Well, what's it like? I've never done it before.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
So... who's cycled in lightning before?
(33 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
-
Well, what's it like?
Damp.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I'm waiting for the trams to grind to a halt :-)
Posted 10 years ago # -
You get up close and personal with the inside of a bus shelter.
Posted 10 years ago # -
yeah, rain in africa very convivial time. you hang out in doorways and wait for it to pass. or go have a coffee until the power comes back on....
Posted 10 years ago # -
whats it like
Shocking! ;O)
Never cycled in thunder and lightening before. T'was thundering in St Andrew Sq earlier and a collegue asked me if I had a flag in the bent!! ;O)
Posted 10 years ago # -
EBC had something of the spirit of the Blitz about it with everyone sheltering (with bikes in the shop) and having a good old 'chinwag' while waiting for it to clear. Could barely see through the steam that was rising from all the bodies!
Posted 10 years ago # -
There was lightning last year when I was going home along the canal. The only bit that caused me concern was crossing the aquaduct, when I realised that my head was now the highest object for quite some distance!
NB Took a different route home tonight for that reason.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Very wet, the hail was painful, and scarily loud when the lightning is just about on top of you. My plan to outrun the storm didn't quite work out...
Also I didn't see it but the guy in front of me said that he had seen a fellow cyclist slip right over on the new supposedly grippy strip at the refurbed NEPN junction. That was in some of the heaviest rain so a lot of standing water but still worrying.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I was just wondering what would happen if you were hit by lightning on a bike? I don't know enough about physics. In a car or a plane it sort of goes round you. If you're standing it goes through you, so if you're on a bike...?
Posted 10 years ago # -
"...so if you're on a bike...?"
Through your head, your neck and arms, the handlebars, the frame and the wheel, not even having to jump much to cross between the rim and the ground if there's enough conductive water (which would instantly vaporise) around the insulating tyre?
In a car or an aeroplane where a circuit can be formed around the outside of the container, you're safe. Where the shortest route to ground is through your, you're not, if you protrude enough...
Posted 10 years ago # -
Couple of episodes of sheet lightening I thought on my way home. Forked lightening if it hits you walking or on a bike could be shocking. Tyres won't help really. If lightning hits car goes through the chassis, but even if wearing a helmet best to get off and seek shelter, I thought Easter hailes gate tunnel would be my spot but the storm passed over.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Thanks for the link! Makes interesting reading :-)
Posted 10 years ago # -
The last time I got caught in a thunderstorm was mountain biking in Crested Butte, Colorado. The storm rolled in really quickly and hit the mountain when we were half-way up the chairlift. The operators closed the lift and sped up the lines to clear everyone off. Of course, once we were at the top there was only one way back down - I don't think I've ever hit a DH track as hard as that before. Lightning is quite the motivator!
Yesterday's weather was much easier to deal with - I waited most of it out by keeping an eye on Rain Today
Posted 10 years ago # -
Just to say, if you shelter in a tunnel (or cave, or any overhang), stand well back from the edge. If the lightning hits whatever you're sheltering under, it can use you to jump the gap.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@KarenJS
Madame IWRATS insists on unplugging phones and electrical items in the house during lightning storms, as this is traditional on the continent. I've tried to explain that a spark that can jump 2000 metres of air isn't in the least influenced by a few metres of thin copper wire (that would in any case be turned to plasma in an instant if hit). Same goes for rubber tyres and stuff.
Get indoors, lie down if you can't, keep away from high pointy things....
I once got menaced by a bull during a lightning storm high up on the Puy du Cantal. That was memorably unpleasant.
Posted 10 years ago # -
IWRATS - DON'T lie down, according to advice via links above. "Lying flat increases your chance of being affected by potentially deadly ground current" http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/facts_truth.htm
Posted 10 years ago # -
I don't think it's a good idea to lie down - if you get a strike near you then the current spreads over a wide area, and you don't wnat it hitting your chest so easily. The advice for hillwalkers is to hunker down on the balls of your feet, and try to get something under you like your rucksack, so I'd guess that lying down isn't the best.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Wow. I shall never lie down again. Cheers.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@slowcoach that page also seems to suggest that there may be some logic to unplugging everything before the storm hits. It suggests it's quite possible to be fried while talking on the corded telephone.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Amazing we are all still here
Lee Trevino struck by lightning on a golf course once. Any time lightening then around on golf courses Lee, a wee fat Mexican man could easily beat Ben Johnson on best drugs ever in hundred yard dash for cover.
Noted about not leaning against Easter hailes gait tunnel wall,they are damp anyway. The tunnel is well covered in earth, trees, etc but best to be careful?
Posted 10 years ago # -
I had lightning strike the telephone pole outside my house once. It came into the house via the telephone wire and blew the front of the socket right across the room. Also fried my tv and dvd player that were near the telephone line even though there was no direct connection.
Perhaps unplugging things isn't such a bad idea.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Mrs Greenroofer laughs at me when I unplug stuff during lightning storms. It's not for my safety, but to protect my electronic gizmos. I do it for the reasons mentioned by @firedfromthecircus: if my PC is unplugged from mains and telephone, then it won't get fried when the power or telephone lines get a lightning strike.
Can any qualified electrical people tell me if this is worth the effort?
Posted 10 years ago # -
An electrical engineer friend reckons it is.
He lacks personal empirical evidence but is working on the basis that switches/fuses/MCBs/RCDs/surge+spike protectors will just get laughed at by the voltage & current of a lightning strike. Unplug.
On the plus side, you'll probably be too busy reaching for the fire extinguisher to worry about your hifi.Posted 10 years ago # -
Oh and one I remember from my old outdoor first aid days. Don't lie down out of doors. Just sit down with your legs crossed, in the lowest place you can find. That way any current in the ground will not traverse your heart.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Posted 10 years ago #
-
We always use surge protectors on computers etc when in Middle East/Africa and unplug if we know a storm is approaching. Too many people I know have had computers fried, not because of a direct hit, but just during storms, when the phone system and electricity usually go down.
Posted 10 years ago # -
My old man had his PC fried by a lighting strike once, so its definitely possible. Extremely remote possibility though so its not something I bother with myself.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Lothian Tory MSP Cameron Buchanan said he had heard that the lightning strike had left one tram blocking traffic at Haymarket, though tram bosses denied that....
And Mr Buchanan called for emergency plans to be put in place before the next time lightning struck. He said...“We get lightning quite regularly in Edinburgh. What happens if people are on the trams"?
Aye there must be at least 1 if not 2 lightning storms a year.
Posted 10 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.
posts
