Wet ride

[Ms Piggy]

Well I decided to go for a bit of a ride with a mate on Saturday afternoon. Dumb idea! :Oops: We headed towards Upper Hutt & the drizzle got heavier, we got to the Rimutaka summit & were both quite wet & cold :cold:

Stopped at the tea rooms (pretty odd place I must say) and then after 2 coffees headed back. I had actually got really cold & felt really tired going back down the hill. It was a little bit scary to be honest. And I'm still not the most confident rider on the corners.

It was another good lesson for me about being alert & not too tired when I ride any distance & also to make sure I wear enough gear. I normally wear a kinda oil skin vest thing when I go for a longer ride and also a scarf but I hadn't bothered b/c I had thought the weather was gonna be ok. :rolleyes:

Of course by the time we arrive at the Ferry Terminal, where I was meeting some friends in their car, I was wet & cold but feeling ok. Then had a near miss on the way home, a woman decided it would be ok to pull out slooowly from the Massey Uni car park across the road in front of me and a whole line of traffic :2guns: Nice one lady! NOT!

[Motoracer]

Good on ya CSL! :niceone:

[Mongoose]

All the joys of *being cloder to nature* while on the bike, huh? But you are dead right, cold does make for awkward decision making sometimes and added to feeling a little sleepy to it makes it all the worse.(or so I have heard)
Just accept it as one of the challenges of riding, you caint always pick the fne days.
BTW do you not have side luggage,top box or summit simular to carry spare gear in? I usually take gear to cover all srts of weather but then again I do live in the south :wacko:

[mangell6]

Nothing like riding a bike in the middle of winter.

Well done.

[Bob]

Getting caught out in the cold isn't a bundle of fun, is it? Bet you'll be better prepared next time!

That said, I own some really good Winter riding kit - so I still managed to go out for a 100-mile 'tyre scrubbing' run, without the thermal linings in the jacket... and wearing a short-sleeved shirt underneath. Reckon if I'd had a long-sleeved shirt I'd have felt a lot better. As it was, I could feel my arms starting to tremble! Bad, bad way to get!

I've been riding enough to know better - but I still got caught out (asked dealer how many miles to scrub in new tyre, told 100 so went off to do it! If I'd just have gone home (6 miles away) first and kitted myself out better, it would have been a lot more fun).

Well done for getting out there though - get used to riding in poor conditions only makes it seem a lot easier when the weather is better!

Don't know what anyone else thinks, but if you're feeling tired and you know your concentration is starting to slip due to the cold, I reckon if you can pull over somewhere, get a warm drink inside you (like you did in the tearoom), maybe a bar of chocolate and wait until you are feeling better, I think it is well worth making your ride longer (in terms of time) and getting where you were going a bit later.

[moko]

Wettest ride I`ve ever had was in N.Z.,went from Hamilton to the place where theArmy Museum is past Mt Ruapehu(Tauranga?) via the Desert Road.Stopped in Taupo in a fast food place and had all my gear spread out across 2 seats,soaked through.That was on the way,when you`re wet you dont get any wetter so I just pressed on.That was on one of those big pig-ugly BM trail monsters,bike played a blinder,never missed a beat,stepped out of line or mis-behaved in any way.pissed down all day but the BM`s so easy to ride I got back to Hamilton,showered and went out for a meal.On most bikes I`d have got back a nervous wreck and aching all over.

[wkid_one]

Yeah, I remember working in town and watching a southerly rolling in. So I thought I would try and beat it home. Got to about Petone and it started absolutely tossing it down.

Then to top it off, I got to LH and it started bloody hailing.....not a nice sight to see the road coated in little hail stones.....

I was fecken soaked when I got home......

[vifferman]

The wettest I've been was when we moved from Christchurch to Tauranga, and my wet-weather gear had been packed into the container by my wife.:doh:

The trip was mostly OK, although I followed a hay truck for about 10km in North Canterbury, and was finding bits of hay in my clothes and various parts of the bike for months afterwards. I borrowed some old ski-pants from my wife's bro-in-law in Wellington, and was OK most of the way, but on the west side of the Kaimais it absolutely pissed down with rain - like so hard visibility was practically nil, and the road was a river (so I was effectively jetbiking!) My gloves and boots each had about half a cup of water in them, and I was soaked from the waist down. Strangley enough, my leather jacket - though soaked - kept the top half of me mostly dry. Even my helmet was pretty wet inside!

[Ms Piggy]

Thanks guys for your encouragement, yeah it was just lazy of me to go without all my gear on. The wet doesn't really bother me, it's more the cold & my hands got really cold. Next time I'll either wear more or take extra in my tank bag. Can't not ride cos of a little bit of water :ride:

[Mongoose]

Thanks guys for your encouragement, yeah it was just lazy of me to go without all my gear on. The wet doesn't really bother me, it's more the cold & my hands got really cold. Next time I'll either wear more or take extra in my tank bag. Can't not ride cos of a little bit of water :ride:
Corerect atitude CSL, and keep it up! :niceone:

[moko]

The wet doesn't really bother me, it's more the cold & my hands got really cold.

The Beemer had heated grips,made a massive difference,well worth paying for if you ride all year round.On another ride my mates were warming their hands on them at a couple of stops we made.

