Has the UK got the sh*ttiest cycling weather in all Europe?
Comments
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I've got my waterproof...and its been put to the test more often than not for the passed couple of years....out of all the guys I cycle with I am the one who least moans about the weather..but deep inside I know it drastically reduces my enjoyment of a ride.
There seems to be 2 camps here..
1. Lots of folk agree with me in saying they are totally pissed of with a constant downpour...and even though there's not a jot we can do about it - its reasonable to be very dissapointed.
2. The other half leaves me completely bewildered...basically..don't ever complain about the weather.(which I completely agree there's nothing can be done about it...but lets just be honest and say the UKs weather is crap for any outdoor pursuits) ...cyclings great whatever weather you do it in...the tougher the weather the bigger the challenge...buy mudgards...cleaning your bike everytime you cycle is great...being absolutley drenched is great...why stop at rain?...lets make it even tougher...rain with sleet, black Ice on the road,snow, Force 8 gales....great...a bigger challenge...reminds me of the similar topic of gearing...don't ever buy a triple as its not Macho enough...
To the Ozzy in southern Island...you have nowt like the weather in Northern England or Scotland...maybe London right enough...Christ when I used to visit my relatives in late October in London I'd have a T shirt on...In Scotland it was time for the balaclavas....
Do you really enjoy cycling is this atrocious weather as much as you would a gorgeous bright sunny day?....I don't know?...when the Sun is out I personally think there's nothing better than ambling along lovely backroads...if your in one of our lovely mountain regions then all the nicer...but in miserable weather the visibilty is garbage...so scenery is out the question...if your wet you get very cold when you stop...the roads are dangerous and slippy....and you weigh a ton being drenched.....
I do go out in ALL weathers...I'm very dedicated...I have to be or my fitness would fall off as all will know....A Turbo Trainer does not cut it in terms of sustaining fitness...you have to get out...but being truthful these runs(into terrible weather) are more of a neccessity than a joy.....cycling in the UK is very tough...but I cannot get my head round you lot having a real go because I dare to mention that the UK has crap weather...with little angry devil signs and all...whats that all about?
Too much of a culture shock to emigrate...so I must grin and bear it...but I would certainly swap there climate for ours if I could...because the UK's weather is sh*t.0 -
Admittedly the rain isn't the best for cycling but imagine how opressive it would be if you had to live and work in constant heat and sun every day. There are plenty of places in the world worse than here and we don't have all the insects snakes etc which go along with hot climates, not to mention other climatic extremes. That programme where the guy was cycling through Australia put me right off. Have you ever wondered why there's so many of them over here
I have pain!0 -
Richboy, As I said, I've lived in places where the heat and humidty isn't what you have when you go on your hols for and then comeback, i.e. Spain, its what you have all of the time. It gets oppressive when it is that way for not just a short time but for months, all day and all night, which is pretty much what you are not happy about vis-a-vis crap weather and rain.
You are correct, Munster doesn't have the worst weather in Ireland, but then your post said the UK, and London doesn't have the same weather as Scotland or Northern England let alone the Shetland's either. At least you can still cycle in winter in much of the UK (I'm not saying all, or that it is pleasant). Would like you like to try it in Finland in January? Or Iceland?
Think happy thoughts is all I can suggest, or maybe better kit, unless you move to Oz or some other sun kissed spot you're going to have to put up with it.'Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze....0 -
@chuckcork- SKS Race Blades are honestly pretty good, I have them on my road bike and full-length SKS Chromoplastics on my tourer. It is handy to be able to clip them on and off in a second (they move between my road bike and fixie) - my god the Chromoplastics were a job to get on the tourer, don't think I'll be taking them off in a hurry!
Like you I commute all year round, rain, hail, snow, lowest temp I have had was only -2C though. Snow in Ireland is such a novelty I go out of my way to cycle in it whenever it happens, I can imagine I would get sick of it pretty sharpish if it was regular
I would have thought the weather in Cork is far worse than in Dublin, what with it being more westerly, etc. Both would be worse than London I would imagine although Dublin isn't half bad most of the year. I am guessing Scotland would be worse than all put together.
Weather would not put me off commuting or a few wet long sportives for that matter (although we have been lucky this year with those, only relatively little rain on most of them.)
Having said that I have done 3.5 months cycling in Spain where it rained only twice, for around 20 minutes each time, and temps were generally in the 30-45 C range. Honestly not difficult to get used to, just avoided cycling in the absolute middle of the day. I have yet to meet a Spanish (or French) cyclist who prefers the weather over here!0 -
I hate cycling in the rain in London quite simply because it's so freaking dangerous! It's slippery as the road surfaces are so poor and other road users are lunatics (seem to be worse when it's wet, been taken out twice in one rainy day!) When I lived in Wales I would go out in all weather, as the roads were quieter and the chance of getting squashed when you fell off were less.
I'm getting fed up of this rain, it's a pain in the as* when you have to plan your day's around it! Went to Brighton yesterday, in the morning we were drenched, freezing and damn right fed up. We were dressed up for winter it was that bad. Come afternoon time it was lovely and sunny and we were hot in our clothes we had worn for the weather forecast (BBC said rain all day!) It's like you have to take two types of wardrobe with you just to make sure!There is never redemption, any fool can regret yesterday...
Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave!0 -
Richyboy, I totally agree with you. This summer and last summer have been a nightmare. It hardly ever stops me going out on my bike (the only weather I don't 'do' is ice!), but I feel very justified in moaning about it...and can't believe people are taking the moral highground over this (e.g. be grateful you CAN cycle etc!).
