I`m done.....

[carlosfandangus]

When the weather is awful as it's been and as it's been described, there is no right bike. You're going to get soaked, it's going to be demoralising and in the long term you're going to hate cycling regardless of what bike you use to commute with.

It is certainly demoralising, horizontal rain and 60 mph gusts as I type this, I don't blame anyone who gives it a miss for awhile, 2 more months and hopefully a different story.

 

[classic33]

@iateyoubutler ; I feel your pain. I too have tried, and failed, to feel the love for cycling in this depressing climate (west coast of Scotland). It has been utterly foul for years now, including most of the "summer" months. I sit here on yet another disgustingly wet and windy Saturday, on a cycling forum instead of getting the wind in my hair. It really worries me that climate change has indeed arrived, and this is the future. Those who think that cycling is a solution to congestion problems clearly don't live in this part of the country - it won't catch on here until hell freezes over. No one wants to get soaked, frozen and blown backwards; not even reasonably keen cyclists, so what chance for your average Joe.
I have a stable of 5 nice bikes; 3 of which will be going up for sale soon, as the realisation dawns that they are just gathering dust and that 2 will be more than enough for my needs. Fitness has dropped and cycling holidays are no longer an option due to the lack of fitness - and as I approach the big 60 I can't see things improving. I tried and failed; thank you weather gods .

Failure only comes through no longer trying. Don't stop trying!

 

[Brandane]

Failure only comes through no longer trying. Don't stop trying!

It's only a failure on the cycling front; there IS more to life!

 

[Brandane]

I refuse to exercise indoors as I detest it.

This in spades. I suppose it depends on what your motivation for cycling is; obviously if your aim is to achieve fitness then any old form of exercise is better than nothing - but I tried rollers and they were torture. All that sweat and effort but no fresh air or scenery? Must be like cycling in London . No thanks!

 

[SpokeyDokey]

This in spades. I suppose it depends on what your motivation for cycling is; obviously if your aim is to achieve fitness then any old form of exercise is better than nothing - but I tried rollers and they were torture. All that sweat and effort but no fresh air or scenery? Must be like cycling in London . No thanks!

I have odd spates of using my Turbo and it is hideous - a truly mind-numbing experience. Even as short a stint as 30 minutes is enough to fry my brain.

How anyone can enjoy it is beyond me - it's in the same category as boring housework, ironing, diy, gardening etc - all stuff that you sub-contract out...

...now there's a thought!

 

[Racing roadkill]

Take up cycle speedway. We’ve got loads of big storms lining up over the next few weeks. This current weather is just the amuse bouche. #5 #9

 

[BigMeatball]

Not true, whether you hate getting damp on the bike is a personal thing, not inevitable. Plenty of clothing choices out there to keep you comfortable in the conditions we’ve had this winter. But those who refuse to fit mudguards and get covered with crap off the road, well that’s a different matter that’s perfectly avoidable.

Enjoy your miserable rides then

 

[Mo1959]

Not true, whether you hate getting damp on the bike is a personal thing, not inevitable. Plenty of clothing choices out there to keep you comfortable in the conditions we’ve had this winter.


Sorry, but when the road just 2 miles away looks like this, it doesn’t matter what clothes, bike or mudguards you have!


View: https://www.facebook.com/stvnews/videos/623345001798271/UzpfSTU0MDQzODc5MDoxMDE1NzUyNzE0ODEwODc5MQ/

 

[Smokin Joe]

I have odd spates of using my Turbo and it is hideous - a truly mind-numbing experience. Even as short a stint as 30 minutes is enough to fry my brain.

Thirty minutes is ten longer than I can put up with. I only use the turbo when I have been off the bike for a while and I want to get the legs back in some sort of trim for when I venture out.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Enjoy your miserable rides then

The rides aren’t miserable it’s you that is miserable. The emotion is yours it doesn’t belong to the ride or weather. I don’t get miserable in rain or challenging conditions , you do, there’s a difference.

 

[rivers]

What it boils down to is people are commuting on completely the wrong sort of bikes these days. They are obsessing about bike weights, being able to achieve X average speed, and how many gears they can get on a bike.
i used to do 4 miles each way to work by bike, come rain or shine - unless the weather was really foul in which case I got the bus.
The difference is though I used a hub geared 3-speed roadster with steel wheels. It didn't need cleaning every five minutes (in fact it hardly ever got cleaned unless I was at a loose end and I was feeling extra enthusiastic), the rims didn't get ground into grey alloy paste, and there were no derailleurs to get gummed up with shite off the road. It was low-cost, low maintenance cycling. Tyres and brake blocks were the only thing I ever had to replace, and not frequently either. I used to accept that 4 miles would take me an average of 25 minutes each way per day, so about 10 mph. I wasn't trying to ride a silly long commute distance at the speed a fit club rider might aspire to manage at the weekend.
What a lot of people are doing now is riding long commutes, but trying to compress the time absorbed by riding unsuitable fast sporting bikes, not accepting the lower average speeds involved in utility riding using a proper utility bike.

