Practical Tips for Cycling in a Lightning Storm

 

Lightning season is fast approaching in Colorado, even if I am writing this while heavy spring snow is falling in Colorado Springs. Although Colorado is not the most lightning-prone state (Tennesee takes that honor), more people die from lightning strikes in Colorado than in any other state. With some major endurance events coming up in the next few months (Haute Route Rockies, Dirty Kanza 200, Ride the Rockies, Leadville 100, the Breck Epic, the Colorado Classic, and Ironman Boulder to name a few), here’s a refresher on facts, myths, and recommendations around lightning.

Myth: Rubber tires will protect you

While rubber is a good electrical insulator, there isn’t enough rubber in bike tires to protect you from lightning. The National Weather Service points out: “The average lightning bolt carries about 30,000 amps of charge, has 100 million volts of electric potential, and is about 50,000°F.” That much energy will burn through hardier insulators than your relatively small tires. Even when it comes to cars, it’s not the rubber tires that might offer protection from lightning. Rather the big metal cage of the car’s body and frame may direct the energy around the passenger compartment, frying the car instead of you.

What to do before the storm

The most obvious way to avoid being hit by lightning is checking the weather before you go out. But thunderstorms form and intensify quickly, and they often move quickly, so it is not uncommon to be far from home with a thunderstorm bearing down on you. If you have a cell phone with a weather app, stop and check to see where it is relative to your position, what direction it’s going, and how fast it’s moving. If it’s a small, isolated storm (common in the west) you can sometimes reroute to go around it or stay out of its path until it passes by.

In some parts of the South, Midwest, and East Coast, fronts form a long line of storms and you can’t reroute to get around it. When you know you’re going to ride into a storm front or that you can’t outrun one approaching from behind you, the safest thing to do is seek shelter – while you’re still dry! Why dry? Because you don’t know how long you’re going to be there and you’ll stay warmer if you’re not waiting around in soaked clothing.

What to do when the storm hits

There are number of options for what to do when you get stuck outdoors on a bike in a thunderstorm, each with their risks and benefits. The gold standard recommendation is to seek shelter in a sturdy building. Sheltering under a bridge also works, assuming flooding isn’t a risk. Under trees is not recommended because lightning strikes trees and wind knocks down big branches.

Update: An electrical safety professional provided some updated information on why sheltering under trees or around other tall objects (light poles) isn’t recommended. “When lighting strikes a tree, that 30,000 amps travels into the ground, which in turn, causes a voltage gradient to radiate in the ground from the tree. This could cause a large enough voltage difference between your feet to induce a current to flow up one leg through your heart and down the other leg. The phenomenon is called ‘step potential’.”

From a practical standpoint, however, shelter isn’t always available. Some of the most desirable areas for road cycling, gravel riding, and mountain biking are far from homes and towns. In the mountain passes of Colorado, the vast grasslands of Kansas, and expansive deserts of the southwest, you may be miles from the nearest sturdy structure (if you even know where to find one).

When shelter isn’t available, you have to assess your options and the associated risks, and make a choice:

Is there car traffic? Throw out your thumb and hitchhike. A car or truck is a safer place to be than out in the storm on your own, and the vehicle can carry you out of the storm faster than you could get out on your own.

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Are you high on a mountain pass? In the mountains, descending to a lower elevation isn’t a guarantee you won’t get hit by lightning, but it does reduce the risk. If there’s already a thunderstorm pounding the top of the mountain, don’t ascend into it. For those athletes participating in high-altitude events out west, above tree line in a thunderstorm is a bad place to be. You are now the tallest thing around. However, when a rainstorm turns into a thunderstorm on top of you or comes up the mountain behind you, you need to assess is whether you are close enough to the summit that getting up and over the pass will actually minimize the time you’re in the storm, compared to descending back down the way you came. It’s a judgment call, and may be influenced by the proximity to shelter, the intensity of the storm, the direction it is moving, and how big the storm is.

