Stay indoors?

[robing]

When it is hot and sunny, awful cycling weather

That's my favourite cycling weather! On a bike you generate your own breeze so the best way of getting around when it's hot

[Tjm1986]

My Road bike goes out in fair weather only. My carrera hybrid however goes out in any weather apart from high winds its no fun mashing pedals in a 20+mph headwind. I commute daily to work (24 miles) on the hybrid fully loaded with my uniform and spares etc and it weighs in at a whopping 30Kg. It gets a clean at the end of each week with muc off and the work hosepipe. I wear the appropriate clothing for the weather although I hate getting hot so I normally just wear a waterproof cycling jacket over a t shirt and either my lycra leggings or mountainbiking shorts. I am a bit of a strange one as I like riding in the rain. Don't ask why I cant answer lol.

[Cugel]

My Road bike goes out in fair weather only. My carrera hybrid however goes out in any weather apart from high winds its no fun mashing pedals in a 20+mph headwind. I commute daily to work (24 miles) on the hybrid fully loaded with my uniform and spares etc and it weighs in at a whopping 30Kg. It gets a clean at the end of each week with muc off and the work hosepipe. I wear the appropriate clothing for the weather although I hate getting hot so I normally just wear a waterproof cycling jacket over a t shirt and either my lycra leggings or mountainbiking shorts. I am a bit of a strange one as I like riding in the rain. Don't ask why I cant answer lol.

Apparently someone has recently "discovered" that being in water is very good at inducing calm and quelling the angsts. We cyclists (as well as the surfers) have known this for donkeys years!

Nevertheless, I must mention that there are pleasant and unpleasant ways to be wet on a bike. A cotton T-shirt is highly unpleasant, especially when you stop generating heat for a bit whilst stuck at a traffic light in the colder wet drizzles and downpours. You must obtain merino and wrap yourself in it's fine coddle. Warm when wet, as the sheep do know.

Cugel

[100%JR]

When it is hot and sunny, awful cycling weather

That's my favourite cycling weather! On a bike you generate your own breeze so the best way of getting around when it's hot

This...unless it's about 28/30 degrees then it's just too hot.One of the benefits of Lycra,cooler even on hot days and dries really quickly when you're sat having a cuppa/pint or whatever

[pwa]

About 18C is my optimum, but I like to think I can enjoy a wide range of temperatures.

[The utility cyclist]

About 18C is my optimum, but I like to think I can enjoy a wide range of temperatures.

18-20C, little to no wind, tiny bit of cotton wool cloud, no motors, idyllic but rare as rocking horse poop unless you want to ride on a summers night.

[Cugel]

About 18C is my optimum, but I like to think I can enjoy a wide range of temperatures.

18-20C, little to no wind, tiny bit of cotton wool cloud, no motors, idyllic but rare as rocking horse poop unless you want to ride on a summers night.

Or in the Lost Lands of West Wales; or the back-back roads of North Lancashire, West Yorkshire and South Cumbria. Or several other parts of the disUK that I haven't yet discovered but are surely there. I did it the Wednesday before last, on Sunday and yesterday. There were a few motors about on Monday, mind. Also, it might have been just 16 degrees yesterday.

Cugel, retired and free to pick and choose from the many nice windows in the weather.

[The utility cyclist]

It's always wet, windy and cold in Wales, West Yorks/North Lancs and Cumbria, it never reaches 18C either, not when it isn't raining, fog or windy. Places in West Yorkshire it snows in june!

[pwa]

It's always wet, windy and cold in Wales, West Yorks/North Lancs and Cumbria, it never reaches 18C either, not when it isn't raining, fog or windy. Places in West Yorkshire it snows in june!

Here in the Vale of Glamorgan we get exactly the same weather as the North Somerset coast, which we can see from a bedroom window. And there are plenty of quiet lanes where you can go for a couple of miles without encountering a single vehicle, in the middle of the day. But 18c was in short supply this summer. We had to put up the same high temperatures as everyone else.

[mjr]

That's my favourite cycling weather! On a bike you generate your own breeze so the best way of getting around when it's hot

This...unless it's about 28/30 degrees then it's just too hot.One of the benefits of Lycra,cooler even on hot days and dries really quickly when you're sat having a cuppa/pint or whatever

I never found that. Lycra was always sweaty and scratchy to me, never drying out and slowly forming ugly salt sweat tide lines over it - but they seem to be thinking now that skin sensitivity to something in it is much more widespread than thought. Cotton, bamboo or merino now for me. Worn in this summer's 40+ degree heat, but yeah, that was a bit warm. It was OK once it dropped to mid-30s again, though.

