rain – Flutterby Biker

Hurricane Debby made landfall this week bringing devastation and destruction to a wide swath of the east. The outer bands passed over this area giving us days of rain. Cooler air came along with the storm which was nice. When Saturday came, rain was in the forecast, but we hadn’t paid enough attention to it to avoid the precipitation entirely. As we geared up in the garage, Bill checked his weather app which predicted 70% chance of rain. We headed out to get whatever ride in we could.

We were able to hit the curvy road where we ran into several cars leaving their driveways. Bill even cut into the gravel lot of the historic house to let one of the cars go past us. I realized then that while I am engine braking coming to stop signs, I don’t have it as a habit to help me in sudden slow downs and stops. We passed five Canadian geese and just as I was beginning to feel sad about the odd one, we zoomed past three more. With all the recent rain, the geese had split up to enjoy different puddles.

As we hit the long road into the ritzy neighborhood, I spotted something on my visor that might have been a raindrop. Half a second later, we rode into the downpour. We had to do an on-street U-turn and began to head back to my parents’ garage. Oddly, though, as we entered my parents’ neighborhood, the rain stopped, just a few blocks from the downpour. So we began riding around that neighborhood. I spotted a few butterflies, but under the gray skies, I couldn’t quite make up which species.

We zipped around for a few minutes before passing a car with its windshield wipers in full gear. Two seconds later, we hit the rain again and decided to call it a day. It was an interesting image to see the demarcation in the air between the rain and no rain.

Next week promises sunshine and low 80s for our Saturday ride. It will be a long week as I have to head back to work, so I’m hopeful for a great day of riding ahead.

Raindrops on the pillion seat and taillight of the R Nine T.

December is off to a bad start. Rain moved in Friday and stuck around enough Saturday to keep the roads wet well into Sunday afternoon. As my regular readers are well-aware, we don’t ride on wet roads, so it was another no ride weekend, and I’m bummed.

But I thought I would write about why we don’t ride on wet roads. Anyone who watches Lamb Chop Rides or the Missenden Flyer, two British bike reviewers, knows it is possible to ride in the rain. But Bill, who has ridden motorcycles for over 50 years, only once rode in the rain and that was two months ago when we got caught by rain arriving early (Caught by the Rain, October 7, 2023). That ride was just enough to get us back to the garage, so it wasn’t an intentional ride in the rain and the roads weren’t really wet yet as the rain had just started.

Unfortunately for us, the roads were wet and with puddles still evident. Drizzle fell on and off after we arrived at the garage. So why don’t we ride in the rain? Lack of grip. If you are a car driver, then you most likely understand that when driving on wet roads you want greater braking distance from the car in front of you and you’re probably more cautious with your speed. And that’s on four tires.

Of the nearly 6 million car accidents, nearly a quarter happen on wet roads. Motorcycles do not make up a large portion of this statistic only because most riders choose not to ride in the rain. On our commute to and from the garage, we only saw one Harley rider on the wet roads. This non-riding precaution makes sense; motorcycles only have two contact patches with the roads as opposed to the four wheels of a car.

Tires can lose contact with the pavement with just 1/12 of a gallon of water on the roads. Hydroplaning can occur even when riding below 35-mph, and wet roads after a dry spell are worse because the water can mix with oil spills on the roadway, and we had just had two weeks of dry weather. So there were a lot of reasons not to ride on these wet roads.

Another reason not to ride on wet roads, not related to safety, is the wet roads spray up dirt, mud, and oil onto the motorcycle’s chassis and into the engine. So safety and cleanliness are two great reasons not to ride in the rain nor on wet roads. It does make for a big bummer as I do love riding. I’ve looked ahead to the forecast for next weekend—sunny and 65. Fingers crossed that it stays that way or gets even better.

Tag: rain

Caught by the Rain

Wet Road Win