Always take the weather with you

Whether you're preparing for an Ultracycling event, in the middle of your vacation, or simply wondering what the next ride will bring there's one thing a cyclist always wants to know - what's the weather going to be like?

Barry's recent experience in the rainy Two Volcano Sprint race was aided by the Windy app, helping him to at least try to dodge the worst of the weather. Join him for a brief look at the app, below:

n.b. We have no connection with Windy, and this is not a paid placement, it's simply a recommendation based on personal experience!

above: Windy shows the wind strength in knots; and rainfall - indicated by the colour: blue is light rain, and when it gets to yellow and green you know you will get properly soaked!

They say "there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad equipment".

I would add another qualifier; "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad equipment and bad planning".

Wind and rain are the two biggest obstacles we face as cyclists. Everyone talks about how many km's a ride was, orr how many metres you climbed. But if you are doing a point to point route into a block headwind you will find your pace agonisingly slow regardless of distance or incline...

Windy is a free app on iOS and Android, as well as a website at windy.com

I learnt about it from guys in the sailing industry - who really need to know about the weather, as it's a matter of life and death for them. If they recommend something you can be sure it's going to be reliable.

It's amazing; you can see the current winds and forecasts; as well as expected rain in the coming days. It's also very accurate; often depressingly so!

When I was racing the Two Volcano Sprint I was constantly looking at it on my phone; I would time my rides to try and miss as many thunderstorms as possible.

You can even register with them (optionally) and it will save your preferred settings to the cloud so they'll be constant across different devices.

It's totally free to use, and incredibly useful - I've only been scratching the surface of what it can do so far, and look forward to exploring further. But even at first use I've found real benefit from it. I highly recommend you download it, or visit their site, and try it for yourself!

Links:

iOS download on the App Store

Android download on Google Play

Windy.com

below: the global temperature layer is one of many options to choose from, showing hot and cold spots at a glance