I have written about this topic each riding season for the last few years but I still find this particular Bike Riding Tip to be very helpful and it is a good reminder even for those of you who are already aware of it.

My riding tip is actually very simple… Check the Weather Radar for rain before your bike rides. OK, this is not totally necessary on a bright sunny day with a clear blue sky (although it doesn’t hurt to check) but it is especially helpful when it’s cloudy and looks like it may or may not rain.

Usually, the general weather forecast is not very accurate when it comes to rain because weather forecasters will show rain in the forecast, for the day, when there is as little as a 30% chance of rain. This also does not specify at what time it may or may not rain. In the past, I have used the hourly forecasts on the Weather Channel website for a more accurate forecast but I find that I still like to check the radar to really get a feel for what is going on up in the skies before I ride.

I was thinking of this blog post on my last ride since it looked very cloudy and the weather forecasters were predicting rain (in general for the day). Before my ride, I checked the radar and saw that it was totally clear and there was no rain heading in my direction for the time of my ride. I had a nice worry-free and dry ride and there were very few other riders out since it looked like rain.

There is always a possibility of getting a few sprinkles of rain, on a cloudy day, during your ride, even when the radar does not pick up anything but I don’t mind that. I just don’t like being surprised by a heavy rain or a downpour when I am quite a few miles out on my ride.

Where and How to Check The Weather Radar

These days there are quite a few places where you can check the Weather Radar and you mostly just need to find which service you prefer. There are many weather websites that give you a animated radar display and you could even just check the Weather Channel on TV (although I prefer checking online since you have more options and I don’t have to wait around for the Weather Channel to display the local radar).

MyRadar app screen

The Weather Channel website has a pretty good radar display and many of the local news media sites also have good radar displays. I recently got an iPhone and downloaded the free MyRadar app and this is probably my favorite service now since it is always handy, up to date and so easy to use.

The image that I have included here is from the MyRadar app. This is a free app so there is a line of advertising at the bottom which I cropped out in this case. As you can see from the attached image this is NOT a good day for a bike ride (which is why I am inside blogging 🙂 ). We are actually having major storms and flooding right now.

The color codes on the attached image are pretty common too. The lightest precipitation is usually blue and green, moderate precipition yellow and the heaviest is in red.

The way that you will usually want to check the radar is to make sure that you are looking at an animated display (not just a still display). Then note the time range for the display ~ there is usually a display of the time of the radar image that matches the animated image (usually from 1/2 hour to an hour). Then if you see precipitation heading your way you will need to make a prediction of how much time you have before it reaches you. You will want to zoom out to check a longer time frame and zoom in for more detail in your immediate ride location. You can actually get pretty good at this after a little practice.

I have found that the blue areas and even sometimes green are pretty safe to ride in. Blue may just be clouds and green could be clouds or a sprinkle of rain. Yellow is going to be a pretty good chance of rain and red means you are going to get soaked if you are out on a ride.

Another Related Tip

While I’m on the subject of rain and bike rides, I wanted to mention one other tip that may be helpful to you. These days, I always have multiple electronic devices with me on my bike rides. I always have my Edge 800 GPS Bike Computer and my iPhone and when I am out exploring and documenting new trails I usually have my camera and sometimes a camcorder. This makes me nervous when I get caught in a heavy rain (OK, it can still happen. Sometimes I don’t check the radar or I just decide to ride even if it looks like I might get caught in the rain).

My GPS Bike Computer is weather resistant but I like a little extra protection so I also carry a baggie and a rubberband to cover it when it rains. A soft, non-zip-lock baggie works best for this. For my other devices I carry some additional zip-lock baggies that are the best size for each device. I also have a bike bag and camera bag that are fairly water resistant but they do not claim to be completely waterproof so I put my electronic devices in the baggies inside the bike bag (and camera bag) for a real hard rain.

So there you have it. a few simple tips that can make your rides more fun and worry free and even give you the option to ride when everyone else thinks it is going to rain on them.

Keep in mind, these tips are also helpful for quite a few other outdoor activities. 🙂