What if you're stuck in a lightning storm???

[Mr. Bloom]

I've pondered this after a few posts referencing thunder/lightning storms lately, and then 20 minutes ago the sky was sunny, and now it's black with heavy clouds....If my plans hadn't changed, I'd be thirty miles from home on my bike right now in a lightning storm!

So,it got me thinking... what should you do if you were stuck on your bike in the middle of nowhere in a thunderstorm?

http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/keepsafe/thunder.html#outside

Some of the tips were new to me - particularly:
- minimizing your contact with the ground by crouching on the balls of your feet
- not assuming that your tires/rubber shoes will insulate you

Be safe!

[Crankin]

Very interesting, Mr. S. I just came back from my first mountain bike ride in a year. Of course, after we finished doing about 5 miles, I said, "Let's go check out another trail." It was close, so we drove over. It was fairly sunny and humid, rain predicted for LATE afternoon. We got pretty far into the woods and sort of got lost. Steve had his Garmin on, so we started back, although it was not the way we came. It was getting darker and darker out and I heard rumbles of thunder. I was already freaked out about being lost when the wind picked up and I felt sprinkles. It was so windy that a tree branch fell off a tree and hit Steve's helmet. Then it started raining, I mean really raining. I don't mind getting muddy at all, but the temperature was falling and it was thundering loudly. Thankfully, I didn't see any lightning, but hypothermia was crossing my mind as I recognized a spot that was near the entrance to the trail. What would we have done if it had been lightening? I was riding fast as h**l, which is not my usual on a mountain bike, since my skills are minimal. I just wanted to get back to the car. I was thankful we had not ridden to the trail, which would have been another 4 miles on the road.

[PscyclePath]

It's happened to me a time or two, even though I'm locally notorious for riding thru thunderstorms at times... What I do, when caught out on the road, is to throw down the hammer and hunt shelter... a tractor shed or barn, park pavilion, the nearest convenience store or gas station, highway overpass, or any sort of overhead cover, then wait it out 'til the storm passes by.

The following is from a pamphlet they give to all riders on the Hotter 'n Hell 100 each year, and I integrated it into my Road I classes, since we have quite a few of these little thunderboomers down here...



A PREPAREDNESS GUIDE for severe weather is published by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Weather Service. The following points on protection from lightning have been excerpted adapted for cyclists' special situation on the road, where there may not be any effective shelter accessible if a storm is imminent. The NWS has reviewed and approved these adaptations.

Cyclists on the road are most at risk from thunderstorms if they are under or near tall trees, are on or near hilltops, or are themselves high points on flat terrain (such as crossing an open field).


Lightning often strikes outside of heavy rain and may occur as far as 10 miles away from any rainfall.
Rubber-soled shoes and rubber tires provide NO protection from lightning.
If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to the storm to be struck by lightning. Look for safe shelter immediately!
When skies darken, look AND listen for increasing wind, flashes of lightning, sound of thunder
Lightning remains a danger even when a thunderstorm is dissipating or has passed by.


When thunderstorms approach . . .

If you are on a hill with exposure to the sky, try to head downhill, seeking out an overhanging bluff or a valley or ravine where you can lower your exposure.
Move to a sturdy building or shelter if there is one within reach (such as an underpass, a large barn, a store or railroad station). Do not take shelter in small sheds or under isolated trees.
However, get to higher ground if flash flooding is possible where you are (such as by a creek bed).


If caught outdoors and no shelter is nearby . . .


Find a low spot away from trees, fences, and poles. Make sure the place you pick is not subject to flooding.
If you are in the woods, take shelter under the shorter trees. (Lightning is more likely to strike the tallest trees.)


If you feel your skin tingle or your hair stand on end, dismount fast, get away from your bike, and squat low to the ground on the balls of your feet. Place your hands on your knees with your head between them. Make yourself the smallest target possible, and minimize your contact with the ground.

[Jolt]

Very timely...I got caught in it today while running on the Midstate Trail in Westminster. Fortunately it was at the very end of the run (turned around when I noticed it looked like something was brewing) so I just picked up the pace a bit to get back to my starting point. However, I still managed to get soaked!

