January 13, 2005
Clearing the fog
The past few days, we've had pouring down rain one day and we've had icy slick roads another, and I've ridden through both on my motorcycle without any trouble. Yesterday, however, I rode in the worst type of weather I can think of. You might ask, "What type of weather can possibly be worse for riding on a motorcycle than pouring rain or icy slick roads??" Well, I have to preface that with a quick admission that I don't find riding in the rain all that bad (provided I'm wearing the right gear, which I do), and I didn't find riding on the icy roads all that bad either (provided I'm fully aware of the situation, which I was). Yeah, I know, I've got a few marbles loose. But hey, if it was a beautiful sunny spring day, I wouldn't say, "Dang, I sure wish it was pouring down rain instead of being so purty and sunny." Gotta give me credit for that. But if I have to get from some-here to some-there and it happens to be raining, I'll just gear up and make the best of it; no biggie. My 'bike just seems perfectly suited to rainy weather, with the fairing keeping my legs quite dry, and the wind screen, raised just a bit, doing a fine job of blowing the rain droplets off my visor. So what in the heck do I consider the worst type of weather to ride in, for goodness sake??
FOG! Yes, that's right, riding a motorcycle in thick, wet, clammy fog is just downright miserable! Especially if it's during the day. Those of you that drive cars probably wonder about this; "Yes, fog is a drag," you might think, "but it's not all that bad, is it?" Well, on a motorcycle, yes it is.
First of all, of course, there is the reduced visibility because of the fog hanging around. Then, if it's during the day time, everything's just bright enough that my eyes hurt without sun glasses. If I decide to put them on, well, that's another level of reduced visibility. On top of that, the mist that makes up the fog sticks tenaciously to my visor... the droplets aren't large enough to join together and roll off the visor, so they simply creat a fine layer that is very effective at obscuring my vision. If it's day time it's much worse since the light gets scattered all over. Finally, the temperature associated with fog is typically frrr... frrrr... frrrrr... it's really cold, so not only are my fingers, toes and nose froze, the inside of my visor also tends to fog up. So as I'm riding, I'm constantly having to wipe the outside to clear the mist, and having to open the visor to clear the fog. It makes for a miserable and annoying ride, and I hate it; I really, really hate it [waaah!].
Another aspect which makes fog unpleasant is that we rarely get it where I live, but it's often present (during the fog season) where I work. For example, just today, I woke up to a beautiful crisp sunny morning. I could see the Sierra Nevadas clearly. Looking toward the valley, however, all I could see was an ominous grayness. I got on the 'bike, feeling good, sun glasses on, ready to greet the day head on. About 15 minutes later, I got close enough to the fog to see it start swallowing the cars in front of me and my spirits dropped like a rock and I started to dread the rest of the day. I very nearly turned around to play hooky from work but my conscience got the better of me.
So there you have it; weather which I consider to be worse for riding motorcycles in than either pouring rain or icy roads. Once we start getting into spring time, I'm sure I'll be talking more about the best weather for riding... 8^)
Posted by Michael at January 13, 2005 07:14 PM | Motorcycles
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Posted by: Anonymous at January 13, 2005 07:14 PM
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