The best of times, followed by the worst....and lessons learnt the hard way

Off-topic
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Went to Tavistock, Devon this weekend to see one of my sisters and her family - lovely :o)

Decided to take the scenic route and use the A303, A30 and A386, rather than use boring motorways. For the last couple of weeks, Mike (the newish man) has been trying to encourage me to discover ‘the upper third’ (of the rev range) and to indulge in a bit of red-lining and for those who know the A303 - this is the ideal road upon which to practice.

O.M.G!!! :w00t:I can’t believe what I have been missing and I now understand why some sport bike riders have those grippy pads where their knees touch the fuel tank - the rush you get when you take off like a rocket in 2nd is like nothing I have ever experienced:w00t: - all roller coasters will now feel rather dull in comparison. Getting to 70mph, before you switch up to 3rd, just awesome - shan’t put in writing what I achieved after that!! I found myself looking forward to roundabouts, as opposed to seeing them as a delaying feature - any opportunity to get back to 2nd gear, so I could feel that blast again:w00t:.

Then on the Saturday, I decided to ride a road that I’ve only ever been on in a car before, the road over Dartmoor that links Tavistock with Ashburton - hills, twists, outstanding views, roaming livestock, perfect tarmac - about 20 miles each way and on the way to Ashburton I didn’t see a single car - just 3 to overtake on my way back. It’s now officially my favorite road in the UK - so far, better even than anything I rode on in the Brecon Beacons:w00t:.

So it was all going so well, I had discovered POWER and my new favourite road…and then I came home - well, at least tried to…on Sunday and had the most miserable riding experience that I have had to date.

The A386 is only just within Dartmoor, but far enough in that I had to fight to keep the bike upright with the gale force winds I was having to contend with sweeping across the moor. Keeping a straight line was nigh on impossible, so I just found myself steering towards the centre white line to have any chance of not ending up in the ditch. It was already raining by now, but I had all my wet weather gear on, so I’d be fine, wouldn’t I?! It would appear not, somehow my right boot kept filling with water, I’d get to a service station, pour the water out, dry out the worst with loo paper and then stick it under an air dryer for 20 mins, only for it to be wet again within half an hour of riding, I just couldn’t seem to position the bottom of the water proof trousers, so that they prevented this from happening - cold wet feet are miserable. As are cold, wet hands - unfortunately I only had my summer, leather gloves with me - my heated grips did their best, but were just no match for the elements that I was dealing with - I also didn’t realise how much rain can ‘sting’ when it hits the mesh parts of your gloves - really very uncomfortable. What really did me in though, was my lid - brand new - £330 and although it would take a while to fog up, eventually it would, opening the visor only made the matter worse - the rain would sting my face, let in water (obviously) and although it would de-mist, once the lid was back down, it would mist up even faster - this meant I didn’t feel safe going faster than about 50mph.

Of course each service station stop included a coffee to warm me up and a few cigarettes to calm my nerves - it felt really scary out there:crying:. With that and the time spent under the air dryer, time was really marching on and it was getting dark quickly and I was only on the Somerset/ Wiltshire border.

As soon as I had got off Dartmoor, I had decided that despite being a lot further, that I would come back via motorway - felt it would be safest, but 4 hours after I had set off and still over a hundred miles from home I was starting to really lose confidence - I was tired, cold, wet and completely miserable - all the memories of how much fun I had had over the two previous days were fast fading. I had only seen one other motorbike in the 140 miles I had travelled and there was a very good reason for that!!

I told myself to ‘man up’ and to get home in one go with no more stopping - I had enough fuel, I just needed to push through and stop being such a wimp.

I only managed another 30 miles - riding on a motorway at 50mph, with lorries thundering past you in the dark, wet, extremely windy, cold, miserable conditions, and absolutely scared witless, it was time to face facts - I am a wimp - who knew?!! :w00t: I booked into the first Travel Lodge I could find and used 3 bath fulls of water to warm back up. Sadly my Blackberry and about 15 Malboro Lights weren’t so fortunate - my pockets were also not as waterproof as I expected them to be.

I guess I am not unusual in learning the hard way, but a short sharp torrential downpour with friends and not too far from home, would have been far more preferable, than on my own many miles from home. Since getting back I have done proper research and have many things on a shopping list that would have made a LOT of difference, so for those that are relatively new to biking think about the following:

A one piece rain suit - fewer places for water to get in.

Overboots - they look a bit naff, but after this weekend, I don’t care and at about £17 an awful lot cheaper than buying new boots - my other boot did pretty well (Gore tex), I just need something to prevent my waterprrof trouser acting like a drainage channel and these look like they would do the job well.

Over gloves - even my waterproof wintergloves end up getting soggy in a down pour - mainly from eventually working it’s way through from my wrists (even when I have cuffed my jacket over them), somehow in very heavy rain they don’t seem to stay bone dry.

Multi function velcro straps, to further secure wrists and ankles where the elastic etc might not be quite tight enough.

Anti-rain (spray on your visor and water ‘beads’ off more effectively) and anti-fog, need to check, because my visor is not supposed to fog at all - but it did, so need to find out what is possible.

All of the above items are from ‘Getgeared’ - they also sell a glove rain wiper - looks like a gimmick, so would be good to know if anyone uses one and whether it works ( basically a wiper blade that sits on your index finger).

Set off a couple of hours earlier than planned - I set off a couple of hours later than planned, hoping the weather would ease off a bit - it didn’t and darkness it not your friend when it is wet and windy. I had thought with everyones lights on, it would be easier to see - it wasn’t and felt much more scary.:crying:

If the month you are riding in has an ‘R’ in it pack your thermals/ base layers - they don’t take up much room and can make a lot of difference to your core temperature

So thanks for letting me share my experiences and if any of it helps prevent you having to suffer and end up abandoning your journey, then my ‘venting’ will have been well worth it!

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T’is all character building… :wink:

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if you want protection from the rain, don’t think about oversuits, and overboots, buy Goretex. For the hands I recommend neoprene muffs…

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Be careful with over gloves. The ones I bought were very restrictive, so on the upside you’d have dry hands, on the down side you’d crash.

I’d agree 100% on the oversuit. It’s never going to be breathable but it keeps the rain out 100%.

You are not a wimp for stopping at a travel lodge. I didn’t stop (either in a Travel Lodge or just to ride out the storm) when I rode back from Holland once. Same situation, cold wet and miserable. In that situation your mind can start to play games with you and you start thinking, “If I could just get home” I even thought if I went a little bit faster my gear might dry out. Anyway it resulted in a crash which was the subject of this thread http://londonbikers.com/forums/398547//Post-crash-shell-shock so fair play for taking care of yourself.

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nicwe one :w00t:

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:unsure: My boots are Goretex - the water was being channelled from my rain trousers into the top of the boot - the elastic at the bottom of the trousers was quite loose, so velcro straps may have helped, but it felt like the kind of weather, that if there was a way in , it was going to find the weak point and exploit it. What’s the down side of over boots?

Have only seen scooters with the muffs, they look slightly ‘special needs’ - was going to get some hand guards for the Beemer, which would fix some of the problem, but if you say lots of bikers use the Neoprene solution, I shall look into it - thanks.

What’s the reason for avoiding rain suits?

Joby - hadn’t really thought about that - will take a look when I am next in HG or Infinity and see if the modern ones have more grip, otherwise might be time to treat myself to a new pair of waterproof gloves.

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For the record handlebar muffs, the Turcaon Urbano ones are HEAVENLY. With those on you laugh in the face of rain and cold. I could ride year round in summer gloves. Heated grips have nothing on muffs. I even kept them on in the summer.

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On your sportsbike? Really? OK, going to definitely look into this further.

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Sounds like you man’d up as much as you could. good effort!

As for the wiper blade, I havent used one on the index finger.but I used to have one on my thumb (Which probably wouldnt be much different)

But it was ok, in mild rain any way. it done its job.

Although it wasnt very comfortable whilst holding on the handlebars themself

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??

