My car was getting serviced today so I decided to ride in to work. Unfortunately the weather took a bad turn with persistent rain overnight continuing through the morning. I decided to man up, grabbed my rain jacket and loaded my bike into the car for the drive to the garage. I used to ride in the rain in the UK all the time - how hard can it be?
After unloading the bike and getting my riding gear on whilst sheltering under the awnings of the garage I thought twice about posting my keys through the 'out of office' slot. Then I thought about it a third time, and then a fourth. Finally I posted the keys and pedalled off into the downpour.
The first 5 minutes were horrible. My raincoat (a fetching orange waterproof breathable golf jacket I bought cheap in the US) was doing its job but my head, bum, legs and particularly my feet were getting progressively wetter. The water was dripping from my helmet visor & every puddle & every passing car made my socks squelch in my shoes a bit more. But after a while I realised I was as wet as I was going to get, stopped whineing and started to enjoy the ride.
I was also riding a new track to work as the garage was off of my usual route. I rode through the middle of Toohey Forest, some local woodland that I normally just ride next to. It was beautifully quiet on the footpath, the only sound being birdsong, the roll of my tyres and the splashing of the rain
The last time I rode past this spot it was at night, desperately chasing the tail-lights of two other guys on a hectic night ride. That night there were a number of gentleman standing around looking faintly dodgy and uncomfortable to be highlighted by our night-riding lights. Today I had the place to myself - just me & the rain.
Unfortunately the ride had to finish and I had to go to work. I squelched my way in to the office looking suave
Under Bicycle Queensland rules riding to work in the rain allows you to smugly utter glib platitudes such as 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear' and I took full advantage of that on my entrance. But after I'd showered I realised I had to ride back in the same gear that I wore on the way in, and it's hard to be too smug when you've had to try to dry your padded bike undies under a hand dryer.
Brisbane may be wet at times but it's never that cold and it's easy to ride with only a little discomfort. There are problems - the roads are slippy, you're more likely to puncture as thorns & bits of glass slide through the rubber of the tyre more easily, pedestrians are more worried about dodging puddles than watching for bikes and the Australian concept of 'safe driving' in the wet seems to be to tailgate and match speed with the guy in front so that the impact of the inevitable collision is reduced. But just like in the UK, once you knuckle down, accept that getting wet isn't going to kill you and just get on with it and then it's surprisingly enjoyable.
After unloading the bike and getting my riding gear on whilst sheltering under the awnings of the garage I thought twice about posting my keys through the 'out of office' slot. Then I thought about it a third time, and then a fourth. Finally I posted the keys and pedalled off into the downpour.
The first 5 minutes were horrible. My raincoat (a fetching orange waterproof breathable golf jacket I bought cheap in the US) was doing its job but my head, bum, legs and particularly my feet were getting progressively wetter. The water was dripping from my helmet visor & every puddle & every passing car made my socks squelch in my shoes a bit more. But after a while I realised I was as wet as I was going to get, stopped whineing and started to enjoy the ride.
I was also riding a new track to work as the garage was off of my usual route. I rode through the middle of Toohey Forest, some local woodland that I normally just ride next to. It was beautifully quiet on the footpath, the only sound being birdsong, the roll of my tyres and the splashing of the rain
The last time I rode past this spot it was at night, desperately chasing the tail-lights of two other guys on a hectic night ride. That night there were a number of gentleman standing around looking faintly dodgy and uncomfortable to be highlighted by our night-riding lights. Today I had the place to myself - just me & the rain.Unfortunately the ride had to finish and I had to go to work. I squelched my way in to the office looking suave
Under Bicycle Queensland rules riding to work in the rain allows you to smugly utter glib platitudes such as 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear' and I took full advantage of that on my entrance. But after I'd showered I realised I had to ride back in the same gear that I wore on the way in, and it's hard to be too smug when you've had to try to dry your padded bike undies under a hand dryer.Brisbane may be wet at times but it's never that cold and it's easy to ride with only a little discomfort. There are problems - the roads are slippy, you're more likely to puncture as thorns & bits of glass slide through the rubber of the tyre more easily, pedestrians are more worried about dodging puddles than watching for bikes and the Australian concept of 'safe driving' in the wet seems to be to tailgate and match speed with the guy in front so that the impact of the inevitable collision is reduced. But just like in the UK, once you knuckle down, accept that getting wet isn't going to kill you and just get on with it and then it's surprisingly enjoyable.
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