Thursday, June 9, 2011

Should I stay or should I Go?

The weather radar this morning as I prepare to leave for work:
It isn't railing now- I think I can make it before it does.....  Will let you know if I make it before the red and yellow "intense rain" hits.

NOPE!   I got ready to leave, and WHAM it started to pour.    I went back in to reorganize my stuff to T,  and it stopped.  I got optimistic, went back out and WHAM again (this time with Thunder and lightning).
I decided this was a message from the Weather gods, guaranteeing that if I rode, I'd get drenched, and if I didn't it would be absolutely clear the whole way in.  Oh well,  the T was a fine alternative.

12 comments:

  1. We were just about to head out with the kids to school at around 7:45... bikes were carried down to the sidewalk, helmets strapped on, and then... the skies opened up and released a deluge! Ran back up the steps carrying the bikes, ditched the helmets, and made a mad dash for the car. Alas...

    First day not biking to school/work in over a month.

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  2. I use the animate feature of online weather radar which shows what is coming, from where, with little white arrows that indicate where it will go, how fast. This has helped me to wait out and avoid several approaching storms.

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  3. it wasn't supposed to rain at all, so I was surprised to hear the rain at all. looked at the doppler, and the cloud looked small, so i decided to chance it for my ride from JP to Burlington.

    well, let's just say that at the end of my ride, i have prune hands. i didn't mind the delightfully misty warm first part of the ride, but the torrential downpour of the second half (even if on the minuteman) was not fun at all.

    i left the house at 6:15, well before the real rain came. ah well!

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  4. nope... didn't do it, started to thunder, lightning, and downpour right as I was getting ready to walk out... I drove (from Newton) but days like this remind me why I ride most other days ...

    ...Traffic :/

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  5. @Somervillan, yep that was me- helmet on, ready to go.
    JRA, I try to do that, but the storm was so many scattered cells, and the resolution wasn't fine enough to tell. Do you have a suggestion for a site that offers detailed resolution?
    JP Twins- good luck drying out
    Astoluc, one of my co-workers who normally bikes elected to drive, and got rear ended on her way in :(

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  6. I didn't have to be downtown until 10am today, so I was able to wait it out, left at 9:15 and took a leisurely ride in. I still have a chance to get soaked on the way home. But that just might feel really good after a hot and sweaty ride!
    Mark

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  7. Yup! When I woke up to the sound of raindrops I was in denial. It was supposed to rain this afternoon, not this morning. After checking the forecast I decided to drive (no accident like your colleague, but I don't like missing the bike ride.) However, based on what I saw this afternoon, I'm glad I drove. http://www.flickr.com/photos/48459019@N06/5816579746/in/photostream

    RJD

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  8. Soaked from head to roe!
    Made the mistake of wearing my raincoat, my upper body soaked with sweat, lower with rain. One day, I will learn.
    Mark

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  9. I've crossed a bridge. The only interest the weather report now has is in what I wear and what I carry, and whether I'm prepared to hide under a bridge until the electricity moves on.

    Of course, I'm with you that an actual electrical event is worthy of mention and "hardcore points."

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  10. I somehow managed to dodge the heaviest of it both coming and going yesterday. It was sounding dreadful as I was getting ready to go and I remember thunder as I was taking the bike out of the basement. I was in for a bit of a soaking when starting out, but it dried up as I got to Cambridge, and my shorts had wicked themselves dry by the time I got to work.

    Similarly, it was looking rather apocalyptic at day's end, and I remember seeing some lightning flashes in downtown crossing as I was leaving, but it was pretty mild by the time I got to Cambridge.

    The rain jacket doesn't breathe as well as I would like, but that was usually a good reason to keep the speed mild (well that and slippery rim brakes and wet platform pedals on a fixed gear)

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  11. somervillian- I am so glad to know someone else ran for the car. My kids were walking to the bus three with one sad umbrella and just as they reached the end of the block with me standing there watching them thinking- I don't know about this, lightening struck and thunder boomed and they froze and turned and ran home screaming "We are SO not walking". Neighbor dad came running out and said " I'll take em" and he drove them to the busstop as the sky opened up and dropped buckets. timing was not fair.

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