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playbook

First time in the pouring rain

IgniteLiving

Automatically translated · View original (Dutch)

The ride you keep avoiding until you finally do it. Twenty minutes putting on a rain suit, kids snug under the tent, and just like that you've crossed the threshold.

duration

€ 0–80

budget

Ignite

pace

Everyone who buys a cargo bike thinks: when it rains, I'll take the car. That holds true for about two months. Then comes the first morning where it's pouring and the car is in someone else's garage because they borrowed it, and you're standing there with a school schedule staring you in the face. You pull on a rain suit, get the kids under the tent, and ride to school in the pouring rain.

Halfway through the ride you realise it was silly to avoid it for the first two months. The kids love it because it's different. Your bike brakes just fine, traffic is easier to navigate because there are fewer cyclists out, and you're inside at school before 8:30. The threshold isn't the rain, it's the idea that rain makes things worse. After this one ride, that idea disappears.

Checklist

0 of 5

Regenpak gepast en aangetrokken
Liefst de avond ervoor
Tent op de bakfiets, lekkages gecheckt
Reservekleding in waterdichte zak
Voor de kinderen
Banden iets harder gepompt
2,5 in plaats van 2 bar
Eerste rit gedaan
Daarna voelt het normaal

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Handy & partners

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by PlayTryBe team

Get a proper rain suit in advance, not a plastic one. An Agu or something similar for around 80 euros is plenty. A poncho doesn't work on a cargo bike.

Fit the rain tent on the cargo bike a day before your first rainy ride. Check for leaks along the seams. A seam seal tube fixes that in ten minutes.

On the first rainy morning: no putting it off. No coffee first. Get dressed, get the kids dressed, into the box, and go.

Suggestion: The longer you wait, the bigger the threshold gets.

pause

The first two hundred metres feel strange. Rain on the helmet, kids peering up at the sky with odd looks, you feel a little ridiculous. That is exactly the moment to keep pedalling.

Somewhere around the halfway point the oldest kid notices that rain sounds flat against the canvas of the tent. It's a remark they've stored away somewhere, they'd never mentioned it before.

At school: dry the kids off with a towel from a waterproof bag. A small bag with dry socks in their backpack. Done.

The rain threshold isn't a weather threshold. It's a mindset threshold. Doing it once is enough to get rid of the reflex to reach for the car keys when it rains.

For anyone copying this

Do as we did

PaceIgnite

Duration1u

RouteAny order

Budget€ 0–80

Suggestions

A decent rain suit (Agu, Source of Sport) costs around 80 euros and pays for itself in four rides.
Check the rain tent on the cargo bike for leaks beforehand, don't find out in the rain.
Pump the tyres a little harder for rain riding, it helps with grip on slippery cobblestones.
Always cross tram rails at a right angle, in the rain "nearly straight" is not enough.

Variations

- Eerste keer met partner aan de telefoon: iemand die meeluistert tijdens de rit haalt de schrik weg.
- Tweede fase: een hele week elke ochtend, ook bij regen. Daarna is het normaal.
- Met kleine kinderen: extra deken in een waterdichte zak, droge kleren in een tasje bij school.
- Solo zonder kinderen: een proefrondje in de avond regen, geen tijdsdruk.