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Wimp.:kiss:

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With rain suits I found that very quickly holes developed… Particularly around the crotch area :smiley: Plus if the temperature warms up, you can feel a bit ‘boil in the bag’ and I don’t like that feeling at all.

My goretex trousers comfortably cover the boot to about the ankle therefore any rain that drips, will go onto the boot and out…

I’ve got the Tucano Urbano muffs… I don’t know if lots of people use them, I use them and have found them the best thing. My only advice would be when you put them on, be careful how much you stretch the break/ clutch lever hole they have. if it get’s stretched too much (As did with mine) some water can get through there… mind you it’s so little, it didn’t bother me even with my summer gloves. I’ve got handguards on the KTM and they do help but nothing like the muffs in hard winter rain :wink:

Yes muffs aren’t the most visually attractive thing to put on the bike, but I couldn’t give a steaming pile of feces what other people think, especially when I’m dry and warm. Ok I don’t have a sportsbike, it’s a naked and maybe on a sportsbike it’s a step too far… for me though, it’s worth it. I ride all year round in my summer gloves now, without having to think if I need to take waterproof gloves in case the sun disappears, not having to think if I’m going to get cold later on or having to plug myself into a socket everytime and fiddle with unplugging myself (if you haven’t bought the controller) everytime my heated gloves get too warm…

P.S. The combo of number two setting on the heated grips (5 being the hottest) and muffs is just heaven! :smiley:

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welcome to year round biking :smiley:

Goretex Goretex Goretex. everywhere- gloves, suit, boots. Pinlock visor with the silicone bead. Nothing else really works. Costly but good stuff lasts and lasts.

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Lidl winter suit and gortex boots (high) and gloves.

Problem solved.

Or go the cheap Spada two piece route for around £40, not breathable but totally waterproof.
Two piece is a better option for girls as you can have different sizes top and bottom and girls need to drop their pants frequently.:smiley:

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I got as Lidl all in one rain suit, and its been OK for a couple of years in some really bad rain! (some on Robs trip) it cost about 25 quid.

As the others said, welcome to year round biking! :slight_smile:

How did the rain get in your boots if your rain trousers?? My waterproof suit legs goes over my boots with a sretchy bit under the boot to keep it from riding up.

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The muffs were on the CB500 I had which I rode year round. The sports bike doesn’t come out under 15 degrees so no muffs on that.

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Muff evader.

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Sorry you had a bad experience in the rain. Yeah, it sucks. I strongly second the recommendation of the Lidl oversuit, used mine yesterday and it kept me dry :-). I wear it over my gore-tex jacket and trousers - keeps me toasty and dry, the gore-tex will catch anything if it does slip through, and the oversuit dries really quickly (while gore-tex takes a while to dry!). I have winter gloves with a built in wiper blade, and it’s useful. And gore-tex high boots - note that the trousers go over the boots so there’s no way for anything to get in.

Glad you really enjoyed the riding the day before :slight_smile:

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sounds like my trip across Europe last year hahaha been here a few times in similar situations!

even with waterproof boots i always wear plastic bags inside boots before putting the boots on if it raining heavy.

I have found pinlock to be the best anti fog product i have used to date - well worth the £20.

the best protection against getting wet i hae found is indeed a waterproof oversuit to go on over textiles. i have used overboots before but i really dont like them, you loose feeling of the controls which really put me off.

Gloves are the one i shell out on - some of the top of the line alpinestars are very good, cheaper stuff like Spada Enforcers are very good for £55 but after a couple of hours in the rain they will get soggy

being wet and knowing youve hundreds of miles ahead isnt that much fun!

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Great post!

All felt too familiar reading that. Took a trip to Wales a couple years ago, in coldest darkest January. Just add some snow into the mix! I also learnt the hard way.

Looking back though, it was a great mini adventure and endurance test. So you might look back positively in the future.

One of the best things I have EVER spent money on, was some Gerbing heated gloves. Followed by a heated jacket a year later. I don’t fear the winter anymore.
I cant recommend them highly enough. Although you do look a bit of a wally with wires hanging off the bike in every direction.