Faster in the rain?

[manonbike]

Must be the water cooling, works with engines?

[rualexander]

Just back from my usual 25 miler around the lanes in South West Scotlandshire.

Sorry its not relevant to this particular thread but your regular use of the term "Scotlandshire" is a bit irritating.

[mw3230]

Just back from my usual 25 miler around the lanes in South West Scotlandshire.

Sorry its not relevant to this particular thread but your regular use of the term "Scotlandshire" is a bit irritating.

Perhaps that expression should be scotched

[mag]

I read a while ago that in the 70s/80s, I think, physiologists were puzzled to discover that pro cyclists were able to produce significantly more work (in a formal sense i.e. Watts) outside on the road than inside on a cycling ergometer.
It turned out that inside on the cycle ergometer, where there is little airflow, much more blood was required to be diverted to the sub-skin areas in order to dump excess heat generated by muscle contractions, leaving less circulation available for delivery/consumption of fuels, metabolytes etc, and therefore lower work output.
I can't recall the numbers or where I read it, but Francesco Moser springs to mind as the object of study.
With regard to rain, I can easily see that the greater cooling effect of skin effectively pre-cooled might amplify or produce this effect.
Although I am principally a rower not a cyclist (although I commute 20 miles each weekday), the lesson I took from this after I read it was that I always try to ensure I have a big cooling fan pointed at me whenever I do the rowers' dreaded "ergo-tests" on the rowing machine.
It would be interesting for you lot who regularly use turbo-trainers to see if such a fan improves your output.

[paulcuthbert]

The time trailists might be on to something.

I've always managed to maintain higher average speeds on damp roads than on bone dry roads or it's certainly felt that way. The rolling resistance seems to be lower when the roads are wet.

+1

[AndyB]

A related aside: a racing acquaintance insisted that he (and others) went noticeably better when racing through the forests of Belgium than on more open roads, and attributed this to the extra oxygen from all the trees photosynthesizing. It sounds plausible to me, but I've no idea of the magnitude of the effect.

[kwackers]

I suspect air density is more likely the culprit than any effect of 'lubrication'.

On the other hand I discovered this (cold) winter that my jogging bottoms I'd taken to wearing were costing me 5-10%, might not sound a lot but it equated to around 10 minutes a day of extra commuting!