The word surrender usually conjures up negative connotation, often centred around war, or battle. Surrender means giving up, and that’s usually see as a bad thing. But there is one kind of surrender that can change your cycling.
Rain
The UK is exquisitely beautiful and green. The reason behind all that lush greenery, and many flowing rivers, is easy to find: the UK has a fairly high rainfall. A significant number of people won’t go cycling when it’s either raining, or expected to rain.
We can joke about them, and call them fair-weather cyclists, but the truth is every single one of us prefers to ride when it’s dry. And yet, rain will fall on you, unless you want to limit your cycling to three days per year!
I’m obviously exaggerating there, and the truth is that if you go for a daily bike ride, for a full year, most of your rides you won’t get rained on.
Staying dry
The vast majority of people try to stay dry when it rains. Water becomes the “enemy”, and people often invest in ludicrously expensive gear – Gore-Tex, anyone? – to keep the rain out.
The simple truth is that, if you go out cycling in the rain, you will get wet. Keeping the rain out is a losing strategy. You will have to contend with road spray, spray from other road users, the rain itself, and your own body.
Your own body? Definitely! Unless you have the very best (and therefore the most expensive) rain coat, unless you cycle very slowly, over quite a short distance, you will sweat. Sweating is natural. It’s just how our bodies function. I’ve had many a mid-winter commute where I arrived at work literally steaming, and sweaty. Then again, my commute is 15 very hilly miles each way.
Cycling anything but short distances in the rain means your choices are getting wet from the rain, or getting wet from your own sweat – the boil-in-the-bag effect. Staying dry isn’t an option.
Surrender
Here’s where the surrender comes in, and it can completely change your outlook on cycling in the rain. The moment you surrender to the rain, and accept you’ll get wet, you stop fighting it. You’ve done that before!
Remember how, as a kiddie, you loved to jump in puddles? I promise you that those puddles soaked you, but you probably loved every moment of it.
In cold weather, obviously you need to preserve body heat, else your ride will rapidly become unpleasant, or even life-threatening. In summer, I have a challenge for you: go cycling without a rain coat. Just surrender to the rain, and rediscover the deep joy you felt as a little kid, jumping in puddles.
Go on! Sometimes surrender in the best thing you can do. Go surrender to the rain, and enjoy your rainy ride.