This Morning....

Dundee-G

Hi All,
Been hanging around here for a good few weeks whilst preparing for and completing my first commute. Approx 5.5 miles through countryside/woodland/cycle path with a wee bit of road to negotiate too. All very scenic and enjoyable. Most days per week I have done is 4 with most weeks being 3 days on the bike.
Cycled Mon & Tues with Wed off. Woke this morning with the rain almost cracking the windows and the wind sounding hellish. On with the bike gear and I had to push the bike between our 2 parked cars to get out of the driveway.
With a cry of "bye Daddy" ringing in my ears off I went. First part is down long steepish hill and I was properly dripping after about 30 secs! Did not even think about turning back and felt wonderful when I arrived at work. That feeling was compunded with the looks I got travelling up in the lift, wet and muddy and bedraggled! Weather cleared now so thoroughly looking forward to the ride home.
Reckon I can cope with most now and can I now call myself a commuter?
Thanks for getting me to do it in the first place to all on here, Cheers.

king_jeffers

Dundee-G wrote:

First part is down long steepish hill and I was properly dripping after about 30 secs! Did not even think about turning back and felt wonderful when I arrived at work. That feeling was compunded with the looks I got travelling up in the lift, wet and muddy and bedraggled!

ha, same for me first time I commuted in the rain... Felt really refreshing when I got to work, going home was another matter... I had no waterproofs in the morning or a change of clothes, thankfully it was still raining on the way home and I don't think anyone noticed.

Well done tho

Initialised

Well done, now you just have to do it in snow, fog, hale, gale force winds and on ice, preferably all at once then you'll be a commuter.

EFCdaveMCR

I've had similar looks when I've cycled in in heavy rain. I quite enjoy it. I get soaked with sweat anyway, so what the hell, why not. I'm looking forward to a snowy commute.... as long as it's just for a day or two

Putting the cold, wet kit on in the afternoon on a rainy day isn't quite so much fun though

alidaf

I still avoid strong wind days if there is a reliable report for the next day. Cycling into a head wind isn't fun and strong sideways gusts can be a little unnerving, especially when being overtaken.

Dundee-G

alidaf wrote:

I still avoid strong wind days if there is a reliable report for the next day. Cycling into a head wind isn't fun and strong sideways gusts can be a little unnerving, especially when being overtaken.

On that note is there a "reliable" website that offers info on conditions that does teh job for anyone? Cheers

gosport_commuter

I have found the met office to offer fairly good information over the last month or two - can be a pain to find where to change your location, but once done and set default its fine

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/beta ... cId=351637

I use the 5 day forecast to get a quick view of conditions like wind speed and direction.

Sailorchick

I use http://www.windguru.cz/int/index.php?sc=47901 or http://magicseaweed.com/UK-Ireland-MSW- ... 1/wind/in/.

Magic seaweed tends to be a bit more accurate but wind guru's not bad either.