Well, got well and truly caught out tonight!
Was a really nice evening, and I got home early from work, and as the missus is staying in London for the week for work, I thought I'd be a nice boyfriend and go for a blip down there, grab some dinner, then head back. Good times.
Wasn't planning on any proper hooning, and I did want to be comfortable when I got there, so on went the leather jacket, kevlar jeans, proper boots and gloves, pretty much standard going on the bike for a blip gear really!
Ride down there was awesome, aside from parking issues once I was there (Old Street In Islington if you know it, literally the first building on the left after the big roundabout if you're heading north on the ring road), couldn't find anywhere good to park it, so settled for chucking it in front of Ladbrokes in the hope it would look like a customer's bike, wedging it against the wall with the steering lock and a disc lock on, setting the alarm and hoping for the best!
Had a nice time, all was well, although I do confess to being just a touch worried about the bike the whole time, wandered back down from the flat and fuck me if it wasn't suddenly monsoon season.
Bollocks.
So that's Islington, to rural North Essex. In the rain. In jeans.
Didn't really have a lot of choice, so reluctantly, kitted in jeans and a leather jacket, off I went; first time I've ever ridden in proper wet conditions, and it's central London. At night. Awesome.
Had a bit of a nervous start, pulled a fairly illegal U-turn straight away, and managed to pull it off right in front of a cop car who must have taken sympathy on me, simply flashing me in, and even ignoring the fact that I ran though the lights as they turned red! Decided to make the most of it, and used the queuing traffic at the roundabout to put some distance between me and him in case he changed his mind...
It occurred to me that now would be a good time to be using my super special 'Mode Drive Selector' or basically a 'make your bike a bit slower' button. Gave it about two minutes in C mode, decided that was boring, and to be completely honest completely unhelpful, as I found myself grabbing big fistfuls of throttle just to make a bit of progress, and I'd do myself many more favours learning to be smooth and progressive the hard (well, I suppose normal would be a more appropriate word here...) way, so stuck it back in A and left it at that.
Tucked in behind a Ducati 916, who didn't seem to be enjoying himself too much either, but he at least seemed to be wearing textiles, so I figured he probably had at least a bit more of a clue than I did about filtering in the rain, so I tried to stick with him, and gradually my confidence grew, as I began to realise that the level of grip on offer was nowhere near as bad as I had feared. I've been driving for years, and so I do know in theory that the actual difference in available grip is actually surprisingly low between dry and wet tarmac, and yet with four wheels it's so much less frightening to put that to the test, because, well, if your tyres slip, you don't fall over!
By the time the Duke peeled off near Wapping I was actually feeling pretty good, and started riding almost as if I was in the dry, just being very, very careful over white lines, as the horror stories I've heard over the years have stuck with me!
By the time I was on the A13, heading for the M25, I was absolutely soaked, but no longer worried by the actual road conditions, but more by avoiding being in the spray!
Decided very last minute to head for the North Circular, with the intention of taking the M11 from there, because I remembered that having checked (and somewhat foolishly, disbelieved) the forecast before I set out, that the rain would be focused along the coast, so I figured the further I was from that, the better.
Literally, within 45 seconds of committing to this route, the rain intensified at least threefold.
On the slip road for the M11 I learned the second most important lesson of wet weather riding; do not sit to the rear quarter of a car, waiting for a straight bit of road to blip past them, because you're a bit too scared to go all that quickly on the twisty bits. That car will find standing water. You will look and feel like one of those morons who stand at the bottom of the log flume at a theme park, and then get surprised when they get hit by a tsunami. Bollocks.
Also learned tonight, unlit motorways in the rain, no bloody fun at all! Could not see where the standing water was, and whenever there was a car with badly adjusted headlights coming towards me, I could barely make out which lane I was in, let alone where it went!
Jumped off the M11 sharpish, and went for the M25, then the A12. As soon as I hit the lit stretches, it all started to make sense and actually become enjoyable, provided I kept on ignoring how ridiculously wet my lower half was becoming....
Became a game of looking for space, avoiding spray from cars, and making as much progress as humanly possible to get out of the sodding rain!
Actually managed to get a bit of space up, and although I don't really feel like posting my speed up, I saw the shift light (15,000rpm) come on in fourth quite a few times, and even once in fifth*!
All in all, I was genuinely surprised by how much fun that was, and just how much speed and grip was available, even when slamming on the anchors when a dozy trucker either didn't spot me, or decided to pull out and scare me anyway. My arse put a crease in the seat, but the bike behaved itself perfectly!
On a serious level though, clearly I'd been warned about painted lines in the road, and it's easy enough to avoid asking too much of the bike while it's on them, but what the hell do you do about manhole covers? Seriously, how are they allowed? Why are they all in the middle of the lane, in the middle of corners? Seriously, it's not like they're even easy to spot! Definitely the most worrying part of the journey was the b-road from the A12 to my village, never felt the bike slide so much, and I was working pretty hard to avoid them, or at least not be leant over when I hit them! Man hole covers; without a doubt important lesson number one to learn; avoid!
I freely admit to being a fair weather biker; my bike is a toy and occasional transport for when I want to get somewhere quickly. This suits me just fine to be honest, and I don't see myself going out in the rain for a hoon, there just isn't the same level of confidence for me in the rain for anything above 'making progress,' but I do think I will be investing in a set of waterproofs before the winter, because, well, I'm not scared of it any more!
Not sure why I posted this to be honest, though it may be of interest to some as the first experience of what some of you would class as proper riding from a newbie/power ranger/weekend warrior/fair weather rider/whatever you want to call me really!
*I have definitely, definitely down-geared my bike. Like, a lot. Officer.
____________________
McGee - "When I go to the mall and see all the high school girls, I have to have DO NOT TOUCH THE GIRLS written on my hand. Every time I go to grope I see it and stop."
K7 GSXR750 |
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