Can you ride out of the storm? This is another judgment call. The safest thing to do if there’s no shelter available is get off the bike and crouch (not lay down) in the lowest area you can find. You’re still exposed, however, and now you’re not moving so you’re wet and losing body heat, and all you can do is wait until the storm passes. Granted, wet and cold is preferable to suddenly very hot, but from a practical standpoint you have to assess which increases your risk more: staying on the bike and spending less time in the storm, or getting into a safer position but lengthening your exposure to the storm. Again, the storm’s intensity, direction, speed, and size may all play roles in your decision.

Can you even ride? Sometimes lightning isn’t the only problem. Torrential rain, flooded roads/trails/washes, high winds, and/or hail can make it safer to stop than continue. Find a low place to crouch, but try to avoid places that could put you in the path of a flash flood. Don’t try to ride or walk through swift floodwaters. And remember, if you can’t see the bottom of still water, it’s best to walk through it. You have no idea if you’re going to ride into a rock, a huge pothole, or just water that’s a lot deeper than you anticipated.

In my 40+ years as a cyclist I have utilized every option mentioned above at some time or another. Earlier this year I was riding south along the California coast when the wind picked up dramatically. I normally feel very confident in my bike handling skills in windy conditions, but powerful gusts of wind threatened to take me over a guardrail and down a sheer cliff to the ocean. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and I ended up crossing the road to ride slowly in the opposite shoulder – against traffic – for a short time until I could again ride safely in the appropriate lane.

Sometimes the only options you have are bad ones, and you have to make the best decision you can with the information you have. We all have stories, like my experience in the wind. What’s yours?

Chris Carmichael
CEO/Head Coach of CTS

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Comments 75

  3. Cycling in a lightning storm can be extremely dangerous! Always seek shelter immediately, avoid high ground, and stay away from metal objects. If caught out, crouch low and stay safe until the storm passes. Better to wait it out than risk injury! ⚡️🚴‍♂️ You May Love To Read: https://8171ehsaasprogrames.pk/

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  5. Thanks for the tips. Riding in the Midwest, I have been caught in thunderstorms many times. Should you also move away from your bike? I usually wonder if it attracts lightning, although carbon. I’m never fully sure
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  6. Any thoughts on how metal SPD cleats on the bottom of my shoes affect risks in a lightening storm? weather on the bike or off?

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  11. Pingback: Thunderstorms: riding in them - Keep Pedaling Us

  12. I kinda question the advice to dismount the bike. If you’re being shelled, you don’t worry about taking a 152mm shell to the face. You worry about being hit by shrapnel or debris. So it is true with lighting. The most likely way to die is from electricity radiating through the ground and causing a large voltage between your feet.

    “A direct strike accounts for only 3 to 5 per cent of all injuries and death, while ground currents, which spread out over the ground after lightning strikes, account for up to 50 per cent… …Where the lightning strikes the ground, the ground becomes highly electrified and if you’re within that area of ground electrification…”

    So, why do I think bikes are probably pretty good at stopping ground current?

    1. Dry Rubber tires act as a decent insulator.
    2. Even if the tires are drenched in mud or saltwater, what you have is a metal wire (the frame of most bikes) connected to the ground about 1.5 meters apart. This means that the bike will electrically connect those two points on the ground. The bike. Not you. The voltage drop will almost all happen in the ground and the rubber tires. The frame, being conductive, should have basically no voltage drop across it.

    Since you are only touching the frame, not the ground, and you likely have further insulation between you and the frame, such as your shoes, what little difference there is in potential between two parts of the same piece of metal will much prefer to equilibrate by flowing through that metal. Not by flowing into you.

    The odds of a direct strike are very roughly linear with height. That is, of you’re 2 meters tall instead of 1, you double the odds of taking a stepped leader to the face. However, if you’ve reduced your vulnerability to ground currents by some enormous amount, I think you’re gonna be much better off. For roughly the same reasons people in cars are nearly immune to lighting.

    So no, I don’t think you should dismount the bike and crouch. I think you should ride the bike until you’re within meters of shelter.

    If someone with a bit more specific understanding of currents, particularly the skin effect, can explain further whether this is correct, that would be interesting, but until then, I think if you’re riding a metal bike in a lightning storm, you should stay on the bike and not put your feet on the ground.

