Holy S&*t! WTF was I thinking?!

So at my house this morning it was 35 degrees- a bit chilly, and foggy but the street was dry so I decide to ride the VFR to work as I do as much as possible. My commute is 27 miles on basically open highway. As I'm riding along I notice the air temp steadily dropping every couple of miles. Whet I get to a 4 way stop appx 3/4 of the way to work the ABS barks at me and the bike wiggles around and basically the whole intersection is black ice. The temp was now 25 degrees and except for the 6-8" wide dry strip from other car's tires that prevented ice from completely covering the road everything is frozen. As I approach work the frost is so thick on the shoulders and the center turn lane it looks like it snowed. Made it in safe but that was a sketchy 6 miles or so. My bunghole is still quite puckered- if I had known it was so cold out here I would have driven my cage for sure. Feel like I dodged one today.

Almost forgot the best part- the last 6 miles as I'm trying to wipe the fog off the outside of my face sheild I'm noticing it's hard to do, when I get to work and start taking off my gear, the whole mouth area of my helmet and the shoulders of my jacket are a solid layer of ice- the fog froze on me. That was jacked up as well.

 

Crazy!
I'm not as hard core as that. Glad you made it without getting personal with the pavement.

Here in central Indiana today it's single digits with wind chils around -20F. I saw a dude on a scooter (DUI scooters commonly seen in these parts) with an open face helmet out around lunch time. Brutal! I got a cell phone picture. I'll post it up if I can figure how.

 

Glad you made it safe. That's one of several reasons why my bike stays in the garage in temps below 50 degrees.

 

Wow...I saw the beginning of your post and thought "soundslike he lives near me". Well, I am in Vancouver, WA (just over the river from Portland, OR) and was about to ride to work today also, but when my wife left early and had to scrape the frost of her windshield, I decided to taket he cage. Glad I did...most part of the drive in was fine, but there was a 1 mile stretch of road that was frosted over from frozen fog...looked like snow just like you described. I tapped the brakes on the car to see if it was slippery, and immediately started sliding. I was glad I was in the cage!

You should have a nice ride home as the fog should be burned off by now. Take care!

 

You have just outdone me in my sense of hard core. It can be cold cold cold, but no ice for me thanks.

 

Yea same thing up here in Oly Wa. cept they sanded down a good many roads. I've been in that spot a time or two so know what a pucker factor times two is.

 

Glad you made it okay! Be CAREFUL on your way home, hopefully it will be warmer and the ice will be gone! I ride about 45 miles one way to work and I worry about the road condition differance from my house and work sometimes too. Thankfully I haven't encountered any ice yet...good luck.

 

I'm jealous you even got to ride today. It's currently 7 degrees Fahrenheit in toasty southern Michigan(HIGH of 4 tomorrow !!!). We just got dumped on a few days ago too so the roads are no where near clear.

That early morning commute can be dangerous this time of year. I stick to the 40 degree and Sunny daytime rule this time of year. And it needs to hit the 40's a few days prior to make sure the roads are completely clear of any precip.

I've had a similar pucker moment in February last year too...but it involved crosswalk paint at MSU while navigating a tight turn. One of those sliding the rear tire an entire foot sideways and not wanting to moments...lol

 

that is always what stops me from riding below about 40 or 45, I can buy the gear to keep me warm enough, but I don't want to drop my bike on ice

 

exactly. now if studded tires were road legal here...hmm.....

 

Black ice , bone chilling fog , man I am so jealous. If you switch to coolant temp. it seems warmer outside . One other thing , don't it piss you off that vtech does not work at those tempertures.

 

no vtec period for me

 

My cut off is around 38 degrees. It's not because of the cold, but because of the ice and other unknown elements. At least you got out though.

 

If I had know it was gonna be what it was I would have taken the truck for sure. Ride home looks good though. Dry roads. still cold but it warmed to a balmy 35.

 

It is freakin cold here in the Midwest. Hope my coolant doesn't freeze. It was -15 yesterday and tonight it is -29. The wind chill right now is -45. Freakin Iowa. Why do I live here? This is not heaven, Kevin Costner, it is hell. At least I have her stored in the garage...it has to be at least a toasty -5 in there.

 

Left Chilliwack one morning at 02:30. It was raining and 5 C. By time I neared Vancouver it was snowing and -2 C. 0 being 32 F Ended up nursing the bike along the freeway on the shoulder in 2 " on snow. Parked it at the first service station I could find. It slipped out from under me in the parking lot. SO been there done that.

 

I feel ya! -27 windchill at the moment. My truck barely starts right now!


Btw, I was trying to figure out why your bike's under tail looked so remarkably clean and then I realized you removed the rear pegs. Nice.

 

Tell me about it. I had a buddy of mine call me up this morning for help starting his car. Even tried jumping it with my SUV and it would not start. I'm a high school teacher, and we have had the last three days off (Wed, Thur, Fri) due to snow and now dangerously frigid weather. Is Jackson, Mich. far north? I've only been to St.Joes. and Holland (Hope College).

And thanks. I have only given one ride on my bike to a friend's wife, so I just decided to take them off. Once I did that, I became obsessed with cleaning it up in the back. I even took the chainguard off and made an aluminum bracket to hold the brake line. I think it is illegal in Iowa to ride without a chainguard, but just try to let them bust me. LOL.

 

I tried taking off my rear pegs, but I thought the mounting tabs on the frame looked ugly so I put them back on. Got down to 30deg. by the time I got home. I'll be driving the truck tomorrow methinks!

 

I'm 2 hours straight east of Saint Joseph right on I-94 so no, not far north at all. 35 miles south of Lansing(MSU) and 35 miles west of Ann Arbor (Univ. of Michigan) All schools in the county were canceled Thursday and it's not looking too good for Friday either lol.

Being of college age and this being my only bike...I just can't bring myself to do it. It's too much of a chick magnet:biggrin:

I sense some sort of evil and demonic laugh right there...lol. I'm pretty sure this is you when the cops try and pull that (minus the red paint of course):vtr2: