BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I already rode in today. I didn't do anything special or extra. I have no choice but to ride all week about 20 miles a day. Should be fun.

I've been on the fence about what to do today. Having ridden through Hurricane Ivan, I don't feel like I need to earn more stripes, but riding shaves probably 30 minutes from my bus commute time.

If I ride, I'll probably compromise and wear technical clothing (and leave the rain cape/sail at home), and on the ride home, stick to the trail (though I suspect the lower part of Neville may be reaching flood stage by then).

Panther Hollow floods badly, i don't want to ride in this storm i just have little choice.

I make deliveries on my bike, so I have no choice in the matter either. Proper layers, decent fenders and a lil bit of safe riding is all I am planning on.

Currently it is just rain. I am actually changing projects shortly and this week may end up losing my 8 mile bicycle commute in favor of a trip to Cranberry every day.

I was all dressed and ready to leave on a bike but cburch talked some sense into me. The weather is fine now but I worry about bad drivers later (though i honked at 3 dangeroys drvers this morning already). I have no doubt that I have the gear and the bike handling skills for the weather, but if a car is going to hit me, I would rather also be in a car. It is weird and I feel lazy and un-energized since I drove, but I treated this like icy weather. Please be safe and watch for bad drivers if you ride.

They've done a lot of work to keep Panther Hollow from flooding.

As for me, it rains, I get wet.

I'm always leery of riding in the rain for reasons stef describes nicely. Add in the prospect of 40-mph crosswinds (or headwinds) and I will wimp out for a few days without feeling too much guilt.

If you are riding the next few days you automatically earn 8972342 Badass Points in my book.

I biked to the bus, but had a mechanical in that mere 0.8 miles, so the bike may have to sit, even if I feel like invoking Rule 9 later.

I threw an extra blinky on, brought some rain gear, and plan on avoiding the mud/rock slide that surely will be below the Forbes street bridge on Neville/Boundary.

When I ride back, it's just a few blocks downtown, jail trail, then up the hill to Squirrel Hill one way or the other.

Since the biggest piece is jail trail, downtown is congested and slow and therefore feels safe, the uphill piece is slow and I ride on sidewalk (which should be a little more empty than usual), and because I have only a little over 4 miles to go, I plan on ignoring the weather and just getting soaked.

It could definitely be a balance test... if need be I'll get off the bike, but will try not to.

I have a new Arc'Teryx jacket arriving today. I may need to prove myself and test the jacket later on, just because I can.

I would like to ride, but can't be wet at work and don't have very good gear. I need my feet to be dry and that is something I need to address. I hate driving to work. HATE! I feel dead and have no energy. If I could stay dry, I would just ride unless it really is a downpour. Today is no big deal if you ask me. Just normal drizzle and if I had the proper gear, I would just ride. I may go shopping for some rain gear. Not sure what to buy? Something for my feet, legs and body. Oh and some sort of hat. lol I guess I need to be covered from head to toe.

Showers pass is great. I have yet to regret spending lots of money on their stuff as it works. I also thoroughly enjoy breathable protection as oppose to what feels like a garbage bag.

I also considered the fact that traffic will probably be slow on blvd of the allies, but between panther hollow and morningside I worry. I also figure I can pick up the new-to-me bike today on the way home from thick. I couldn't get it home after the reverse reverse keg ride on Saturday, and I was on a bike already.

What bike?

A dirt jumper.

I was planning to ride in, but I ended up having a meeting to call into before I left for the office, and now it's late enough anyways I'm just going to work at home. It does look pretty nasty for this evening - be safe out there.

i just wore a rain jacket on the way in. i should've worn pants too, or at least brought something to change into. i also wore my winter gloves for the first time this year. my feet got a little wet, but i can change into flipflops at work, so my shoes and socks will be dry when it's time to leave. my pants are mostly dry already, after about an hour.

so far, it was just any other fall day. the wind was pretty constant at about 15 mph (i would guess), not that sort of whipping and gusting wind that knocks you around. also, traffic seemed considerably lighter than usual.

we'll see what the ride home brings. but at least i'll be on my way home then.

Yeah, I don't care about the ride home. If I had to I could walk my bike or ride a sidewalk most all the way if it was really crazy, but I don't think it is going to be all that around here. Lots of rain yes, but no huge winds, just that 40mph stuff that isn't that big of a deal.

Anyway, I need to get more gear. A jacket, paints and such. Have to have dry feet since I am on them all day.

+1 on Showers Pass stuff, it's great. I still haven't done anything about my feet though, so they usually get all wet. Not a big deal in the summer (if it's really bad I keep a spare pair of socks in my desk), in the winter I usually just wear big honking waterproof boots. It's this inbetween "cold rain" crap that sucks.

