I love cycling in the rain.

I love cycling in the rain.

A Brighton Mitre road racer after a particularly nasty and filthy wet Kingston Wheelers event around Dunsfold

I REALLY love cycling in the Summer rain, in a thunderstorm. I used to deliberately go out training in rainstorms and drive my Mum insane with misplaced fear. It’s just so damned elemental.

Cycling in the rain is fine, as long as you have the kit to keep you comfy. Freezing your proverbials off is not fun. I don’t even really mind getting a face full of crud. It’s fun and ‘epic’ to get filthy and have those thousand yard stare eyes and strange gritty patterns on your face. But only now and then. A week of cold heavy rain, forcing yourself outside is pants.

Mountain biking in the pouring rain can be very cool if in the ‘right kind of mud’. Claggy quagmires slow everything down to a crawl and make your bike weigh 5kg more. But sploshy mud is ace *SPLOSH!*. I prefer to get absolutely covered in splat. It feels like a proper ride then, and you can laugh at each other. Just bring towels to sit on in the car!

As for commuting. Well. you just want really good rain gear. Turning up for work with wet undies and sweat mingling with diesel wash off the roads because your raincoat doesn’t breath is an all-day muttering-under-your-breath-moanfest.

It’s very easy to write this from a nice toasty dry office.

May 01, 2020

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