Ride home tonight.

[Shaun]

In one word it sucked!

It was a 30 mile journey that would normally take me 30 or 40 minutes and it took an hour at least.

I'm not a fair weather rider but like most prefer to avoid riding in bad weather when ever I can, I decided to go to the bradfor arms tonight (bike meet) and 10 miles into my journey the roads were soaked and it was raining, I should've turned around and gone home but didn't bother, the ride home was far worse.

I left the bradford arms and the roads were perfectly dry, half way down the A5 towards the A41 I start to see lightening, lots of it but carried on although I was tempted to turn around and just take the M6. I got a few miles up the A41 and it was chucking it down, wasn't that bad and I was keeping up an ok speed and over taking still, it was all going fine until I reached the A519. Its not a good road to be on at night as it is, no lights at all and pretty twisty, can't remember many of the corners on that road so I take it easy at night on there anyway but when its chucking it down and you can hardly see the road and every so often you get a big flash of lightening and you realise your heading straight towards the storm, its not fun. At this point I was riding pretty slowly anyway and I entered a 30 limit with about 15 miles left to go, luckily a van came out of a side road and I managed to follow that the rest of the way home, wasn't fun at all though, not being able to see the road, knowing that as I get closer to home its just going to get worse.

It turns out I was right to assume it was only going to get worse when I got home as when I arrived back in Newcastle (under lyme) everywhere was flooded, so I spent a good ten minutes finding a way past the water, 3 or 4 cars were stuck in the middle of it which was amusing, I finally made it home and don't wish to do that again!

What are the worst weather conditions that you have ever rode in?

[McJamweasel]

Tonights rain was bad, but I have ridden in worse.

I've ridden in snow one, which was fun. I don't know how I managed it but I did manage to keep it upright all the way home, although I did get the back end out and ended up facing accorss the road a couple of times going up a bank.

The worst was definately freezing fog. 20ish mph all the way home from Keiths, barely being able to see a thing. Not fun. Not fun at all.
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BCF: Be yourself, just don't be an arse.

[JonB]

Did you say you didn't have any lights on your bike?!

Or am I just misreading, if you don't why not?

Those conditions would of been hell with lights on anyway. We didn't get any lightning though when the pack of rain passed over us at 8AM this morning.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[hellkat]

In one weekend I rode thru driving sleet (!) yuk, painful, on the Friday night, dried out and got on the piss for Saturday, then woke up on Sunday to at least three inches of snow, which I had to ride back from Southampton to London in. Also, had to contend with a stream of cars crawling on black ice on the A31?33?, I was going about 15-20mph most of the way, and a lot of that with no headlights, yuk. Took me eight hours to get home.

Not nice.

Don't mind rain or thunderstorms TOO much (would rather not, though), cos I'll get wet anyway, being so disgracefully under-protected in my riding/wet weather gear in general. But I refuse to go out on the bike in snow or icy conditions. Huh, I refuse to go ANYWHERE, even walking, in snow or icy conditions. LOL.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Shaun]

No lights as in no street lights, you mis-read. My headlights didn't do that much good really which was a shame.

[Ste]

January this year, during the snow, ice and general crapness and cold weather, rode about 200 miles from Manchester home on my new TL. Very very very cold, got home had to sit around and defrost a bit before I could do stuff like type. Ride was fine apart from being very cold and snow in places. Roads were very empty (clever people didn't go outside ) and not a single police car about which meant the long cold ride could be a bit quicker. Maybe I should have not gone when in the aiport waiting to fly up there the flight kept getting delayed due to the plane being frozen and ice on the runway and other similar such things .

[JonB]

[Grubby]

Hmmm, where to start? How about riding home from work at Gatwick at 6 in the morning round the M25 in snow with the front of the FJ pointing one direction & the rear sideways by a foot for well over 20 miles (Good crack though!)
Going to a bike rally in January in Lincolnshire & riding the last 40 miles in frezing fog so bad that I wound up riding the last 20 miles with my visor up at 20-25 MPH stopping every 3/4 miles to rub the ice out of my eyelashes
Riding down the M4, after a party with the Ogri, at 50 MPH whilst leaning over so far that if I'd wanted to I could probably have put my knee down there was such a strong crosswind.
There's loads more as I've been riding for so many years & I never even had a car license until I was 30 But that'll do for now as people will think that I'm
I ain't I'm just a

[Kickstart]

Hi

Strangely, here in Stafford it has just had the odd spot of rain. Nothing much at all.

Worst weather I rode through was some freezing fog back in 1988 when it was foggy for the whole weekend. Even in daylight it was difficult to see the sides of the road. I was heading back from Winchester to Portsmouth , crawling along slowly. Got to Wickham and stopped (as by this stage both my visor and my glasses were too wet to see through). Stood up to get off the bike and heard a cracking noise as the ice fell off me.