[pete376403]

Cath, if you want assistance to make a set of heated grips, they're pretty easy to make and very cheap (in the less-than-ten-bucks range). Maybe not quite as elegant as the bought ones, but...
The Kiwi biker magazine had a how-to a while back, that's what I patterned my ones after.

[wkid_one]

You want wet??? Ride this morning then - it is fucken bucketing down!

[James Deuce]

I did.

For some weird reason only the cuffs of my shirt are wet.

Freaking weird synthetic alien-tech breathable bike gear.

[Ms Piggy]

Cath, if you want assistance to make a set of heated grips, they're pretty easy to make and very cheap (in the less-than-ten-bucks range). Maybe not quite as elegant as the bought ones, but...
The Kiwi biker magazine had a how-to a while back, that's what I patterned my ones after.

Ooooooooooooooo - thanks Pete! That sounds cool. Do you I could get a copy of the article or were you prehaps offering to make a pair for me...money & beer would be passed onto you!! :D

[Ms Piggy]

You want wet??? Ride this morning then - it is fucken bucketing down!

Yeah I rode in this morning & was dreading it but the rain had stopped for me :)

[vifferman]

I did.

For some weird reason only the cuffs of my shirt are wet.

Freaking weird synthetic alien-tech breathable bike gear.That's odd. I never had that happen with my jacket, but in fairly heavy rain the water seeps through the top of the vent zips on the sleeves and chest.
This happened the first time I rode in a torrential downpour (less than a fortnight after I bought it), and I was told (when I went in to buy some waterproof glubs) that I could return it any time up to a year if it leaked at all. Unfortunately, I then crash-tested it.:weep:

[pete376403]

Ooooooooooooooo - thanks Pete! That sounds cool. Do you I could get a copy of the article or were you prehaps offering to make a pair for me...money & beer would be passed onto you!! :D
either way. Basically it is a couple of lengths of nichrome wire from Dick Smiths (http://www.dse.co.nz) at $3 per length, some heat shrink tubing, a bit of wire and a switch. The magazine article version had dual temp settings which I didn't bother with. I'll find the mag article and send it on, if you decide you want assistance then thats fine. Beer sounds good.

[Ms Piggy]

either way. Basically it is a couple of lengths of nichrome wire from Dick Smiths (http://www.dse.co.nz) at $3 per length, some heat shrink tubing, a bit of wire and a switch. The magazine article version had dual temp settings which I didn't bother with. I'll find the mag article and send it on, if you decide you want assistance then thats fine. Beer sounds good.

I owe you beer anyway for helping me with my noisey front end. :apint:

[James Deuce]

That's odd. I never had that happen with my jacket, but in fairly heavy rain the water seeps through the top of the vent zips on the sleeves and chest.
This happened the first time I rode in a torrential downpour (less than a fortnight after I bought it), and I was told (when I went in to buy some waterproof glubs) that I could return it any time up to a year if it leaked at all. Unfortunately, I then crash-tested it.:weep:
Bummer about the crash test.

I think it has to do with wicking water down to the end of the sleeves, which I have of course tucked into my gauntlet style waterproof gloves.

[James Deuce]

It is now raining and hailing in alternate waves. I can't hear people 10 ft from me, talking in a normal voice.

[bgd]

I may be joining you wet weather bikers.

Today the great British summer is supposed to provide us with gale force winds, heavy rain and localised flooding. :(

[matthewt]

You want wet??? Ride this morning then - it is fucken bucketing down!

Tell me about it !!

Left home at 6 this morning and only light rain until 3k's out of wellington then it just bucketed down!!

[riffer]

Tell me about it !!

Left home at 6 this morning and only light rain until 3k's out of wellington then it just bucketed down!!
Does it mean that beautiful red bike has finally got rid of its coat of dirt, matthew?

I'm so tempted to give it a wipe down every time I pass by it on Lambton Quay ;)

[Bob]

I may be joining you wet weather bikers.

Today the great British summer is supposed to provide us with gale force winds, heavy rain and localised flooding. :(

How was it on your side of the River? I understand in Kent a few thousand people had their power supplies cut off and the energy company had to impliment their emergency plans? 70mph winds?

Couldn't believe my luck - it was throwing it down heavily about half an hour before I left work. Walk out of office at end of day? Stopped completely. Reckon I caught about 5 drops of rain all the way home (about an hours ride). There were strong winds though.

Got home, parked bike in garage. Then went in, started doing bits and pieces... then it went pitch black, the trees started their "lets lose lots of leaves as it is really windy" thing... then the heavens opened! Reckon we must have had 40/50mph winds and heavy rain. I'm SO glad I didn't have to leave work late!

[bgd]

How was it on your side of the River? I understand in Kent a few thousand people had their power supplies cut off and the energy company had to impliment their emergency plans? 70mph winds?

Couldn't believe my luck - it was throwing it down heavily about half an hour before I left work. Walk out of office at end of day? Stopped completely. Reckon I caught about 5 drops of rain all the way home (about an hours ride). There were strong winds though.

Got home, parked bike in garage. Then went in, started doing bits and pieces... then it went pitch black, the trees started their "lets lose lots of leaves as it is really windy" thing... then the heavens opened! Reckon we must have had 40/50mph winds and heavy rain. I'm SO glad I didn't have to leave work late!

Same at this end. Plenty of wind but missed the rain. Was glad to be indoors when things finally opened up.

Not sure I'll stay dry this evening, though. :(