[F8th637]

Great info! Last week I was worried I was going to get stuck in a storm with lightning. I knew to not lie down from watching the Discovery Channel and I knew that if my hair stood on end then I was going to be struck. Luckily, the storm ended up being mostly rain and thunder and I rode it out to see a rainbow. :) All good info, especially about getting away from your bike. Good point!

[sundial]

So,it got me thinking... what should you do if you were stuck on your bike in the middle of nowhere in a thunderstorm?

Hopefully your wife has been tracking the weather and your whereabouts and is en route to assist you. ;)

[OakLeaf]

dumb question - is a carbon frame still a lightning rod? Or should I just ride as fast as I can away from anyone with aluminum or steel frames? :D

[Andrea]

I was in a similar situation on Saturday- started a 32.2 mile race in the sun, 10 miles later, the black clouds come in, followed by a torrential downpour and lightning/thunder for the next 6 miles or so, then a slacking off and ending with sunshine again...


Our solution was to just ride as hard as possible and try to scare the bejezus out of other riders & drop them :D

(it's bike racing... sometimes you gotta be mean)

[Geonz]

Welp, in all those summers as a swimming pool lifeguard, my hair's stood up lots of times and I haven't been struck ;) It did strike closely enough for me to feel it in my feet once (in the dead of winter when I was taking a nap, inside... I thought something had blown up when the crash woke me up but my feet were tingling and then it started snowing like crazy... lots of folks stuck in Baltimore that day!).

The one time I was out doing a one-way ('wind-aided') century and the nasties came up... we rode hard and found a barn. Oh, there was that moonlight ride where we could see a real light show off in the distance but we were in well before it was even ten miles away.

[Mr. Bloom]

Hopefully your wife has been tracking the weather and your whereabouts and is en route to assist you. ;)

When WILL they learn!?!!?!?!;)


dumb question - is a carbon frame still a lightning rod? Or should I just ride as fast as I can away from anyone with aluminum or steel frames? :D

Hmmm...I don't know...does it hold a magnet? Does it matter given the other metal on the bike?

[sundial]

dumb question - is a carbon frame still a lightning rod? Or should I just ride as fast as I can away from anyone with aluminum or steel frames? :D

I think anything is potentially a lightning rod. Cattle and horses are struck by lightning. :(

[wannaduacentury]

I would hate to be outside in a storm. A few years back, I had went to college, and it was a stormy morning, but was quiet at the time. I park, walk part of the way to class, then see a blue flash near the light pole(less than 50 yds from me :eek:. I literally trampled through the shrubbery to get inside the nearest building. I didn't go to that class that day. My mil was in the building I was going to and she said the lights went out, made me feel real good outside where it was. ick!! I'm real careful and respect lightning. I heard a story last summer of a lady near Mobile Alabama and she was in her kitchen. Lightning hit across the road from her, traveled underground and knocked her off her feet in her own kitchen. Pretty wicked. I just check the weather, if there's storms that might come up, I just go do something else. Jenn

[wannaduacentury]

I think anything is potentially a lightning rod. Cattle and horses are struck by lightning. :(


Quite often because they herd together under small clumps of trees, then lightning hit the trees and it fans out, injuring them. But we can't teach cows to avoid lightning though. Jenn

I still think it's a great idea to have lightning rods on houses, like my grandparents home. They do work.

[tc1]

Carbon is a good conductor. That's what the "brushes" for rotating machinery are made out of. That's why part of the cleanup after an electrical flashover involves scrubbing off any blackened spots on the insulators, hardware, etc. One cause for devices flashing over is contamination. The grit and junk is conductive, rain will hold it in suspension, the grit gets burnt and turns to carbon, which causes a big flashover.

[smurfalicious]

Or should I just ride as fast as I can away from anyone with aluminum or steel frames? :D

Well, avoid the folks on aluminum for sure, but I'd stay around the folks on steel because we are super cool!