Okay now back to where I started, I had always been a fair weather rider - never ventured on two wheels while it was raining. But past Saturday, when I was working on something in my garage, my Suzuki SV looked quite lonely - with an air of sadness all around it - being cooped up in the garage. I hadnt done any riding for about two .weeks - dang it - raining again. Then suddenly I had the urge to take the motorbike out despite of the weather. All my senses were telling me forget about it - too much gear to wear, risky slippery roads, slimy autumn leaf piles on all the roads.....at least on my favorite twisty roads. But I caved in to my desire to go out for a ride...
Spent about half an hour getting all my gear and putting it on....back protector, knee/shin protectors, right gloves for the weather, snowboarding pants, and did I mention - trying out my new Scorpion helmet. It's supposed to have mist free visor...and it does work :-). With the vents open, didnt even get any mist on my glasses. Well enough about the gear - would come to this detail and a few others when I talk a little more about riding in rain in general. Right now back to my ride on Saturday....
So took the motorbike out and it was raining. My head was telling me it aint worth it but still pushed on... :-) ; and I'm glad I did.
After getting out of the neighborhood went off on US26 West. It's a beautiful road and has great scenery all around - but today, it was more like rain/mist whereever I could see. Couldnt even see the mountains that look serene on nice sunny days....
Knowing my riding abilities, can't/won't ride like this in rain... :-)
"Dont sit up, arms locked, nervously looking at the road 40 meters ahead of you. A tense body only makes matters worse."
So I loosened my grip on bars and relaxed my arms and shoulders. The more you try to fight these tiny slips, more chances of unsettling the bike. Even during normal dry conditions, the best advice for motorcycle riders is:
"If you cannot flap your elbows i.e. if you cannot move your elbows up and down freely, you are not holding the bar right. Loosen your arms, bring your elbows down a bit and if you can keep at the same level as the bars, even better. Would make cornering easy."
So keeping all this in mind and carefully avoiding road markings, I adjusted accordingly and kept on going on 26W. Not much traffic and those around me - looked at me from their cars and probably thought what's wrong with him. A few kids who peered at me through the cars looked utterly fascinated.
Good thing about riding is that you dont need windshield wipers :-) - the wind just keeps on cleaning your visor.
So I rode for about 50 miles (80 km) and then thought that it would be best not to press my luck by trying to ride back in rain when it is totally dark...so finally turned around.
The funny thing I learnt from this ride that riders who ride year around in all weather especially rain must be better than others as they get to hone their skills even more with less than perfect conditions....the key to riding in rain is smoothness - everything same as normal ride but done smoothly whether on the throttle, brakes or even cornering.
Probably all of us motorbike riders shouldn't let wet weather stop us. I see this as first of many a rides in the rain....So if you a 'fair weather' rider like I used to be - get out there, and enjoy it!
Next time, I'll go more into what I found out about wet weather riding and what gear worked for me.....
