Riding your bike in the rain isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Wet cycling shoes, cold hands and soggy lycra are never ideal. Manon talks us through 8 top tips on how to enjoy cycling and stay safe on the roads, even in wet weather!
00:00 Intro
01:08 Mudguards
02:44 Cover your phone
03:27 Know your route
04:20 Road surface
05:48 Ride with caution
06:10 Lights
06:53 Overshoes
08:00 Check the weather
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Now a lot of us cyclists can fall under the fair weather Rider category myself included where we’ll ride our bikes all summer long in the beautiful weather and as soon as the bad weather hits you’ll find us hibernating indoors probably on our indoor trainers but recently I’ve been choosing
To head out on my bike even when it’s a little bit Drizzy which is very out of character for me but you know it really hasn’t been that bad because I’ve been following these very simple steps that make riding in the rain a lot better so
Make sure you stay tuned to the very end of the video to get all the tips I’m going to address the elephant in the room here I’ve chosen to film this video when I thought it was going to be pouring down with rain but as you
Can see the sun is shining in my face and it’s not raining but it has been raining and the roads are still a little bit wet but no matter if it’s raining now or or not please follow my advice in this video so it helps you when you go
Out when it is pouring down now first off we’re going to start with a very obvious one mud guards now these are the Holy Grail when it comes to riding in the rain and people have probably been nagging at you before to get mud guards it’s really going to help
And you’re like whatever whatever haven’t got time for that trust me on this one get yourself a proper set of mud Gods ones that go right over your wheel that are going to actually protect you and as well if you are riding in a group it is going to protect Riders
Behind you as well at a bare minimum if you don’t want to have a full set of mud guards get yourself an RS saver maybe even a gcn one these basically fit under your saddle and they will protect the spray from your backside and no one
Likes a soggy Shamy so at least get yourself one of these now if you are struggling to fit mudguards to your bike I do admit that they can be a pain and quite fiddly to get on right well Alex over on the gcn tech channel has just
Done a video on how to fit mudguards and loads of tips and tricks to make it a little bit easier to get on so make sure you head over and watch that video after this video of Course now I would recommend keeping your mud guards on all winter long because even when it’s not physically raining there is always going to be surface water on the floor which when you don’t have mud guards is just going to spray up on your body and you’re
Going to feel like you have been rained on because the amount of rain splashing up on you whereas if you have the mud guards on it will keep you bone dry trust me so if I haven’t sld mud guards to yet I know what else I can
Do now most of us will head out on our bikes with our mobile phones in fact we don’t go many places with our phones these days but when it is raining I always like to put mine in a little sandwich bag but most phones are waterproof these days but personally I
Don’t like to risk it and just gives me a piece of Mind knowing that my phone’s going to be dry and especially when you come to stop and then go on your phone and the screen’s wet from all the moisture in your back pocket it’s there’s nothing worse than when it
Doesn’t work so it’s a little tip that you can do now the weather has been off and on today and as you can see we have a lovely rainbow in the background or an envas as they like to call it in Wales now when you are riding out in the rain you might want to think about adapting your riding style in a few different ways firstly I would say you might want to consider the route now for example Lanes like this that I’m on today probably are not ideal for riding when
It is in wet conditions because they tend to be well the surface tends to be not as good as some of the main roads and they get very Mucky and very wet very quickly so it’s best to avoid these all together you’re also going to want to think about
Your braking you don’t want to be doing any real abrupt braking because when it’s wet we all know it can be quite slippery so make sure to look ahead look in advance and anticipate when you’re going to break another way you might want to adapt your riding style is choosing
Lines on the roads now in the dry you could probably ride over this drain no problem but in the wet you might want to take a little bit more caution these tend to get real slippy in the wet I know from from experience let’s say hit
One of these bad boys flew out going around the corner back in the day when I was racing learned my lesson never done it again learn from my mistakes don’t ride over these in the wet now moving on from drains white lines can be just as
