Just how risky is it to be out riding when there\’s a T-storm snooping around?

About two weeks ago, I walked outside on my lunch break, with plans to get something to eat at a nearby convenience store. I had gotten only a few yards from the door of the building when an ear-splitting ka-POW!! broke loose. I hadn’t noticed anything to indicate lightning, either.

I marched right back indoors, where luckily there’s a PJ’s, and got a spinach croissant. But what happens when you’re out on a bicycle, miles from home, and a T-storm breaks out?

Keep on riding, and hope for the best? Exactly how risky is it to do that? Stop if there\’s a place where you can get a bit of cover? See here for some tips.

Reading that article reminded me of the time I was caught in a T-storm on the hybrid. I got the \”full treatment\” that morning: lightning, heavy downpour, and stiff wind. It was an experience that I\’m not eager to repeat. Now that we\’re advised that, if you can hear thunder, you\’re close enough to the storm to get hit by lightning. Thanks to that, being outdoors and hearing thunder makes me more uneasy than it did six or seven years ago.

I suppose we\’ll just have to \”play it by ear\”, and let our ears tell us when we need to come in out of the rain — and out of lightning\’s reach.