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So on my night ride around Gisburn tonight I was caught out in a massive thunder storm which seemed to linger for 40 minutes right over the forest with massive fork lightening and thunder claps so loud they made me jump 😳 Scary stuff!!
I wasn't sure if if I was safest staying in the forest or on the fire road away from trees or just to keep pedaling (which I did).
What the safest course of action to take?
Away from trees.
Away from overhangs.
Away from metal.
If you're wearing a backpack, take it off and sit on it.
Fatbike ! The tyres will keep you safe 😀
Away from [b]lone[/b] trees.
Forest is fine, as long as you're not the tallest thing about and nothing's going to come down on your head in the wind.
Get naked and tell the Universe that you are alive and that you deserve to be there and will not be cowed by cheap pyrotechnics...
Always worked for me.
Look at the weather forecast before you go out ?
Get naked and tell the Universe that you are alive and that you deserve to be there and will not be cowed by cheap pyrotechnics...
oh how i laughed
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Forecast said light rain 😆
It was pretty spectacular being right in the storm, never seen lightening like it before but it was a bit too close for comfort. Managed a fairly quick lap round though 😀
Had a mental rode along the Bridgewater canal toward manc. Lightning and thunder was intense!
Hold one of these above your head.
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"Even God can't hit a 1 iron" - Lee Trevino
Pray
Pray
Actually correct. If you're the highest thing on the hill and your bike starts buzzing, get away from it and assume the prayer position - head low, bum in air. Will hopefully mean that lightning takes a direct route through your body which avoids major organs. Might still tingle a bit.
You're probably alright in the forest. Wouldn't want to be lining up for the drop into the Slab, though.
a lot of useful advice on the net but pretty much in line with what Scotroutes said
there was a recent article about 300 reindeer being wiped out by a lightning strike. [url= http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/30/world/europe/hardangervidda-norway-lightning-reindeer.html?_r=0 ]300 reindeer[/url]
made me more aware of what to do and not do when/if you get caught out
martinhutch - Member - Block User - Quote
get away from it and assume the prayer position - head low, bum in air.
Might still tingle a bit.
So you're basically getting bummed by a cumulonimbus. Isn't nature wonderful?
Curl up into a ball on the ground so that your shoulders are higher than your head. If you do get hit then the lightning will take the shortest route to earth which hopefully won't fry your brain 🙂
So you're basically getting bummed by a cumulonimbus. Isn't nature wonderful?
Butter up, big boy...
There were huge thunder and lightening storms in Bournemouth recently. When they happened, I just lay flat on the floor, making myself as low as possible.
Which was odd, come to think of it, as I was on Worthing high street at the time.
Hmm... need to rethink this approach..
DrP
Ignore the stuff about keeping away from metal. Get away from anything like a tree or a hill top, don't shelter under an overhang or in a hollow in the ground because lightning tracks all over the place especially on wet ground and can jump through you as it crosses a gap. Get into a small ball with only your feet in contact with the ground so that it can't track through you.
My sister got struck while camping in Andorra in a valley bottom. The lightning went down a tent pole, through the frame of a camp bed on which one of the kids was lying, through a big biscuit tin full of Brillo pads, into the other pole and to Earth. They all jumped and screamed, milliseconds after the strike, and the Brillo pads were fused into a smoking mess of metal wire and soap.
I'll just leave this here.
Ignore the stuff about keeping away from metal..........
The lightning went down a tent pole, through the frame of a camp bed on which one of the kids was lying, through a big biscuit tin full of Brillo pads, into the other pole and to Earth. They all jumped and screamed, milliseconds after the strike, and the Brillo pads were fused into a smoking mess of metal wire and soap.
Curl up into a ball on the ground so that your shoulders are higher than your head. If you do get hit then the lightning will take the shortest route to earth which hopefully won't fry your brain
Or stop your heart.
Depends how much God hates you, I guess.
Some useful advice here. The one about not taking a bath or shower surprised me!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36608210
My sister got struck while camping in Andorra in a valley bottom. The lightning went down a tent pole, through the frame of a camp bed on which one of the kids was lying, through a big biscuit tin full of Brillo pads, into the other pole and to Earth. They all jumped and screamed, milliseconds after the strike, and the Brillo pads were fused into a smoking mess of metal wire and soap.
Good one for the OMFG Gonna Die thread from a couple of weeks back. I've always been a bit edgy about lightning because it flashes and bangs, but I'm guessing they may have a legitimate fear.
What do we reckon about removing shoes with cleats on?
We were caught out about 50m from the summit of Ben Macdui a couple of years ago. We left the bikes, took our shoes off and sat down on our packs in a shelter. Does that sound about the right thing to do?
Family and I got caught at the bottom of the Lindarets lift below Avoriaz over the summer as a light rain shower turned into a deluge and thunderstorm.
Whilst it was still a deluge, I decided to run up the road to the car (parked at the Avoriaz carpark at the top). When the lightning started, I decided sticking out my thumb for a friendly native was the best option - rather be in a faraday cage (car) than be the one sticky up thing on a road on a mountainside in a thunderstorm.
(Friendly native family did pick me me, very grateful to them!!)
Was also caught in last nights storm, scary stuff. However I convinced myself that by keeping on riding on a carbon bike with rubber tyre that there was very little threat.
What do you think?!
Carbon's a good conductor isn't it? Surely lightning would be attracted to it?
Plus I was soaking wet through, so probably a great target 🙂
As I wrote earlier, metal, carbon, rubber, it's all irrelevant. If there's enough voltage for the strike to have crossed a couple of thousand feet of air, it's not going to be too bothered about what it hits and an inch of rubber tyre won't make any difference either.
Animals don't often get "struck" by lightening. They die because the lightening strikes the ground and sets up a potential difference across their legs - and hence heart. And it stops. Needs very little PD too. Insulation from the ground is a good thing, but it won't stop a direct strike.
Get away from tall lone trees - get away from metal, get your bottom in the air and hope any strike goes down your legs.
If you can, get in a car!
Great thread, I genuinely had no idea about any of this.
I'm never riding in the rain, again. Ever. Just in case.
i'm sitting here watching the man getting struck by lightneing video and i se lightening outside the window...
better go unplug the internet i think.
i mena my internet, not THE internet, don't panic