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Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast
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| General Discussion | Triathlon Talk » Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast | Rss Feed  |
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 2013-10-26 12:45 PM |
Expert  1130    Fernandina Beach, FL |  Subject: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecastI'm doing IMFL next weekend. Bike drop off is Friday and right now they're calling for downpours Friday night. What precautions should I take before leaving my bike overnight in the rain. I'll cover my seat and bars with a bag, I'm most worried about the drive-train sitting out all night in the rain. |
| 2013-10-26 1:42 PM in reply to: rjrankin83 |
Regular 5477 LHOTP | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast I'd be worried too. What about getting a cheap plastic painting "drop cloth" and covering the entire bike and taping up the plastic with duct tape or something? Is that overkill?
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| 2013-10-26 1:46 PM in reply to: switch |
Champion 6503 NOVA - Ironic for an Endurance Athlete | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Just let it get wet. Be sure to clean it and dry it and lube it after the race. Nothing bad is going to happen from one night in the rain. It is WAY worse when you ride in the rain and then put away your bike damp. |
| 2013-10-26 2:19 PM in reply to: rjrankin83 |
| Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast I've got to... So, you're going to put a bag over the seat so when you get out of the ocean in your dripping wet tri shorts, the seat will be dry?  It was pouring the night before Timberman:  With this on the chain:  |
| 2013-10-26 2:44 PM in reply to: rjrankin83 |
Champion 6046 New York, NY | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast I cover my WHOLE bike in plastic and actually had picked up some bike covers on amazon for pretty cheap - I had gotten them for the renovation in my apartment and dust but they worked GREAT at the 2 races I used them - have velcro at the bottom so no need to tape..... Cockpit, seat and drive train all stayed dry. |
| 2013-10-26 2:46 PM in reply to: rjrankin83 |
Champion 9407 Montague Gold Mines, Nova Scotia | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast |
| 2013-10-26 3:49 PM in reply to: 0 |
Expert 1130 Fernandina Beach, FL | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Thanks for the input. Honestly in hindsight it does seem silly to cover the seat, I had just seen it done I'm most worried about it raining part of the night then the bike just sitting for a few hours damp (similar to putting it away damp) and the chain rusting. Will WTC allow me to bring in some sort of tarp to cover my bike? I know it seems silly, and I'm 100% sure I'll see much nicer bikes sitting out in the open I'm just OCD. OR maybe I'll just leave it out and bring chain lube morning of to clean just in case.Edited by rjrankin83 2013-10-26 3:49 PM |
| 2013-10-26 3:55 PM in reply to: rjrankin83 |
Champion 10154 Alabama | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Helmet and shoes in plastic bags. |
| 2013-10-26 3:56 PM in reply to: rjrankin83 |
| Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Originally posted by rjrankin83 Thanks for the input. Honestly in hindsight it does seem silly to cover the seat, I had just seen it done I'm most worried about it raining part of the night then the bike just sitting for a few hours damp (similar to putting it away damp) and the chain rusting. Will WTC allow me to bring in some sort of tarp to cover my bike? I know it seems silly, and I'm 100% sure I'll see much nicer bikes sitting out in the open I'm just OCD. OR maybe I'll just leave it out and bring chain lube morning of to clean just in case. Oil your chain with a wet lube before your last training ride. Do not do anything to it after that. After the race, you're going to have a few days of not doing a thing. Take that time to either clean the snot out of your bike or take it to your LBS and tell them it was in the rain and get them to do a once over with drying. In all honesty, if you just toweled off your bike after the race and oiled your chain again, you'd probably be just fine. |
| 2013-10-26 4:28 PM in reply to: DanielG |
Expert 1130 Fernandina Beach, FL | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Originally posted by DanielG Originally posted by rjrankin83 Thanks for the input. Honestly in hindsight it does seem silly to cover the seat, I had just seen it done I'm most worried about it raining part of the night then the bike just sitting for a few hours damp (similar to putting it away damp) and the chain rusting. Will WTC allow me to bring in some sort of tarp to cover my bike? I know it seems silly, and I'm 100% sure I'll see much nicer bikes sitting out in the open I'm just OCD. OR maybe I'll just leave it out and bring chain lube morning of to clean just in case. Oil your chain with a wet lube before your last training ride. Do not do anything to it after that. After the race, you're going to have a few days of not doing a thing. Take that time to either clean the snot out of your bike or take it to your LBS and tell them it was in the rain and get them to do a once over with drying. In all honesty, if you just toweled off your bike after the race and oiled your chain again, you'd probably be just fine. Sounds good. Thank you! |
