Crank It Cycles

NZ's fickle weather is a reality for outdoors sportsters. From a Mt Bike perspective, a knowledge of what's on the way, or what's been, can make a difference on weather you're better off choosing a different venue, going for a road ride, or even staying at home and doing that clean and tune up your trusty steed deserves (see my next article for details on this) and the chores that always seem to take second place to a ride, or maybe even surprising your loved one with a flat white and cooked breakfast.

Why would a Mt Biker ever pike out over weather? Riding in extreme wet and mud is not only hard on the bike's drivetrain and expensive components like suspension, dirt single tracks take a hammering. Bog holes are created, erosion is accelerated, making them not so great when the weather clears, and for those that are maintained, more work for the track crew. If there are inexperienced riders in your group, some might not be well prepared for the extreme conditions.

So how do you tell?

If you just want the info without all the data, the Met Service site is tops. Go to http://metservice.com/ . You can click on Palmerston North on the map, or the nearest town to wherever you're planning on riding. The rain radar is a valuable tool, as it tells you where that rain that's forecast is at. You can see if it's ahead or behind the forecast. It's updated hourly on the MetService site from a button below the local information. Traditional weather maps with isobars and fronts are available as well.

A new feature, which is a useful tool for more detail on rain predictions, is the farming rain forecast. The Manawatu one is at http://www.metservice.com/rural/manawatu.

The Victoria University Meteorology Department (see MetVUW below) updates the radar every 3 hours. MetVUW has the most comprehensive and useful forecast charts for outdoor sport. I usually go straight to the 3 day North Island forecasts at http://metvuw.com/forecast/forecast3day.php?type=rain&region=nzni. The charts not only have isobars, but wind and rain predictions.

Satellite images perform a similar function to the radar, although they don't tell you directly whether it's raining or not. Both sites mentioned have Satellite data.

If you want to see how much rain has fallen in your intended destination, Horizons has a great rain gauge feature on its web site - the link is http://www.horizons.govt.nz/managing-environment/resource-management/water/river-heights-and-rainfall/Choose-river-rainfall-chart/. Often, rainfall is different in the hills from in town, and this is an ideal way to decide if a road ride is a better choice on the day.

Having taken all this into account, it's hard to remember the last time I ever regretted going on a ride, no matter what the conditions. Even if the weather turns out as bad or worse than forecast, being out in the elements with friends or just nature is often a better option than moping around at home.

Sometimes you can tell what sort of day it's going to be by checking out the cloud formations...