mill to Skyline. Kevin was a bit concerned that we’d run into some real nasty stuff up top, but I just knew otherwise. How? Just my absurd certainty that foul weather wasn’t going to last forever… and it didn’t. The last three hours of the ride saw beautiful weather, fantastic views of the coast (and a mudslide you could see when you looked down on west-side Old LaHonda).

Kevin climbing Moody in bright sunshine, on a day that had been forecast for solid rain. I'd like to claim he was enjoying himself, but this was Moody Road, after all.

Would it have been nicer if it hadn’t been raining at all? And not had to stop a couple times to readjust fenders so they wouldn’t rub against tires? Sure! But how many people looked at the weather forecast and made up their minds they wouldn’t be riding today… and later looked out their windows and saw the sun shining and the roads drying off and realized they missed out?

Be prepared. Have a rain bike handy, something you don’t worry about keeping in great shape, set up with fenders and sturdier, wider tires for more traction and fewer punctures on wet roads. Skip the minimalist seat bag and go big, something with room enough for an inexpensive plastic rain jacket (they don’t stuff so well, but they do keep the rain off). Make sure you’ve got front & rear flashing lights, and, very important, wear a hat under your helmet, so when the rain gets nasty you can just tilt your head down slightly and keep most of it out of your eyes. Don’t even think about timing the ride; it’s not about speed, it’s about being on your bike, rain or shine, hot or cold, because riding a bike makes you feel complete.