For me, cycle commuting is the quickest, easiest, and most pleasant way to get to work. But it is a long-ish commute at 16 miles on the way and 10 on the way home. I opt for the longer way in because it is mostly off-road, and there is less angry traffic. However, as it is a 16 mile commute, I want to get to work in good time. So I opt for a bike that will get me there quicker (which is also a blast to ride), which when the weather is nice is one of your worst nightmares of a bike, 11 speed carbon fibre aero bike. It takes me about an hour, give or take a couple of minutes. When the weather is a bit grim, I take my other bike, which you also wouldn't like, being it's aluminium with hydro disc brakes. But it does have mudguards. It takes me about an hour and 8 minutes on that bike.
I could take the bus to work, but it's 3 buses and 90-150 minutes. I could drive, but my wife and I only have one car, and she normally needs it as she is a self-employed fitness instructor and works all over the place. Plus driving could easily take 90 minutes +. I don't want to spend 3+ hours of my day commuting to and from work. So I spend about 2 hours a day commuting, but use it as a workout which means I don't need to go to the gym. Win-win. Just because others choose to do something differently than you, or choose to ride expensive carbon fibre bikes for commuting, doesn't mean it's wrong. It's just different.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

But those who refuse to fit mudguards and get covered with crap off the road, well that’s a different matter that’s perfectly avoidable.

Even on a properly-equipped bike, cycling in shite weather is not an enjoyable experience - plus it becomes more dangerous with less grip, less visibility, and more other idiot road users to contend with.

Most members of the public are simply not silly or masochistic enough to deliberately beast themselves by riding bikes in foul conditions - hence that year-round cycling to work is always going to remain very much a small minority activity.

Everyone on here must enjoy cycling in some form or other, but just because you enjoy riding bikes in your free time in decent weather doesn't automatically mean you are going to put up with doing it every working day, and endure spending half your time at work slowly drying out, only to get another drenching on the way home after you've been on your feet all day. That's not 99% of the population's idea of fun.

 

[DCBassman]

Eh? I've not said anything at all about wrong clothes, man up etc etc. You're confusing me with someone else so wind it back in , ok?

All I've said is that this winter has been....well.....average except it's been milder than usual which is good. A decent barometer around here is the Snake Pass. It's only been closed 2 days this winter which is really unusual

Wasn't aimed at you, was aimed, in a general fashion, at the man-up brigade. But your averages are still meaningless at any given location.

 

[ColinJ]

@iateyoubutler ; I feel your pain. I too have tried, and failed, to feel the love for cycling in this depressing climate (west coast of Scotland). It has been utterly foul for years now, including most of the "summer" months. I sit here on yet another disgustingly wet and windy Saturday, on a cycling forum instead of getting the wind in my hair. It really worries me that climate change has indeed arrived, and this is the future. Those who think that cycling is a solution to congestion problems clearly don't live in this part of the country - it won't catch on here until hell freezes over. No one wants to get soaked, frozen and blown backwards; not even reasonably keen cyclists, so what chance for your average Joe.

My late mum and her side of the family were from Mull and the Oban area. I love the country and the people but I could never live there. The weather is bad enough here in Yorkshire - I couldn't take it worse than this!

It does seem that the weather is getting worse but I had a 6-week holiday in Scotland (around the mid 1960s; I can't remember the exact year) in which it poured with rain every day! OTOH. I also had a couple of glorious 6-week holidays with the sun shining all day, every day.

If I ever have enough money (which seems unlikely!), I would start spending late autumn to early spring abroad, somewhere with a warm climate and lovely roads for cycling. (And go back there again in between if/when the summer here were a washout!)

 

[nickyboy]

Wasn't aimed at you, was aimed, in a general fashion, at the man-up brigade. But your averages are still meaningless at any given location.

Averages being averages, if rainfalll was average half the country will have been drier than average and half wetter than average

The way people are talking it sounds like this winter is an outlier, ridiculously wet. It isn't, the actual rainfall numbers don't support this. We forget that every winter has poor weather in the UK and this year is no worse than most