| 2013-10-26 5:30 PM in reply to: rjrankin83 |
Pro 5361 | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast is this the first time your bike had gotten wet? Hmmm. Be careful not to let the carbon fiber parts rust... |
| 2013-10-26 5:58 PM in reply to: rjrankin83 |
Master 2406 Bellevue, WA | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast I recall that at WTC's mandatory pre-race athletes meeting before an Ironman race, they ask people to not overly bag up their bikes or use full-blown bike covers. They don't want bike covers blowing around transition, getting in the way of other athletes, etc. As others have said, after your swim you probably won't be dry yourself, so a wet seat shouldn't be a problem. A wet drivetrain from falling rain isn't going to be too bad, not as bad as a wet drivetrain from the first 5 miles of riding wet pavement what with grit and all. I live in the Seattle area, it's not the wet that's bad, it's the lubricated dirt and grit sticking to the drivetrain that causes problems. You're basically wet-sanding your drivetrain if you don't keep it clean and ride it wet. So if you do a thorough cleaning of your drivetrain before you get there, and use a lube designed for the wet (and not too much!) then you'll be fine with no covers or bags over anything.
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| 2013-10-26 6:18 PM in reply to: brucemorgan |
Expert 1130 Fernandina Beach, FL | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Thanks to those that offered advice. Taper brain is taking over and I'm overthinking a lot. |
| 2013-10-26 8:15 PM in reply to: rjrankin83 |
Veteran 732 Pittsburgh, PA | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast This was a super-helpful post for anyone who has a bike in the rain occasionally. |
| 2013-10-26 10:53 PM in reply to: 0 |
Regular 302 Georgetown, KY | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Originally posted by DanielG [Oil your chain with a wet lube before your last training ride. Do not do anything to it after that. After the race, you're going to have a few days of not doing a thing. Take that time to either clean the snot out of your bike or take it to your LBS and tell them it was in the rain and get them to do a once over with drying. In all honesty, if you just toweled off your bike after the race and oiled your chain again, you'd probably be just fine. This. If your chain has a little oil on it, water won't affect it. Just clean and lube it again before your next ride so the grit doesnt keep grind at your drivetrain. As a kid my bike lived outside, and even with the cheapest compnents, and NEVER cleaning it and only GREASING the chain when it looked really rusty, it never failed.. lol. I've learned a lot about bike maintenance in my latter years. Edited by Bradleykd 2013-10-26 10:55 PM |
| 2013-10-26 11:17 PM in reply to: 0 |
| 643 | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast I always assumed people covered their seats so that water wouldn't go down into the seat post and cause rust. Yes...no...? Luckily I haven't had a race where this has happened yet. Kansas HIM let us bring bikes day of due to heavy storms that were forecasted. Edited by Blastman 2013-10-26 11:17 PM |
| 2013-10-27 2:04 AM in reply to: Blastman |
| Master 5557 , California | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Originally posted by Blastman I always assumed people covered their seats so that water wouldn't go down into the seat post and cause rust. Yes...no...? Luckily I haven't had a race where this has happened yet. Kansas HIM let us bring bikes day of due to heavy storms that were forecasted. I covered mine in Tahoe so it wouldn't be caked in ice. Wish I had done the bars too. Bring a roll of duct tape or electrical tape if there's a lot of wind and you have a disc. The wind was howling and there's no way my bike was going to stay on the rack. I ended up taping a triangle from the bar it was sitting on to my rear bottle cage to keep the bike from blowing sideways, and taped the front wheel to the frame so it would stay straight. It's quick to just rip all that off on race morning. |
| 2013-10-27 2:39 AM in reply to: rjrankin83 |
Member 1293 Pearland,Tx | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast A RD told us personally that covering the bikes with plastic make plastic act like sails ,therefore with winds might slam to the next bike and is dangerous, when morning came all the plastics are gone. Like What Shane said would not be worried about bikes getting wet. We are wet ourselves when we hop on to our bikes. just saying. |
