Riding in the rain

Actually it was Brett that said that.  I said I was too sweet to ride in the rain and might melt.    I do agree with you though that it is not too smart to take a curve faster when it is wet than when it is dry. 

That is a good tip Jim.  While listening to the TdF, I heard the guys discussing tire pressure and wet pavement.  I thought it was very interesting that they say the tour guys drop their air pressure to about 80 psi for mountain stages in the rain.  I thought that was kinda of low, but since I do not plan on racing down the mountains in the rain I do not guess I will try it out. 

I have not seen you on here a lot so maybe you do not know the situation here.  This thread actually got started because karen26.2 wrecked yesterday and was unconcious for some period of time and was taken to the hospital.  Karen and LisaB are very good friends so there is some emotional attachment to this thread, not just from Lisa, but from a lot of us as Karen has lots of good friends here.

This thread got started because on the Karen26.2 thread, Katie said something about not riding in the rain.  Mindy rightly thought it might be a good idea to start a thread about riding safely in the rain.  I think if you go back and read your two post objectively, you may be able to see that they seem like your are trying to impress the group with your motorcycle handling ablities.  I, as do several people one here also ride motorcycles in addition to bicycles so I understand that having ridden motorcycles helps with riding a bicycle in a curve.  I do not want to offend you, but the purpose of the thread was to mention helpful hints to people that are not comfortable riding in the rain so that they may become more comfortable doing so.  You really sound like you want to impress people here instead of offering helpful hints as Jim did.  If you put yourself in Lisa's place, I think you may see why she would take offense at your comment.  I myself find it odd that you would not like Brett's saying about wrecking since you seemed to want to share the fact that you like to push the limits as a lot of us do.  Brett's saying is particularly on target for people that like to push the limits as everyone that really pushes their limit will wreck from time to time.

This is my exact feelings on riding in the rain. I am person that has and will run run in all kinds of conditions--rain, snow, lightening, tornado etc but I definitely am a fair weather rider because of the added car danger. If I thought it was paramount that I get some rain riding or I couldn't move a long ride I would take it to the comet or maybe even columns drive where traffic is slower and there is a bike lane.  I just don't see it necessary to ride along side cars in conditions that are precarious for both drivers and riders.

Oh, and like Neal, I too am made of sugar and might melt.

Riding in the rain is just like riding when it is not raining in that you have to use common sense. That hill where Karen wrecked is a dangerous hill when it is dry (I don't even like riding my TT bike down it because I feel like I am going to go over the handle bars), you have to allow more braking distance when it is wet vs dry (this is not a criticizm of Karen since I wasn't there and don't know what happened. I am just using the hill where the accident happened for illustrative purposes since that is what got this thread started).

The main problem on wet or dry pavement is that triathletes as a general rule are not good bike handlers. We don't ride in a tight group or paceline most of the time, our race courses are not as technical and by rule you are supposed to have 3 bike lengths between you and the rider in front of you (so theoretically you should be able to avoid someone ahead of you who crashes).

As Mindy stated above get a Road ID. I have been procrastinating about getting one also, but I ordered mine today as a result of Karen's crash.

Bottom line is use your head and if something seems unsafe then it probably is.

Karen- good info for rain or shine.  Mindy, I have learned something from your thread.  I heard people talking about Karen's Ice number being incorrect, but I had no idea what they meant.  I also did not figure it out here until Karen wrote it out.  I guess I am a bit slow.

The road IDs are really good.  Britni got me one for Christmas.  If you get the cheaper version as I did, you need to make sure you have someone that is easy to reach on it and that they have your insurance information with them.  I used to use my brother as an emergency contact until I got to thinking that it is often difficult to get in touch with him.  One other note on the road IDs.  A friend noticed mine one day and said that the people she rides with put them on their bikes.  My thought would be that if you are in a really bad accident is that people will be so concerned with you that they may not look at the bike and it will probably not be laying right next to you.

Since the thread is really about riding in the rain.  I will mention again as several of you have is that you should basically ride slower in the rain whether you are on a bike, motorcycle, car, horse, whatever...  That is just common sense.