Clarksville, TN – I’ve only been on this journey since January, 2016. I’ve avoided rain like the plaque. All of my trips were planned around the weather forecast. If I was visiting friends in Texas, then I would check the weather between here and there and if there wasn’t a clear path, then I waited until there was.
What a WHIMP!
The bottom line is that the more you ride and the more miles you log, you are GOING to ride in the rain! I don’t mean a drizzle or two, I mean a full on downpour.
The decision to continue riding during a storm is entirely up to the rider, and you don’t want to be full on STUPID, but sometimes you just get caught. If you’ve prepared to encounter the rain, meaning you have “geared up” for it, then it’s no big deal. You carry on.
As I was returning home from the Gulf this weekend, I had managed to stay ahead of all the rain I had seen on the radar. I did manage to catch a few drizzles, but only for a couple of miles then it had passed. I thought to myself, “wow, how lucky am I?”
Spoke too soon.
After a fuel stop in Columbia Tennessee, I glanced at the radar to check my path home and it appeared as though I was going to make it, so I didn’t put on my rain gear.
WRONG!
As soon as I rolled into South Nashville, the skies opened up into a torrential downpour.
Now, it wasn’t the getting wet part that bothered me, it was the fact that I was in three lanes of traffic, goggles fogging up, and I couldn’t see anything. I managed to get over and pull off the interstate and find cover, but by this time, I was a soaked puppy.
But I LOVED IT! Why?
Because I had just lost my virginity as a biker. If you don’t ride in the rain, you ain’t quite there yet.
So I waited out the hard rain and lightning, and put on the gear and made my way home, which was about 50 miles.
Rain riding is not ideal for a biker, but it happens. We all have to be prepared and trained to handle the rain. Having the right gear helps and having your bike in top shape, including tires, is imperative.
It’s what makes this journey so exciting. You never know what’s around the next turn.
Ride safe my friends and enjoy everything that the road gives you.