Slippery in the wet as well we’ve all been there when we’ve been out in the rain and we’ve had a little back wheel skid cuz we’ve hit a road marking or white line so try and avoid these as best as you can it’s not always possible
Or if you are going to go over them slowly just go over them over them with caution and try not to break quite aggressively now when you do have really big downpours it can leave a lot of surface water and mainly I’m talking about the UK here our roads they’re a
Little bit iffy there are a few poles let’s say and when you have surface water covering those potholes you don’t even know they’re there so you could go full p through a puddle and end up in a big ptle like this one and it could end very badly so I would highly highly
Advise really trying to avoid riding through deep puddles because you just do not know what’s underneath that and it is just not worth risking it now when you’re out riding in the rain you might just want to go slow please just go slow please slow it down
You don’t need to take any risk going around corners really fast just step back a little bit just cool it down just go slow please right next up on my list is lights now when the weather’s pretty bad it can get quite dark and gloomy and don’t go thinking that you just need
Lights on when it is dark and nighttime it is good to have them on in the daytime even in the pouring rain or just in the winter so I tend to leave mine on my bike all winter long and then if the bad weather comes in you can just switch
Them on just makes you a lot more visible to other Road users which makes you feel a lot safer on the road as well which means you are going to enjoy riding your bike in the bad weather a little bit more cuz you know you’re going to be
Safe do you like having white feet on the bike no I thought not either so make sure when you are planning on doing a fair bit of wet weather riding to invest in a pair of overshoes waterproof ones that are really going to keep help keep
Your feet nice and dry and you can get lots of different sort of overshoes you can get latex ones which are kind of the same material as a swimming hat they can be really hard to get on but they will keep your feet nice and dry kny shoes do
Get wet when you’re out in your bike make sure when you get back to dry your shoes so make sure to take the inso out and let them dry separately and then you want to get your shoe and you can shove a bit of newspaper in there to absorb
The moisture or just let them air dry in a well ventilated warish room but make sure not to put kind of like direct heat like a hair dryer that’s really hot on the shoes cuz sometimes that can make them shrink and then your feet won’t fit in your nice sacking shoes
And my very last tip would be to check the weather forecast there are hundreds of different apps out there with I mean they’re probably all different one might say it rains one might say it’s dry as I said earlier in the video it was pretty
Sunny half an hour ago now I think it’s going to rain cats and donkeys but anyway back to the weather apps make sure to check them you can see when the rain is coming in what way the wind is going to be going so you could plan your
Route to maybe go the their direction to avoid the worst of the rain so you don’t get pulled on the whole time and now we’re back to sunshine blue skies all in the space of a few hours how the weather can change ehy but anyway hopefully some
Of those wet weather riding tips can help you the next time you’re out in the rain on your bike but you know what to do if you have any your own tips leave them in the comment section and I’ll see you in the next video
27 Comments
What are your tips for riding in the rain? β
"We don't go many places without our phones these days." Yeah if you're a pod and an addict. Why encourage people to be thus so? Aren't there enough cell phone junkie twats out there already? Especially the ones who are compulsive to the point of using them driving or for that matter on bikes. Also I really don't see any need to have one with riding a bike, and for myself, it conflicts with the spirt of being on a bike ride. You have to be able to set computerized crap aside and there is no better time to do so than riding.
On the braking aspect, the guy who runs pad brakes already has to think ahead quite a lot more than the fellow who runs disk brakes. The mindset is already in place. On the "aps" part, you know there are also things called radio, TV, and newspapers which give forecasts just the same, besides just sticking your head outside and thinking about it yourself!
Hi Viz clothing is something you should be promoting. Bright yellow with reflective stripes. Even in the summer but especially on dull days.
Just laugh about it, keep moral high and it's easy.
Mudguards, over Shoes, rain coat and have a laugh
My two tips for wet weather riding supplemental to what Manon said:
1 never ride through a puddle where you can't see the road below the water surface. It can easily be hiding a pothole, especially if the water is murky. And of course if you do see a pothole, avoid it.
