I'm not afraid of rain any more. It's there, it's part of the environment, not a bad-mood virus, and really it's just wet. Simple-minded? Maybe, but true for me.
In my opinion you get where you're going faster on an empty bike lane, especially when it's pouring! The reason: nobody wants to experience rain, everyone hides in their cars. As if getting wet were deadly. Comfortable, heated, effortless, they laugh at the idiots taking the rain full on. And I laugh at them, oh so clever and safe, and standing still all the same. Ten minutes later the fourth or fifth green light might finally get them round that one corner. By then I've delivered, a few kilometres further on. Yes, that's how the bike lanes get so empty and so much fun. And I feel like a child playing in water. You dry off eventually!
Now for the real tips: first it's about the right rain jacket, then rain trousers, down to and over the shoes, or even into them. Everything checked for gaps. For the face: a cycling cap with the peak pulled well down (it helps so much!) and, for the last drops in your eyes, simply a pair of glasses. Since I've been riding with this combination, it's no longer a fight with the rain. It just keeps getting easier to accept it, to embrace it, all the way to enjoying it!
Dopamine levels full and the feeling of having achieved something real and physical. Try it! A sense of fulfilment guaranteed. But always ride carefully, because in the rain a lot of pedestrians go mad and reckless.
I used to hate rain. Now I take it as it is. But that's not what I'm proud of. I'm proud that I've relieved the environment of one car. And I want to show that it's possible for everyone to make the same journey, and to build up resistance to sensations like cold and wet, which then fade. We can all manage one more trip without a car. Once, for sure. Then one more after all. We can emancipate ourselves from air-conditioned air and get out of the comfort zone that is actually killing the planet.
Comfort is the enemy of development. In sport, in life and for the Earth. No more excuses. Just do it!
El Loco #22 is part of CROW, the worker-run bike collective that has set itself the goal of replacing cars with bikes: through cargo bike deliveries and bike repairs, for a better quality of life for everyone and without bosses.