By By Winter

Today was the first thunderstorm of the season. Sadly, after a winter of never missing a day I grabbed a ride home. Something about 57mph gusts, baseball size hail and tornadoes made me want to not ride this evening. A half hour after I got home the sun began to peak out and I've seen no more activity in the last two hours: I could have easily waited and road anyway. Lesson learned.

That said, I'm pleased to have made it through a winter of commuting with no serious injuries. I had one fall and it wasn't too bad: A couple of days of a sore hip.

Winter riding really isn't terribly hard. If you have the proper equipment and a little patience it's not much worse than a nice day in spring. It has the distinct advantage of not presenting any acute danger like: Lightning, extreme wind, hail, tornadoes.

As I remember from last summer the trick with thunderstorms is to wait out the storm. They often hit about when you need to head home and since you're going to be on your bike about twice as long as you'd be in your car they present extra danger. But usually they clear up in 20-80 minutes: Well, that's what they do in Lincoln, NE.