If you are wearing an anorak and trousers, then cycling in the rain can get the trousers very wet. What is the best cycling strategy to get them the least wet, e.g. I could cycle home as fast as possible, or I could repeatedly speed up and coast with legs vertical on the pedals, so my upper thighs aren't catching the rain, except this would take me longer to get home...

Originally posted by iamatiger
If you are wearing an anorak and trousers, then cycling in the rain can get the trousers very wet. What is the best cycling strategy to get them the least wet, e.g. I could cycle home as fast as possible, or I could repeatedly speed up and coast with legs vertical on the pedals, so my upper thighs aren't catching the rain, except this would take me longer to get home...

this reminds me of a similar puzzle with the car which has no front window and no roof and the question is wether to go fast or slow to get least rain.
if you would go (theoretically) with infinite speed, your time would be 0 and you would get no rain. therefore going faster is the better option. now in this case you have the ability to get no rain while going slow as well. but my feeling tells me that this wont matter to much. my first guess is: keep pedaling.
but then again the answer could be that sometimes pedaling fast and sometimes rest would balance to regular pedaling. so it wont matter what you do. ill think more 😉

Put the bike in the boot of the car, and drive home... windows up of course 🙂

I have no car 🙁

Originally posted by iamatiger
I have no car 🙁

Take the trousers off, roll them up and put them under the anorak, by your belly.

Assuming spherical bicycles in a vacuum, you should pedal as quickly as possible to minimize the amount of water that splashes up on you.

Originally posted by crazyblue
this reminds me of a similar puzzle with the car which has no front window and no roof and the question is wether to go fast or slow to get least rain.
if you would go (theoretically) with infinite speed, your time would be 0 and you would get no rain. therefore going faster is the better option. now in this case you have the ability to get no rain while ...[text shortened]... metimes rest would balance to regular pedaling. so it wont matter what you do. ill think more 😉

Originally posted by Kareemelbadry
...spherical bicycles in a vacuum...

I was expecting some calculations based on the falling speed of the rain and how much rain my legs catch when coasting (banging into rain drops) or pedalling (lower legs bang into rain drops & rain falls onto upper thighs). Seeing as rain falls faster than I pedal it seems like the thighs catching rain probably dominate