Thunderstorms

verylonglegs

Not had any here yet and it's annoying as I quite enjoy them, whether it's racing home on the bike trying to beat them before the rain or just watching them through a window. The smell they leave behind too..I find it almost magical. I did find I'd bitten off more than I can chew once though when I stood out in the garden to watch one go over a few years ago, the lightening got so close I heard it fizz through the air, a real loud 'phhffffzzzzzztttt' I can recall clearly even now. I ran indoors at a speed I didn't think was possible.

I also had one that dumped so much water down so suddenly and quickly that it was like falling into cold water unexpectedly and the cold knocks the breath out of you, not usually a problem but I was giving it a fair effort on the bike at the time so I started to go faint as the lack of oxygen kicked in. Had to stop at the side of the road until my breathing recovered.

Kieran_Burns

marylogic wrote:

Mrlogic persuaded me to go for a hill walk up Cairngorm on friday , but having reached the top and heard the thunder, I vetoed the planned ridge walk. By the time we got down they had stopped running the funicular due to the lightning.
The moral of the story is that walking is simply not natural and I will be sticking to cycling from now on.

Does anyone know if the rubber tyres offer any protection from lightning?

Given that the bolt has travelled several thousand feet to get to the tyres, I doubt very much that the last couple of dozen millimeters is going to make a whole lot of difference. (it's something like 33Kv/cm so the bolt with have millions of volts passing through it)

giant_man

I love them have to say, great when there's some decent lightning to see too, I may think different if I was struck by lightning of course!

Sirius631

giant man wrote:

I love them have to say, great when there's some decent lightning to see too, I may think different if I was struck by lightning of course!

Of course, you may not have a coherent thought ever again.

fossyant

No problem with the stuff we have over here. Just sometimes wish it would decide to rain and rain hard, rather than the odd shower which then makes getting the clothing right.

Was in the middle of one of Florida's biggest thunderstorms in years last year. Hit Disney at about 8pm, and had 20,000 strikes in under an hour. The amount of rain was incredible - you couldn't have cycled in it. We were in Downtown Disney, and could see the clouds rolling in from all directions. We decided that was it, so legged it for the water taxi back to the hotel. As we pulled in to the dock, the boat was then grounded. We literally just made it back to the room before the rain hit. Absolutely awesome to watch.

seanoconn

fossyant wrote:

No problem with the stuff we have over here. Just sometimes wish it would decide to rain and rain hard, rather than the odd shower which then makes getting the clothing right.

Was in the middle of one of Florida's biggest thunderstorms in years last year. Hit Disney at about 8pm, and had 20,000 strikes in under an hour. The amount of rain was incredible - you couldn't have cycled in it. We were in Downtown Disney, and could see the clouds rolling in from all directions. We decided that was it, so legged it for the water taxi back to the hotel. As we pulled in to the dock, the boat was then grounded. We literally just made it back to the room before the rain hit. Absolutely awesome to watch.

I'd just exited the twister ride/experience at Universal Florida a couple of years ago, when a thunderstorm hit, awesome! Cost me 20 Dollars to buy a rain mack though

Alain Quay

I was ok about them until a camping holiday in the Alps - now I'm nervous. Funny how you think pulling your sleeping bag up over your head will somehow protect you. Apparently Alps dwellers recognise the humming sound when lightning is imminent.

I am surprised how some people take no precautions whatsoever. I have seen lightning hit the ground and it can be very powerful and would probably kill you.

Cars are safe in a lightning storm but what about bikes?

Davidjohnb

Six of us ridning back from a 70 miler on Sunday got caught in a Thunder and lightening storm whilst riding through an open country road, no shelter so had little choice but to continue riding but must admit to being very apprehensive and hoping if it did strike it wouldn't be me or any of my mates, worrying.

Alain Quay

Probably best to get the guy with the steel frame bike to lead the peleton : )