2. watch out for road repairs where there is exposed tar at the join (overbanding as it is called). That stuff is slippier than white lines.
Bonus tip: Ass-Savers are, in my experience, a waste of time. They have to be very well aligned to protect you, which means they mustn't move, and they don't protect riders behind you.
No thanks. I donβt fancy a cold. I prefer the gym nowadays as I donβt want to look like a 12 year old girl.
Belt drive with internally geared hub, mud guards, and Zipper partial fairing and you'll be singing in the rain…
Cycling in the rain always sucks especially when it is cold.
I dont start a ride with rainning but I get prepared if Im sure the raining will be in the way …
I need that ass saver lol
When it rains that always means "Gravel bike " to meπ
My biggest issue is my glasses. Canβt wear contacts.
Get a decent city/commuter bike with proper mudguard that you can also use for a short training ride. That will also likely have a bit grippier tires and you don't care so much about dirt in the drivetrain. Get a water proof cell phone. I did greenland roll training in the kayak (with lots of exits unter water), having forgotten my cell phone: No problem.
The lane Manon is riding down about four minutes in looks like it has not seen a street sweeper in years; there's so much build-up of dirt and even vegetation in the middle that it's as if it's reverting from paved to gravel. Is that pretty typical of maintenance on rural roads in the UK at this point?
All very good advice. One thing not mentioned is wheel and tire width. I moved over from a late 2000s Shimano Ultegra wheelset to HED Ardennes LT+ (since rebranded as the HED Ardennes RA Pro) and this meant internal rim width going up from just over 13mm to just over 21mm. On my late aughts rim brake Cannondale bike this required me to get new long reach brake calipers to fit the wheels (Shimano 105 5800 to replace the original Cannondale own brand part), but it was worth it because the cornering in two specific conditions — wet, and dry/dusty — improved so much. The generally more stable handling, better ride and reduction in tire pressure from 120psi to 80 were all nice too; with a 32-35mm set of tires you might be able to get it below 70psi though my Cannondale won't fit such wide tires; I pretty much have to keep things to a 25 in Michelin and 28 in other brands though I could possibly see sneaking a 30mm Continental in there. This will obviously not be a problem on newer bikes but it shows what's possible even on a fairly traditional rim brake bike.
Beautiful summer weather? Yeah if your a duck
Since a ride in the rain resulted in a broken collar-bone I avoid rain, as the risk of a crash and the currently constant fear reduces the joy of a ride I avoid riding in the rain. Low temperatures are no problem to me, as I have the right equipement/clothes, but a wet surface i currently a no-go.
Winter rain riding is a headset distroyer good full front mudguard essential protecting you & your bike from dirt/grit & salt
Everything's better with Manon.
Rain builds character.
I would addβ¦.bright clothing and old or cheapish audax bike with full fitted mudguards and either slime tubes and fairly puncture resistant tyres or really both. I got a kinesis frame with 15 year old campag groupset and wheels. Out on it today and went past a farmer trimming hedgerow. Held my breath as i rode over the thorns and sticks in the road but lived to fight another day. Rim brakesβ¦. Not ideal, just need to brake earlier
Unless someone's invented wipers for glasses, that's the biggest hazard for me. Visibility is awful with a pair of wet glasses
Turbo time!
Proper mudguards? Ones that go all the way from behind your bottom bracket to the back of your wheel? Check.
I'm quite picky as for the weather so on my rides it rarely rains and when it does it is usually showers. If there's a place to hide I hide and wait. When it's warm there's a high chance that I just ride through it without putting any rain protection on. I rode maybe over 6000 km in high mountains and it rained only about 5x and it was nearly always a shower (soaking wet only 2x). As for winter rides, conditions are often humid. Clothing with basic water protection is a must. Temperatures are lower and keeping your hands and feet dry and warm is absolutely essential. So my number one rule is try to keep your hands and feet dry and warm especially when it's cold.