| 2013-10-27 2:59 AM in reply to: strykergt |
| 489 | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Doing most of my racing in England I'm well used to this one! There are plenty of bikes covered in tarps and some just cover the bars and saddles. I've always left mine open to the elements but put my helmet, shoes and nutrition in a plastic bag next to it (rather than on it) and put them in place before the race in the morning. There is a difference between 'rain wet' and 'cyclist wet' - if your race is near the coast and windy (as my most recent was in Copenhagen) - then the rain might be full of sand which can damage your bike. I was virtually sand blasted at IM Copenhagen after 90 miles! It doesn't affect what you should do in this situation but make sure you give it a good clean and some TLC when you get home after the race. This can easily be forgotten because you're tired and the bike gets left for two weeks untouched - although perhaps I shouldn't judge everyone but my own poor standards! |
| 2013-10-27 10:04 AM in reply to: Dan-L |
| 207 | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast it is always funny to me when i see bikes covered in plastic in transition.... you get out of the water soaking wet and jump on a bike that you end up sweating all over, blowing snot rockets, and peeing all over but they worry about some dew or rain the night before. its cute. As far as your chain and drive train if it is lightly oiled then there wont be any concern for rust on such a short time in the rain |
| 2013-10-27 12:21 PM in reply to: DanielG |
| Veteran 379 | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Originally posted by DanielG I've got to... So, you're going to put a bag over the seat so when you get out of the ocean in your dripping wet tri shorts, the seat will be dry? It was pouring the night before Timberman: With this on the chain: glad you did so i didnt have to - put i have read peeing on it actually does wonders |
| 2013-10-27 1:13 PM in reply to: #4885064 |
New user 20 Orlando | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Every time I drive from Orlando to Miami with my bike on the hitch mounted rack, it pours rain. So, pouring rain at 70 mph,and I have never had any issues. I do not cover the bike in transistion either. Usually it is not allowed to use a full bike cover and I dont think they're necessary. |
| 2013-10-27 2:36 PM in reply to: spudone |
Master 3205 ann arbor, michigan | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Originally posted by spudone Originally posted by Blastman I always assumed people covered their seats so that water wouldn't go down into the seat post and cause rust. Yes...no...? Luckily I haven't had a race where this has happened yet. Kansas HIM let us bring bikes day of due to heavy storms that were forecasted. I covered mine in Tahoe so it wouldn't be caked in ice. Wish I had done the bars too. Bring a roll of duct tape or electrical tape if there's a lot of wind and you have a disc. The wind was howling and there's no way my bike was going to stay on the rack. I ended up taping a triangle from the bar it was sitting on to my rear bottle cage to keep the bike from blowing sideways, and taped the front wheel to the frame so it would stay straight. It's quick to just rip all that off on race morning. Tahoe was a completely different beast. The air temperature was so cold that we were all doing full changes to dry clothing. A wet seat and bar pads would have been bad, so for the first time ever I covered the bars and seat. I have left my bike in transition during 'monsoons' and never bothered to cover anything. Like others have said, I'm going to be soaking wet when I get on it so keeping it dry overnight never seemed worth the effort. I put a light coating if lubricant on the chain and bring a hand towel to do a quick wipe down in the morning. No need to over think this.... The duct tape is a great idea. I worry more about the wind than rain. Of course if the whole rack goes over (seen it happen) and your bike is duct taped to it, things could get interesting. |
| 2013-10-27 7:26 PM in reply to: wannabefaster |
Champion 6503 NOVA - Ironic for an Endurance Athlete | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast I forgot about peeing on my bike. I am guessing that when I do this on mile 10 of a 100 mile ride, this does far more damage than rain. Unless you are in WV. Acid rain Let your bike get wet. It's okay. I promise! |
| 2013-10-27 7:34 PM in reply to: strykergt |
Pro 15655 | Subject: RE: Racking a bike the night before with rain in the forecast Originally posted by strykergt A RD told us personally that covering the bikes with plastic make plastic act like sails ,therefore with winds might slam to the next bike and is dangerous, when morning came all the plastics are gone. Like What Shane said would not be worried about bikes getting wet. We are wet ourselves when we hop on to our bikes. just saying. /thread |
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