Wet Riding - Louis Savard
It doesn’t happen to me often but yesterday it did… I got caught i the rain, without my rain gear, a few miles before getting home. When riding to work, I have a backpack to carry my stuff but also my packed rain gear if there are chances of rain during the day. As I said earlier, most of the time I’m lucky as I don’t often get rained on during my 25 minutes commute to and from work. I ride my SV650S rain or shine.
But how do you ride in the rain? Carefully of course but there’s no need to freak out. There a few things to be more watchful for such as painted lines, tar snakes, manhole covers to name a few. Those get pretty slick when wet. Roads are more slippery a few minutes afer the rain starts and all the grime, grease and whatnot get wets. But this usually gets washed by the rain itself.
Another point to consider is that you are less visible and that braking distance get longer. My rain suit has reflective stripes on it but as always, consider yourself invisible to the other people on the road.
If you are not comfortable riding in the rain, I suggest you practice it. One day you’ll get caught so better practice when you decide to be out there. Go with someone who doesn’t mind riding in such conditions, get rain gear so you’re at least dry and not distracted by yourself being wet/cold and go play outside!
Louis Savard
September 11th, 2006 at 3:15 pm
[...] A short while ago I posted some tips on riding in the wet. This time it’s going to be about riding in the cold. A lot of the same tips apply since when it’s cold the tires are stiffer and have less grip on the asphalt. But for me the worst part is staying wamr and comfortable. I’m in Canada and for some reason it seems the temperatures are much lower than what I remember from the previous years. I’ve, on a few occasions already, had to ride to work when the thermometer was indicating 5 or 6 degrees Celsius or 42 degrees Fahrenheit. While already a tad nippy, you need to consider the windchill factor when going at 90km/h (55mph)! [...]