question about the rain

googlehead

stupid question, but is it easier cycling in the rain. one my usual run, i always struggle on one steep hill and there is some continous hills for about 2.5km after it, usually after the first steep part i find it hard on the other 2.5km, but today i flew up the steep hill no problem and then the other 2.5km i found easy enough. i was drenced from the rain. i am just getting back into cycling. maybe i am just getting fitter?

72hundred

Which way was the wind blowing?

EDIT: I actually find the rain to "help", but I think its more perception than anything else.

Well if you were drenched you would be dragging a bigger load up a hill, so I'd imagine you were just getting fitter. Or alternatively you were concentrated on the rain so you didn't notice how quickly this big hill disappeared!

googlehead

72hundred wrote: »

Which way was the wind blowing?

EDIT: I actually find the rain to "help", but I think its more perception than anything else.

didn't think there was much of a breeze, if there was any it was on my back

i thought it might have been that my muscles were cooler..

Morgan

Maybe the rain formed a thin film over your body and bike, rendering you more aerodynamic. Essentially you hydroplaned up the hill.

googlehead

:p i think it was the weetabix i had this morning!!

petethedrummer

I think I have the reason, the rain cooled you down similar to how Floyd Landis was cooled with water bottles during the unbelievable solo ride on stage 17 of the 2006 TDF.

The way I put it to Floyd that morning was if you rode in 65, 70 degree weather all day, and the rest of the peloton rode in 100 degree weather, and could only access 15-20 bottles during that time, do you think you could beat the pack? And the answer was a definitive yes, and that was the strategy behind him dumping all that water over himself.

The problem is now you've got this issue of distributing blood to deliver oxygen to do work, versus delivering blood to cool your body off. And so, our athletes, they burn, they're able to consume and produce so much energy, that the heat mode is tremendous. A guy who's doing a steady state of 400 watts, which is well within the realm of possibility for an hour for a lot of these guys, they're producing a total net of 1600 watts, and 1200 of those watts is heat, and needs to be dissipated. So if you can cool that person off you significantly improve performance. In fact, the literature is chock full of elite athletes producing higher threshold values, higher VO2max values, when they're exercising in near freezing temperatures.'

http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/allen-lim-garmins-guru

I'm only messing but its an interesting read. Did you take epitestosterone that morning?

NeilMcEoigheann

being wet and having air move over your body cools you, (you can cool a bottle of wine by putting a wet cycling top over it and leaving it in a draught, Alps trick)
and i have noticed that i can run cycle and exercise significantly better when i am in cold conditions, cold morning i get to college faster.

googlehead

petethedrummer wrote: »

I think I have the reason, the rain cooled you down similar to how Floyd Landis was cooled with water bottles during the unbelievable solo ride on stage 17 of the 2006 TDF.





http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/allen-lim-garmins-guru

I'm only messing but its an interesting read. Did you take epitestosterone that morning?

eh no. although that kind of explains it to me, when i am cycling i can kind of feel my legs and muscles burning or hot, today I was drenched and did not feel this.

Moreofthatjazz

i've noticed this phenomenon too. i suspect it has alot more to do with a reduction of friction between tyres and road thus making it freerer and fasterer... but it definitely helps... more importantly in the city it takes the squeak out of all those rusty commuter bikes that annoy the bejaysus out of me ordinarily...