I awoke Sunday morning to the sound of the driving rain on the windows, buffeted by gusts of wind. I got up, made myself a double espresso, and called to the dogs for their walk. Smackimus, the mutt who embodies Rule #5 in everything he does, came bounding down the stairs. Beene, the lummoxy Great Dane, followed quite a distance behind, yawning and smacking her lips. I opened the front door and the three of us headed outside. I made my way down the stairs and zipped up my jacket as both dogs followed. Smackimus slowed noticeably as we left the shelter of the front porch and stepped into the rain, and Beene stopped altogether.
After using all my skills of persuasion, I managed to get both the dogs to do their business, but it was a minimum-commitment operation; both dogs did what they needed to do and bolted back up the steps to the shelter of the front porch.
A great day for a ride, obviously.
We are a sick lot, those of us who find more pleasure in riding in bad weather than in good. I have decided, however, to remove my fenders from the Rain Bike, as they do tend to detract from the considerable pleasure of feeling the spray from the road coat your body in Rule #9; the fenders definitely diminish the indulgence in the rain, and, generally, the volume of Suck that the weather is dispensing on your person. Fenders or not, the ride still merited camera-phone self-portraits, Dan O-style.
Oh, and – Merckx help us all – I think Rule #9 might actually be a Garbage Song.
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@BOB
It's not the fenders, it's the rain.
If you don't have a pro-style fender install, i.e. one that splits the fenders to avoid going under the short reach breaks, then you shouldn't have braking issues.
Also, brakes and rain just don't get along, sometimes they grab when you first squeeze them, locking up the front wheel and dumping unceremoniously on your shoulder, other times they take 3 revolutions of the wheel to clean the crap off before they grab. It's a complete toss up which one they will do each time you grab your brakes even if only seconds apart. The only true solution to this is riding a fixed gear without brakes. That's right, all those hipsters on their fixies are actually ahead of the curve here and they don't even know it. Riding a fixed gear without brakes in the dry is always a little bit sketchy and out of control in some ways and riding a fixed gear without brakes in the wet is just a hair sketchier and a hair more out of control, but overall a MUCH better experience in the rain than a bike with normal brakes. I rode a 'fixie' before it was called that in 1988-90 as a messenger in DC. I know nothing about disc brakes.
Pro styles, Lars Michaelsen...
@Brett
Do I spy a Rule 30 breach from Lars?
I love riding in the rain, and I love riding windy, twisty climbs with goldilocks type gradient and good distance, so I was almost sporting a full carboner reading this.
In some ways, Rule 9 is my favourite. We have no choice about Rules 1, 5 and 10, we just have to accept them if we are to continue on our path to true enlightenment - but Rule 9: there, we have a choice... there's always something to give you a valid excuse not to go out in the rain. But... the smell of the rain, that fantastic 'matt light', the electricity in the air just before a thunderstorm, the sound of your tyres on the wet road, the spray, the streams of water that run right through and off you as you ride (and the knowledge that there is simply no way you could get any wetter, so keep your head down, guns firing, and go, go, go), the fact that only other badasses (like you) are out riding, so there is more respect in the salutes and greetings (as we shower contempt on those fat losers warm and toasty inside), and finally, there is real satisfaction in the post-ride bike clean... mmmmmm, as Homer would say, rain
Coming back from our summer vacation in Cornwall (SW tip of UK), about a month ago, I persuaded the wife to drop me off 70 miles from home so I could ride home (I hadn't ridden all vacation)... she looked dubious as the thunderclouds were gathering... but it was THE most amazing ride.. cycling through Marlborough County (not to be confused with Marlboro Country - no cowboys)... rolling countryside, haystacks in fields, ancient pagan white horses etched into chalk hill sides, some short savage climbs... and rain like you've never seen... it was bouncing 2 feet off the tarmac, the road was awash with water, but yet there was bright sunshine and a fucken big rainbow... the sheer exhilaration and freedom of being back on the bike, out in the rain was awesome. For that ride, at that time, I was a badass. Period.
24 degrees here this morning. I love this town.
@roadslave
Totally sweet ride in great countryside. Was this deliberate Rule 9 from you, or just guilt after a lazy holiday?
@George... every Rule 9 is deliberate. There was no guilt: there was just no permission. I hadn't earned enough hard currency (in our house, hard currency is measured in brownie points, not cash) and weather wasn't good enough to distract the kids... ergo, steed stayed stabled. I was ITCHING to get back in the saddle, and would have ridden through a snowstorm and prolonged headwind just to get some miles in!
@Brett
I love the flaired chainstay on that thing. My Merckx, that's a sweet looking ride.
@roadslave
You've put me to shame; that is exactly what we're talking about when we talk about plying our craft in bad weather. SPOT. FUCKING. ON.
@michael
You are a bad-weather savant. I'm impressed.
Indeed that's true, and precisely why I mounted them in the first place. But, I think, race blades are the better way to go. Lighter, and you can take them off and still enjoy the rain when it's not quite that cold.
Just saw Frank blast by this coffee shop in full V-kit. It was like seeing the Loch Ness monster and Batman all at once.
The man is huge! He was on at least a size 64 Cervélo. And watching those mammoth 177mm cranks in motion was like seeing some Dutch windmill roll down the road under its own power.