The Bike Before a Rule #9 Ride
This week Velominati is publishing a selection of guest contributions.
It shouldn’t be fun but it is, until it’s not. I’m talking Rule #9 here and @King Clydesdale brings us a perfect example of why a Rule should be a Rule and why the proof is in the riding.
Yours in Cycling,
Gianni
—
Sometimes being a meteorologist is a tough job. This week has been no exception. Hurricane Irene has done plenty of damage to the East Coast of the US, overloading my overnight weekend shift with plenty of work. Phones were off the hook, forms had to be sent, tracks had to be adjusted, and on and on. It was stressful to say the least. I could bitch about work, but I’m sure you all don’t give a shit. Before I move on, let me say this: The next time you watch a meteorologist and think, “That fucking idiot gets paid to be wrong half the time,” I guarantee you my forecast error is less than the broker dealing with your 401K. And you didn’t give me your money.
Anyway, I was inspired last night by some news coverage of some lucky bastards, most likely wasted, playing street hockey and using the rain-filled streets of NYC as slip and slides. It looked like a hell of a good time. I thought to myself, “that’s badass.” And in a moment of divine clarity, Rule #9 came into my head. I asked myself when was the last time I did anything rebellious, ill-advised, or deviant? I knew what to do. I went home, checked more weather stuff (I never really stop working), changed, and went for a ride.
I have never been for a ride in steady rain before. It hasn’t rained a lot since I’ve started cycling again this summer and I’ve chosen to stay indoors in the past on days like today. And despite all the recent appreciation I’ve gained for the sport and the love of all things cycling, the main reason I have been riding is to lose weight and get in shape, not punish myself. And here in Central Pennsylvania, the threat of getting wet usually comes in the form of thunderstorms. While riding through a thunderstorm may be really badass, I would prefer not to have the ironic death of “meteorologist killed by lightning” if I can avoid it. But there was no lightning with this rain shield from Irene, so I left the apartment for a new experience.
It was magic. I felt more like a real cyclist then I have in a while. The rain was pelting my face. My shoes weighed a ton. The wind gusts fought me as if the wind was trying to punch me. I loved it. At first it was like a rush, I felt like a “hardman.” The Sunday church traffic looked at me like I was crazy. I didn’t see a single cyclist other than myself. I was soaking wet, and for once it wasn’t all sweat. I understood Rule #9. The only way to experience that Rule is to live it.
Slowly however, my ride turned into more of a zen experience. Climbing out of the saddle to attack a roller felt natural. My stroke felt more magnificent. Keeping a pace below the red zone just felt more automatic. I didn’t have to think about anything. And yet at the same time I was focused. It was beautiful. It was natural. It was perfect. That is how pro cyclists must feel when they are in the zone.
I know I break plenty of rules. Being fresh out of college, with plenty of bills, and a starting salary much less then anyone who learned the amount of shit I learned in school should be paid, I just can’t afford to abide by some. Others require breaking old habits. Some rules are just like food you used to dislike. One day you try it, and you realize you might have liked it for a while now, but you have been too stubborn to try it again. For me, Rule #9 was one of those last instances. I didn’t know what I was missing.
But from now on, I will never be afraid to roll out in the rain. It would be an opportunity lost to appreciate the beautiful art that is my sport.
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View Comments
@The Flight Sergeant
Welcome!
Ah yes, TTAA and TTBB reports. Learned to decode them in Junior year, but don't deal with them much seeing as I don't deal with aviation forecasting, and when we want a forecast similar to a taf, we prefer to make them ourselves, seeing as they are human produced. As a private meteorologist we aim to beat the feds, not copy them. Metars on the other hand we use all the time.
There are some new forecasting tools in the works that are incorporating advanced boundary layer physics to create some awesome point forecasts. These will be very valuable to people who partake in recreational activities. Its just a matter of R&D and getting computing power to keep up.
Frabk - were you snapping away with surly cagers hot on yer heels?
I can only imagine the conversation in the car.
"Look at these fucking twats. Riding their bikes in the rain. And getting in our fucking way. Assholes! I'm gonna give that guy a piece of my mind..."
As they angrily pull around to pass. "Honey, I wouldn't say anything. That guy is pretty fucking tall. And, he is riding in the rain. He must be insane! Just drive by."
HOLY COW - now I've called you Farnk and Frabk. Goodness.
@The Flight Sergeant, @King Clydesdale
Amazingly interesting posts both. What amazes me about meteorology is that its based on finite elements rather than area elements. Area elements are essentially the same as vector graphics; mathematically determined elements rather than scale-determined and have been used for ages as the competing approach in ground water modeling. Since air is a fluid (albeit a less viscous one), the principles should apply with the necessary adjustment and, assuming you have the data points to support it, should scale from local to global forecasting without a loss of accuracy. Building the model is a ton of work, though.
And before I sound like (a) brilliant or (b) a total jackass - my padre established this model for groundwater, and is now interested in using the same model for weather forecasting, although at an amateur level.
@Ron
This is Seattle. The conversation in the cars was "Look at these fucking twats, getting in our way. I bet they raise their own chickens! I'm gonna pull up and remind this guy to recycle and eat local!..."
Prepping for this morning's ride, I was reminded that it's not always the air and atmospheric conditions that matter, but what the ground simply looks like that plays a role. Dry roads, expecting rain and wet roads in dry conditions mean two very different things. The pic above is an indication that I should be able to navigate my cul-de-sac"”but I'll need to plan the route to avoid more snow on top of the escarpment.
@frank
Before I sound like (a) a sycophant or (b) a total geek"”this modeling stuff sounds fantastic (have been working on the history of modeling recently). You've just become my second favorite Strack.
@Steampunk
Attaboy Steamy! I'm expecting an updated km total ("km-age"?) on Sunday for your Rwanda Project.
PS weather here will be 20's and sunny all weekend; Witte-Kit weather!
Fantastic ride in the fog today! Life is so much better in the saddle. Temps hanging around 0c, and bits of slush on the road to avoid, but glorious. Rule 9: when your bike is twice as heavy (grit and grime) at the end of the ride as when you start out. For the first time, I gave up trying to clean it off immediately in order to let it dry first; I just kept moving the grit around...
@sgt
Again: thanks. Hoping to get out again tomorrow. I haven't so much as a sniffle all year, and came down with sore throat, chest infection, and aches last week, which has kept me off the bike for ten days. Had hoped to rack up a bit more this week to no avail.
This doesn't help. Not one little bit. (Enjoy, though!)
@Steampunk
Cripes! Respect for getting out in that weather. If that gets any worse you'll need a set of these
My secret weapon for when sheet ice makes the road bike a bone crunching impossibility.
@Spearfish
Do you keep those tires on the bike for any length of time or are they a daytime decision? I've gone back and forth on getting some studded tires for my commuter bike, but the ice gets cleared reasonably quickly here, so I've never bothered. Maybe if I were to get some new wheels for the MTB, I could throw some of these on the old ones. Are those homemade?
@frank
Sounds like a interesting project! The fact that the atmosphere a fluid was the bases of some of the first numerical weather models, appropriately called "shallow water models". The basic equations for such can be found here: http://cims.nyu.edu/~gerber/pages/climod/GFDL_shallow_water_eqns.pdf
My senior research was modeling based. I ran simulations of a supercell over complex terrain using a microphysics cloud model in an attempt to explain a localized tornado maximum in New York State. Really fun stuff since we optimized it to run on a tower server, utilizing 16 processing cores. I'm quite proud what I accomplished, despite the fact the results didn't answer the initial question. But sometimes thats how research works...