@stu even if I feel like invoking Rule 9 later.

Y'know those rules bother me: none of them are make any sense for transportation riding. No even enough sense to be funny.

Particularly this rule 9 "If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period."

Fancying that riding a bike makes you a "badass"? Ha!

WTF? Of course I'll be out on my bike. What am I suppose d to do, hide under my bed? Nothing "Badass" about it.

Just another indication that "The rules" are for serious car drivers that ride bikes for sport.

In the eastern part of the state, they will be makeing the very sensible move of reducing speed limits on some interstates to 45 mph.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121029/NEWS/121029761/-1/rss03

But, I bet that car drivers will still drive at 75 mph.

On Wednesday there will be news stories of serious accidents. And I bet those stories will blame the accidents on the weather, not the failure of drivers to drive appropriately for the weather.

I know! These are the kinds of assumptions that SUV drivers tend to call me out on! Yeah, I do make speculations based on my experience with classes of people.

For anyone that has to ride in the bad weather, please be extra careful. Even relatively "good" drivers are going to be dealing with lower visibility. If there's a heavy rain then all the people that thought they could get a few more miles out of those tires are going to suddenly be surprised to find out they really couldn't when they start to hydroplane. You don't want to be in their way when it happens. I get wanting/preferring/needing to bike - but the risk to life and limb may outweigh that. Buses and cars are not bad options all the time. Sometimes they're prudent. Perhaps some of the folks on here could consider a car pool option with each other for times like this? Hope this doesn't come across as preachy or too "motherly". Just say'n.

I am looking forward to it- rode today, no big deal, will ride every day this week. At least it is not really cold out, although I did wear nylon wind pants this morning- first time not riding in shorts since last spring.

Adding to @srpit's suggestion: high winds include wind-blown debris. It's not just a question of other road users causing problems...sometimes it's nice to have a steel cage wrapped around you, to deflect the trash cans, parking chairs, or whatever else is flying into your path at speed.

That said, I generally operate under the principle of "if it's not safe enough to ride, it's not safe enough to drive", but not everyone has the luxury that I do of being able to work from home.

I absolutely hate not riding each day, but I'm also getting a ride in today and tomorrow. I'm not as worried about the rain (although that becomes a huge pain) as I am about the wind gusts and low visibility. blah.

Just in case:

http://yehudamoon.com/10152012/

Worst flash flood I rode in, was the middle fo the night after a rock-n-roll gig. I pulled a trailer with a speaker cab and had an amp in one pannier and some electronic effects and an electric guitar (in a gig back, inside of a large trash bag) in the other.

At one point the metal mesh bottom of my Bob trailer was underwater. The waterproof bag with those trailers is really awesome though (and it was new at the time).

When I got home, all that had soaked through was a tiny bit of water on the gig bag. Had I not unpacked the guitar, it would likely have had minor damage before I woke up the next day, but as it was, it was fine.

It was one of those "I don't think I want to do that again" moments. I seem to have a lot of those.

Rode in this morning. Could've done without the cold needles jabbing me all over every couple seconds, but the roads between L'ville and Oakland weren't bad, and with the exception of one idiot on Liberty who kept edging into the bike lane, I didn't even have any car interactions. (I did yell at a few people for not having their lights on, though.) Randomly picked up a jacket on end-of-season clearance a couple months ago at Target that turns out to be plenty waterproof, but without fenders the extra pair of pants I brought was definitely necessary.

That's impressive Mick, holy crap...

Today was the first time since spring that I could put on effective rain gear without worrying about sweat. I liked it.

My new flourescent yellow with retro-reflective stripes were awesome!

http://www.toughweld.com/products/3308-glowear-8915-class-e-rain-pants

Got them for less than $10 downtown at Burlington last weekend. (They still have a few at that price.)

I'm kinda rocking a clown vibe, with them being large enough for me to pull over shoes or even boots, but they're still cool.

I'm ! VISIBLE ! !

Alas, with a double layer, they will be too warm for temps over about 55 degrees.

Shoe covers... I like the tighter fitting Specialized ones that are not insulated. Allows me to choose socks for temperature. I only require water and wind blockage. I am covering cleats.

Whoa.

I love that if I search BCF's website for 'rain pants', three of the top four results are for rain coats, two of the next row are maternity tops... and most of the rest are ski or snowboard pants. #patternmatchfail#

I'll ride today, but it will be on the trainer in the garage.

The ride home was anticlimactic.

I think it's time for platform pedals until I get some nice shoe covers. My clipless shoes were doing a very unsatisfactory job of keeping my feet dry on the way home (not their fault, they were just trying to help keep things ventilated, they don't know any better)

http://www.rei.com/product/725342/sugoi-resistor-bike-booties

My feet have yet to get wet in these.