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I'd imagine that the moaners on this thread haven't spent more than a 'holiday' away somewhere hot and sunny (I am generalising somewhat)
Believe me having spent 6 yrs on and off working in the middle east I've had enough of hot and sunny EVERY bloody day. It makes me laugh when I hear people moan about it being cloudy or that its raining again, this is what makes the UK such a green and pleasant land.
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Quick observation from a newbie;I would rather be riding in the wind and rain than sitting on some beach with a thousand people who didn't know what they were missing! Even wet and windy is better than not riding,Enjoy it while you can!If you're a foot then I'm your sock,so wear me well!0
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RICHYBOYcp wrote:There seems to be 2 camps here..
1. Lots of folk agree with me in saying they are totally pissed of with a constant downpour...and even though there's not a jot we can do about it - its reasonable to be very dissapointed.
2. The other half leaves me completely bewildered...basically..don't ever complain about the weather.(which I completely agree there's nothing can be done about it...but lets just be honest and say the UKs weather is crap for any outdoor pursuits) ...cyclings great whatever weather you do it in...the tougher the weather the bigger the challenge...buy mudgards...cleaning your bike everytime you cycle is great...being absolutley drenched is great...why stop at rain?...lets make it even tougher...rain with sleet, black Ice on the road,snow, Force 8 gales....great...a bigger challenge...reminds me of the similar topic of gearing...don't ever buy a triple as its not Macho enough...
Maybe the second camp get annoyed by needlessly long sentences?0 -
Whilst I appreciate that we increasingly remember halcyon days and anticipate/expect summer long repeats the last 2 summers overall have felt pretty dour.
The BBC weather-fella tonight said something like (don't quote me on this) some parts of the UK have experienced half the typical daily sunshine for this time of year whilst some parts had experienced double the rain.
It seems to be the residents of these isles perogative to moan/talk about the weather and I think that's absolutely fine; long live moaning about the weather! I can't understand why some people appear to be offended by this -immediately suggesting people are whingers or wimps - I figure the guy who started the thread was looking to strike a note of affinity with others who enjoy cycling come rain or shine or more likely despite the ever present omni-directional buffeting wind.
I wish everyone as many 'fair weather' cycling days as they can muster!
Whinging Pomp0 -
BMCCbry wrote:Richyboy, I totally agree with you. This summer and last summer have been a nightmare. It hardly ever stops me going out on my bike (the only weather I don't 'do' is ice!), but I feel very justified in moaning about it...and can't believe people are taking the moral highground over this (e.g. be grateful you CAN cycle etc!).
I'm with you too Richyboy. I live in the north west, have done for most of my life, and the weather for the last two years has been crap. I'm getting SAD. I just want a bit of sun. Yeh, I go out riding in the rain but I would much prefer sun and a light breeze rather than these oppressive grey gloomy clouds, blustery winds and rain that we seem to have had for weeks.
we had massive hailstones here just a few weeks ago - what's that about?0 -
Contrary to popular belief its not just the UK where people use weather as a standard topic of conversation - for the last two months everybodystarts conversations with "Ay que calor" - same as every year.
As for the UK weather being, shall we say, inclement - what do you expect, Edinburgh is on the same lattitude as Moscow.
As for me, I like sunshine. 8)Fitter....healthier....more productive.....0 -
A work collegue has just come back from moscow, it was 30 degrees apparantly...0
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touche Fitter....healthier....more productive.....0
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Captain Fagor wrote:RICHYBOYcp wrote:There seems to be 2 camps here..
1. Lots of folk agree with me in saying they are totally pissed of with a constant downpour...and even though there's not a jot we can do about it - its reasonable to be very dissapointed.
2. The other half leaves me completely bewildered...basically..don't ever complain about the weather.(which I completely agree there's nothing can be done about it...but lets just be honest and say the UKs weather is crap for any outdoor pursuits) ...cyclings great whatever weather you do it in...the tougher the weather the bigger the challenge...buy mudgards...cleaning your bike everytime you cycle is great...being absolutley drenched is great...why stop at rain?...lets make it even tougher...rain with sleet, black Ice on the road,snow, Force 8 gales....great...a bigger challenge...reminds me of the similar topic of gearing...don't ever buy a triple as its not Macho enough...
Maybe the second camp get annoyed by needlessly long sentences?
Maybe the first camp gets annoyed with smug smarmy comments from people who don't understand them?0 -
RICHYBOYcp wrote:being absolutley drenched is great...why stop at rain?...lets make it even tougher...rain with sleet, black Ice on the road,snow, Force 8 gales....
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Sounds like my first ride home at the start of the year, only no black ice. Found I had to give the bike a rest for a week at that point
which was not fun as I don't like being off my bike!
Did of course have a nice ride a week or so later...2 hours or so of rain, strong enough/gale force winds, about 4C, bit of sleet mixed in; funny that no one from the club wanted to come out with me
Certainly a good testing ground for my winter gear though (Pearl Izumi Amfib's), it passed with high marks!'Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze....0 -
ride_whenever wrote:A work collegue has just come back from moscow, it was 30 degrees apparantly...
that'll be thie continental climate. We're near the coast, and one that is close to the the Atlantic Jetstream, our climate is controlled by the sea. We have warm-ish wet summers and mild winters.
Where as Moscow is continental and climate is controlled by wind mainly. There is no great mass of water to keep temperatures high in the winter, or cool in the summer. So they can have some extreme weather throughout the year.
If anyone wants to see if this summer is any worse than any other check out
http://www.wunderground.com/ and the weather almanac. I had a quick scan earlier and average temperatures are pretty much the same. The difference is that other summers have at least had a few days of good weather (sunny, dry, hot close to 30C) each month where as this summer there have been very few.0 -
Complaining about the weather is like telling the tide to go out, it's futile.Cycling, it has it's ups and downs.0
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