Not to put too fine a point on it, it’s HOSING down. So, no riding today, and they say it’s going to last for a few days, bummer.
I have a very enlightened policy on riding in the rain. I’ll ride in it if I’m out riding and I get caught and I have no choice, but I won’t set out on a ride when it’s raining, no matter how urgent the errand is and I won’t set out even if it LOOKS like it’s going to rain (and that policy has saved me on more than one occasion.)
Riding in the rain is one of the worst forms of punishment. It’s usually cold, uncomfortable, the road and the line markings are slippery, the diesel that has been dropped by the trucks floats to the surface and lies in coloured patches on the surface just waiting to trap the unwary and, regardless of how well-designed your rain gear is, the water inevitably gets in and conveys itself by the shortest possible route to your crotch.
My “wets” are pretty good these days and the few times recently when I HAVE been caught in the rain, they have protected me well. A one-piece rainsuit, rubber over-boots (that take some getting on, but are excellent). I actually found that the very best way to get the rainboots on is to take the boots OFF, slide the over-boots on and then put the boots on again; simple but effective. My Rjays “Black Ice” gloves are excellent (despite “Road Rider magazine saying they weren’t), and my Can-Teen charity bandana seals my neck and stops the ingress of water by that route.
The only problem I am yet to solve is the one of water running down the INSIDE of my visor. It doesn’t seem to matter what I do (duct tape, foam, whatever) along the top edge of the helmet, water still gets in and restricts vision. One day the helmet manufacturers are going to go back to visors which are flush-mount to the helmet and will stop this from happening. I don’t know why they can’t do that. I had a Shoei years ago that had that design and it was excellent.
And here I must confess to something. Often, if I am caught in the rain without having packed my rain gloves in my kit, I will take my gloves off and stash them and ride without gloves. It takes so long to get gloves dry once they get wet, it’s easier to stop them from getting wet to start with. Silly, I know, but…
And, on reflection, it’s still a darn sight easier to ride in the wet these days than it was when I first started riding. Tyres are about a million percent better and wet-weather gear likewise. I shudder to think of how we rode in that antique waxed cotton Belstaff stuff.
Dry weather riding for me, every time.
sanoptic says
Belstaff’s,that brought back some memories,fondly [not] remember riding through the worst dust storm on the way to Bourke some years ago.That jacket & pants set were thickly covered in dust which i never could get out.
Riding in the rain is ok in summer but when it raining & cold its not very pleasant to say the least.
Have done Sydney- Cairns wet about 90%, Sydney -Phillip Island rained all the way down & all the way back but the Gp races were dry. Getting out of the campsite was the tricky bit..LOL
cheers