Edit: I do use rain pants over top of them, which seem to keep water out as well. Some of the reviews aren't good, I don't think the bad reviewers are using them with rain pants. Shoes like the keens I own (ventless) help also,but they work fine with my vented Lakes

lol http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c2#/video/weather/2012/10/29/sandy-raw-ny-long-island.cnn

watch at about 25 seconds

@erok watch at about 25 seconds

Y'know, I ranted a bit earlier about rules and how riding in "bad" weather doesn't really make you a bad ass.

I'll make an exception for this guy.

I didn't have a reason to ride today, the only time I left the house was to go shopping, and without a trailer I wasn't getting groceries, pumpkins and firewood on my bike. Wednesday I have a photo shoot at a clients office in oakdale though and I plan on bike/bus/biking it out there because screw driving on the parkway.

@ Pearmask I have the very same shoe covers as Stef and they kept my feet dry even without rain pants.

The rain is far less today. So much for some massive storm...

I'm a little disappointed this morning. I bought some of the clown pants Mick mentioned and thought this hurricane would be the perfect opportunity to test and compare them to my old, dark-get-hit-by-a-car-green pants.

Aside from being a lovely town, Pgh is excellently situated to avoid most disasters, the hurricanes of the coasts, tornadoes of the Midwest, killer snows of the North, ice storms of the southeast, raging oven heatstorms of the Southwest. I like it here.

I enjoy our weather, I really do. I love the feeling of accomplishment of riding through the rain though admittedly I barely ride in the winter.

i've had to continue making deliveries every day, so i couldn't not be out in the poo weather. i did get to test out the awesomeness of my new Chrome pants, and yesterdays ride gave me a chance to really think about what other weather-appropriate gear i still need to buy. dunno why i keep holding off on buying fenders, but i regret it every time i ride in the rain.

wasn't crazy about the gusts of wind yesterday, or the slippery leaves. today wasn't bad, it's just tough to accept that for realsies summer is over.

chrome pants? for some reason i imagine thouse would be quite shiny.

I recently snagges some fenders for my bike, removable ones @ iron city, under $28 for the pair.

Thender skirt on my front fender fell off sometime during the summer. I've discovered that I miss it.

http://www.chromebagsstore.com/apparel/womens-apparel/vanya.html These are my new fav pants. they're PERFECT for cycling in, so comfy. not very warm, but stretchy enough that i'll be comfortable putting a base layer on under them.

They have these at thick, ladies, and they are amazing. I didn't Know that they carried them until after I ordered online. They are amazing. I have two pair. I wore a pair on Saturday in the rain for the first time and after they got saturated, they stayed comfy. I think I should have gotten the medium, but went with the small. They fit like they should, but I don't like to have any pants that are form fitting. Then I went to get the Mediums and they were sold out. So I got a large and they fall down without a belt, but they are super comfy and I can fit chamois under them.

I bought a cheap rain suit at tractor supply a few weeks ago for reasons other than riding to work. It's basically a thick garbage bag that doesn't breath but it was cheap. I've had a rain jacket for years but I wore the rain pants from the suit this morning. It was awesome. Rain jacket, pants, water proof gloves with wool liners, and I'm super dry and warm after my ride.

This REI ultra light jacket is my new favorite jacket for commuting. Huge pit zips for comfort, detachable hood which goes up over my bern helmet and stays in place, it's also pretty packable, so I keep it in a stuff sack in my messenger bags in case of rain (if it's not already raining when I leave the house)

http://www.rei.com/product/794207/rei-ultra-light-jacket-mens

Anybody else get this little pic when going to the Pittsburgh page of weather dot com? Or is this the internets "targeting" me again?

Pretty cool pic, regardless.



Also, I'm guessing NYC is going to explode with bikes in the coming days, based on their transit situation.

I got the same one. Still could be targeted. Need to ask a non-cyclist.

I was riding on Ellsworth Avenue on Monday night for a bit. Coming from East Liberty to Shadyside , I stopped at the red light at Negley Avenue and saw two other cyclists headed the other direction. Another cyclist then overtook me headed inbound. It was raining pretty seriously and it made me smile that there were so many other people out riding anyway.

Then a little later, riding from Shadyside to Oakland, I saw another rider with a mega-bright flashing light (just like mine) and just a half-second before I could hit my bell to ring hello, he (or perhaps she) dinged at me first. Again, in a pretty heavy rain.

I'm glad to be part of such a great community!

No stopping a cyclist.

http://youtu.be/0nYj9s_OJHE