    Reply

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  47. Cyclists, along with anyone outdoors during a thunderstorm, can and do get struck by lightning. Most lightning deaths and injuries in the United States occur during the summer months when outdoor activities and thunderstorms reach their peak.

    Reply

  50. I knew there was a pub at the bottom of the hill I had just ridden up, rode down it as fast as possible, even though the rain was dreadful (a months rain fall in 30 minutes) The Pub was closed for refurbishment, but the builders let a very wet cyclist and bike inside to shelter, even got me a coffee to drink.

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  60. During the thunderstorm, step away from your bike and avoid groups of people, For safety, get into a squatting position in the lowest spot in the area around you

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  61. Pingback: 25 Tips for Cycling in the Rain - Where The Road Forks

  62. Pingback: How Safe is a Bike in a Lightning Storm?

  63. According to Erk Eton, does e-bikes really attract lightening? Well, it’s a totally new lesson for me. I never knew this before although I’m riding electric bikes for years. If so, how can one get rid of it? As you said the rubber tires can save the rider, I would like to equip my wheels with rubber tires. Most probably I’ll avoid heading out in this type of weather. Thanks for sharing this! It was really really helpful.

    Reply

  64. Pingback: How Risky IS It? – SpokEasy

  65. I also was/am wondering about whether my E bike attracts lightening…

    Of course, the third-grade section of my brain wonders if I would ever need to recharge it again should it get struck…

    But seriously, is it more dangerous to ride in a storm than a non-electric cycle?

    Reply

  66. Pingback: Caught In A Lightning Storm? – Cycle Safely | BikesReviewed.com

  67. As an Electrical Safety Professional, here is the PSA on the danger of standing under a tree during a storm. (It has nothing to do with getting hit by a falling branch.) When lighting strikes a tree, that 30,000 amps travels into the ground, which in turn, causes a voltage gradient to radiate in the ground from the tree. This could cause a large enough voltage difference between your feet to induce a current to flow up one leg through your heart and down the other leg. The phenomenon is called “step potential”. 0.1Amps can cause V-fib. 0.4 can cause the heart to stop. Step Potential has killed hundreds of herd animals around the world.

    Reply

      1. Crouching can help lower then chance of being struck by lightning, but has nothing to do with the step potential, current passing through the ground. Standing on one leg is impractical. Having both feet as close together as possible will greatly reduce the step potential.

        Reply

    2. I’m planning to ride the Continental Divide Trail. There’s stretches for hundreds of miles over sections of mountain regions, open plains, and broad desert expanses. Would it make sense to set up 1 or 2 telescoping rods to create lightening rods and move a significant distance away? Is there a reasonably safe distance away where an electrical current would be most likely to be directed to the rod but far enough away from the rod that the current wouldn’t travel over wet ground so as to serve to clear a perimeter area? Of course, the rods would probably be the first thing to go to reduce weight when my legs were burning on a mountain pass traverse but for the sake of argument, could there be a strategy in setting up rods to direct lightening away from a location in an open area?

      Reply

  68. I was caught in a thunderstorm in the Dalby forest in North Yorkshire, I knew there was a pub at the bottom of the hill I had just ridden up, rode down it as fast as possible, even though the rain was dreadful (a months rain fall in 30 minutes) The Pub was closed for refurbishment, but the builders let a very wet cyclist and bike inside to shelter, even got me a coffee to drink.

    Reply

  69. We were climbing out of Bellagio from lake Como last summer and caught in a nasty lightning storm. Fortunately a cafe welcomed two soaked bikers and warmed us up with fresh polenta and cappucinos. The best way to spend a storm!

    Reply

  70. Thunderstorms seem to be always a problem when racing. Often events/organizers are unprepared and participants can not be assured they will retain their place or proper time gap at the time of race suspension….in other words organizers often “wing it”.

    Reply

  71. Thanks for the tips. Riding in the Midwest, I have been caught in thunderstorms many times. Should you also move away from your bike? I usually wonder if it attracts lightning, although carbon. I’m never fully sure. I have crouched in a ditch before and moved my bike about a 100 yards away.

    Thanks

    Reply

    1. See this website about what attracts lightning:
      http://stormhighway.com/small_metal_objects_attract_lightning_myth.php

      Reply

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