Here in the Vale of Glamorgan we get exactly the same weather as the North Somerset coast, which we can see from a bedroom window. And there are plenty of quiet lanes where you can go for a couple of miles without encountering a single vehicle, in the middle of the day. But 18c was in short supply this summer. We had to put up the same high temperatures as everyone else.

Many's the time I looked out from my North Somerset window in sunshine to watch the rain and storms over the Vale of Glamorgan!

But I guess when we had storms, I couldn't see as far as Glamorgan, so I don't know what weather you had then! But I have been told that one reason why Bristol airport (actually in North Somerset) and Cardiff airport (actually in Glamorgan) work well together is that they rarely have to close for bad weather at the same time, although I've not checked that.

[pwa]

There are times when we have it sunny and the Severn Estuary sides of Somerset and Devon don't, but my impression is that generally we get the same, possibly with variations in timing. Rainwise, Tenby and Bristol get about the same, so there isn't that much variation until you get into the hills.

[Cugel]

It's always wet, windy and cold in Wales, West Yorks/North Lancs and Cumbria, it never reaches 18C either, not when it isn't raining, fog or windy. Places in West Yorkshire it snows in june!

Perhaps you don't realise but "the sun shines upon the righteous......". This is why I always go out with someone else if I can, in the hope that they will attract this effect even though I'm with them. After all, the saying does go on "....but also on us sinners".

However, I have noticed that you yourself tend to carry a small black cloud about with you, which seems to get bigger and lower whenever you think about the car. I grok this car-caused cloud-towing yet won't allow one to follow me about as I am a fair weather cyclist now. I get rid of any such cloud by pretending that everything in lovely and nice. Strangely, this often causes things to become lovely and nice (I think ... I sometimes check with my cycling companion but receive varying reports from them that may or may not approximate my own assessment).

But I digress.

There is also the matter of subjective temperature versus objective temperature. I find that these never agree, as the merino has me at about 32 degrees even if everyone else in their cheap lycra thinks its 12 degrees. It happened again only this morning!

Cugel

[RickH]

Lycra was always sweaty and scratchy to me..

It is much more likely that whatever the main fabric is would the problem rather than the lycra itself (most likely to be polyester). The lycra (elastane) is only a small part of the fabric (usually around 10-15% but I have got a "racy" top that is 23%), added to give it some stretch. A fabric of 10% lycra 90% wire wool would be guaranteed to be scratchy, but not because of the lycra.

The M&S cycling chinos that were available a while back are (were) 98% cotton but 2%, you've guessed it, lycra to give a little stretch to the fabric. I'd challenge anyone to be able to tell the difference in feel to 100% cotton.

[100%JR]

I never found that. Lycra was always sweaty and scratchy to me, never drying out and slowly forming ugly salt sweat tide lines over it -

Very strange.I have three different CC kits(all Lycra) and all made by different companies(Kalas,BioRacer and Endura) plus I have non-CC kit(Castelli,B-Twin,Endura)and they're all very soft,comfortable and dry within 10 minutes in warm weather.Two of the kits are predominantly Black and have no sweat marks anywhere,the third in predominantly White and has no sweat marks but does have stains from Sun-cream around the neck Even on cooler days my kit always dries whilst sat at a cafe stop.
You're the first person I've ever come across who says Lycra is scratchy and sweaty
I find Cotton stays wet and clammy for hours in Summer so even my every day T-shirts are Synthetic on hot days.

I used to go MTBing with a bloke who always wore a "normal" Cotton shirt to ride in.10 mins into a ride and it was soaked and stuck to him.If he wore it under a Hardshell waterproof it was absolutely wringing wet by the end of a ride.He used to bring a spare to change into if we stopped for a pint as he used to get too cold even on warmer days if he stopped moving for too long

[The utility cyclist]

Cugel, you need to brighten/lighten up and realise when people put a laughing emoticon at the end of a comment it's said in jest.
There are very few days when it's not windy, not raining, circa 18-20C, even rarer that you won't come across a motorvehicles on your ride, if you get that alignment for half a dozen days a year then you're doing far, far better than 99% of the cycling population.

The last time I had that was last year on a night ride but only after meeting a few HGVs and cars on my way to the country lanes. For those that can get total tranquillity and perfect weather (whatever that is for any individual) I'm happy they get it, I've no dark cloud, weather is weather, just pointing out the actuality.

Scratchy lycra? I've been wearing it since the late 80s, some cheap, some not so cheap. I would say only poorly stitched seams or manufacturing flaw that makes it stick out would make 'lycra' on its own scratchy, the only scratchy garment i have is a 100% woollen cardigan.