Snow isn't fun, and really heavy rain is a pain as well.

All the best

Keith
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[stinkwheel]

Winds gusting up to 90mph over Rannoch moor in torrential rain (literally picking the bike up and dumping it in the wrong lane), ever gone round a right hand bend whilst leaning to the left?

Four hour run from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, minus three when I left, Minus 18C! when I got home (definatley, checked the thermometer). Couldn't straighten my knees when I got back, had to get my dad to support the bike while I slid off onto the ground.

Coming back from a mountain bothy in mid Wales one february. Raining so hard I had to do a 150 mile detour to find a route North that wasn't blocked by the river Severn.

8" of snow with drifts up to two feet on the way to my lambing job one easter.

The absolute worst has to be freezing fog though, visor ices up so you have to ride with it up. Brutal!
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[M1ke]

Probably quite a few but once on the way to Hex's down the M5 it rained so bloody hard i've never seen anything like it and the cars were bumper to bumper all the way down it.... That 80 mile journey took me 3 hours which is where my 3 hour to get anywhere reputation developed from.

Also on the way home from keiths once it started snowing very heavily, so heavily that I couldn't see more than about 10 meters in front of me down the M54 and I had to keep wiping my visor every 5 seconds otherwise I couldn't see more than an inch in front of my face

[Trunecka]

Halfway home from work it tipped with snow once, on my trailbike so I nipped through the local council estate. It was excellent snow to ride through, no rain beforehand so no ice underneath!

Rode around for about 30mins, had a whale of a time fishtailing about, didn't do more than 25mph once but the powerslides were huge fun nonetheless. Gave the kids that had flocked outside something to point and shout about, hope some of them will have memories of my slithering bike.

Dodgiest bit was braking downhill to a T-junction to join another road. Couldn't use the rear brake much because it locked instantly, so I had to point it through the thick snow and ease on the front brake. Worked okay really, though you don't get much feedback on the brakes in snow regarding how much grip you've got left...
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"I'm gonna get free, Ride into the sun..."
-The Vines

[roozor]

im so scared of raiding in the rain, i think i actually have a problem, i keep thinking im going to slip out and wont go above 30 ive allways had knobbly MT21 tyres as ive had enduro's now ive got a road bike and road tyres i get so scared im going to slip out, even in dry sunny conditions where i can see a slight bit of loose gravel or a drain cover, road bikes scare me

do i have a problem ?

i cant really take corners well yet on a road bike like get down and such.

Anyone got any tips to conquer my fears! i seem to ride fine on straights and slight corners, but any sharp or medium sharp ones, which people take at about 40, im about 15 - 20 mph

[JonB]

How long have you been riding for?
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[mr.z]

roozor - i'd suggest doing some rospa/iam rideing to build your confidence up, even your local bike school will probably be able to help

The only thing you need to be frightened of is diesel on the road, which there is not allor you can do about.. and brakeing in the corner, make sure your at the right speed before you turn, breaking in the corner unsettles the bike and is a good way to end up sideways, if your at the right speed you can go over more or less as much as in the dry (though its best not to)

worst iv'e riden in was snow, allong the cat and fiddle buxton - macclesfield, a nice sunny day qickly transformed into a nasty day the higher i got... not a good idea but it was ok, still better than the m6, defenately interesting
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[roozor]

ive been riding 2 years almost

Went from Honda SKy 50cc scooter, Yamaha DT50MX , Suzuki TS125X , and now i have a Suzuki Goose 350cc

i used to feel so confident on my dt50 and ts125x corners and such, but i spose i have only had my goose 5 days, its just getting used to road tyres, and because its physically a biger bike than im used to and a whole new riding position (more sports bike racey get down position) compared to upright trially position.

I find to take corners i actually have to lean a bit and at the moment its scaring me a tiny bit just because i dont trust the tyres as ive never had the slick road style tyres before!

[Kris]

Roden the NSR in snow before. Went to see a mate and he opened the door with a face like when he saw my bike gear...

Also on the NSR I was riding up the A13 in torrential rain. Standing water and a bald tyre do not make a fun ride
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www.prisonplanet.com

[Annabella]

Well, I had a lovely dry ride home, no rain, nor did I see any lightening....

I still think it was your retina detaching from you eyeball....
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[Shaun]

[aqualung1]

yep done most kinds of weather, but must say some of the weather in last few months defies belief..

two of the scariest, 1983 riding through mountains of wales, in what was then deemed "waterproof" attire, found ourselfs in clouds in mountains, torrential rain and mega drops on left side, had to keen visor up, and one eye shut..

mindyou last year rode through belgium to germany.. i have no idea what belgium looks like the deluge never stopped.