Honest question: what happens when it rains?
You see the clouds in the sky? They are made of tiny water droplets. At some point the cloud is saturated and the droplets get too big to stay suspended in the air any longer, so they start falling towards the earth as raindrops. Some may hit a cyclist and either roll off their raincoat or get absorbed by other clothing until they evaporate again, travelling upwards into the clouds and starting their journey all over again.
I have rain proof pants and a thin rain proof jacket with me while cycling. Sounds tedious but when the first rain drops start I stop for a second and put on the gear. It’s pretty fast and then keeps me warm and comfortable. I can’t stress enough how comfortable it is to cycle through rain in proper gear.
The last stat I’ve seen in Paris is that if you were to bike to work every day on a 9 to 5 job, then you will encounter rain 17 times per year in average. When that happens, as others said, you can just accept being wet and/or dress appropriately, or take public transport.
Does that take into account the hours when rainfall occurs or how could that number be so low? In a city with an average of 162 days of rainfall/year (according to climate.top, no idea how accurate that is). Apparently Amsterdam has 217 days of rain. Oooff. Been there a few times, can confirm. People still bike.
I vaguely remembered they used an assumption of 20 minutes commute with fixed hours. So yes, they were taking the hours into account.
My personal experience commuting 2 to 3 days a week is that I was soaked 4/6 times the past 2 years, slightly wet probably 15 to 20 times. I’ve chosen public transport once but rain was a contributing factor, not the key reason.
I live in the Pacific Northwest of North America. It rains here a lot. The vast majority of my trips are by bike year round. I tend to find rain jackets and pants cause me to sweat uncomfortably. I usually wear a rain cape. I drape it over my handlebars and it keeps my pants mostly dry and my top completely dry. Once I get where I’m going it’s easy to remove and tuck it into my bag.
If I’m just riding to ride I’ll wear a merino wool base layer and just get wet. The wool stays warm even when I’m soaked
Rain jacket. Or just a normal coat with hood that’s water proof. If it’s really coming down waterproof trousers as well that I pack in my rucksack. Rain is really not a problem and I commute every day by bike.
If you have quality rain gear you will stay dry. But also, lots of people choose other transit modes when it rains. I lived in a very bike friendly city and when it rained, the public transit would be packed with people and the roads packed with cars.
In fact, this is a bit of a strange question. Are we assuming that everyone is always going to be biking with no other options? I don’t think anyone is even advocating for that.
Are we assuming that everyone is always going to be biking with no other options? I don’t think anyone is even advocating for that.
BUT WHAT IF YOUR LEGS ARE BROKEN? WHAT IF THERE’S A NUCLEAR WAR???
The people who seem to think that biking is an untenable option because you might have to very occasionally use other modes of transport make me wonder if that mindset comes from the fact that people feel that it’s normal to only use one mode of transport pretty much ever, because that’s how many people are with cars.
If there’s a nuclear war I’d rather be using the decentralized, free to use mode of transport that is bikes. Or legs. When the war comes all the car drivers will run out of fuel in a couple days and have to steal it, but I already have a bicycle and cannot be stopped by the breakdown of society.
On most rainy days you can get quite far with checking rain radar prediction. It often doesn’t really matter if i cycle somewhere at 16h30 or 17h00, you look at the radar and try to not get wet :'). Most rain is in short bursts, dry periods between, most cycle trips aren’t longer than 20-30 mins. And yeah, sometimes you do get wet. That is okay if you got good gear and if it didn’t take you by surprise.
In most places it actually rains a lot less that you would.think, and often it only rains a small part of the day. I know that when the forecast is for rain often the 30 minutes it takes me to commute are dry.
I commute everyday in a place that has a reputation for being a bit rainy in winter and I get actually wet like 5 times a year.
You get a little wet. Luckily, you’re not made out of sugar, and as such you won’t melt away from the rain.
I don’t live in Paris but rain jackets, ponchos, even plastic bags are a thing.
