'Rain training'

I'm now into my 3rd season of motorcycling (I came late to the party) and I'm merely a street rider. At any rate, with nearly 30,000 miles under my belt so far, I recently got to thinking about the fact that I'd yet to find myself riding in a heavy and sustained downpour while wearing only mesh-type summer riding gear with no rain gear at all. Yeah, I've rode in light rain, but nothing more.

So, last Saturday here in central Ohio, a large thunderstorm front with lots of storm cells was passing through, and since I had nothing better to do at the time, I decided to deliberately go out riding while wearing only my summer riding gear and Shoei TZR helmet, in order to experience what it's like to get caught in a major downpour and get soaked to the bone.

I wore my First Gear mesh jacket and pants over Under Armor synthetic tee-shirt and briefs, along with AlpineStar SP-2 gauntleted leather gloves and Sidi 'On Road' GoreTex, hightop riding boots. The roads were wet from a heavy downpour earlier that morning, but when I set out from home that morning it wasn't raining, and in fact the sun was peeking through the clouds at times, with a temperature in the mid-70's.

I rode ~50 miles to the northwest without encountering any rain, but then the sky became very dark and ominous, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped, there was thunder and lightning, and it suddenly began raining very hard, rather like a cow pissing on a flat rock, and this wasn't any brief downpour, it was a real gully-washer that wasn't about to let up anytime soon.

In a matter of seconds I was pretty well soaked, and at first my feet were still warm and dry, but the rain was coming down so hard that it quickly soaked through my mesh riding pants and the water quickly began flowing down into the tops of my Sidi (GoreTex) boots, filling them with cold water. (The motorcycle's fairings were no defense against this amount of rain.) My feet were swimming in water; my leather riding gloves were soaked and boggy; my body was soaked, and I had to keep my face-shield cracked open enough to keep it from fogging, but this resulted in tiny droplets and mists of water on my face.

Meanwhile, the ground was already saturated from earlier rains, and the storm drains were so full that there were many areas in which several inches of standing water were present in low-lying areas. Once I was good and wet, and getting cold, I fired-up the HotGrips Ergo-2 heated grips (high setting) and headed for home, which was over 50 miles away at that point.

My VFR, along with Michelin Road Pilot 2CT's (these tires have over 8000 miles and are still going strong) did a fantastic job, as did the motorcycle's brakes, which felt as competent and reliable in heavy rain and standing water as they are in dry weather.

In summary, I learned a lot by deliberately putting myself and my motorcycle in this situation, but while the bike could go on and on under these wet conditions, it was a good thing that I was not far from home, as I was very wet and getting cold, but not yet to the point of shivering, which is a bad sign. (Heated grips are a must in my opinion, and a heated seat would've been even better.)

Once I pulled into my garage I fired-up the garage heater and got out of my wet riding gear. When I removed my riding boots and turned them upside down, the water just poured out of them. I was initially a bit concerned about my Sargent leather seat, but it turns out that I'd treated it with enough of Sargent's spray-on 'Hyde Food' that it seems to have weathered the water without any problems, and when I pushed down on the seat I felt no squishing which would otherwise indicate that the underlying foam was soaked. But as I've mentioned, as soon as I got home I parked the bike in a gently heated garage, so things had time to dry out over the next day or two.

I hope you will take a moment to post your experiences with riding in heavy rain. After all, my little adventure was only one day, and only 100+ miles. What about those of you who have rode many hundreds of miles in such weather, perhaps while camping no less?!

 

I have two set ups for rain: 1st - I carry a light rain jacket that fits under my mess jacket, some leggings(gaters) that have an over the toe attachment(Harley Gaters)and come up to just below the knee(keeps the water from draining into my sidi goretech boots. and last but not least I have rain gloves that tighten on the arm so the water doesn't drain into them, and have an anti fogging face shield. Oh yea, I keep a thin plastic sheet that I tuck in under my jacket and stick between my legs(on the outside of my pants) and sit on it so the water won't run into my crotch/butt area.
2nd - I have a multi million dollar fully waterproof one piece rain suit that if I go any where longer than one day, I'll take that with me instead.
The reason I carry all the right stuff is I have done it the way you did a few times, and learned as I went what works, and what doesn't. My #1 packs small as well.
The rain gear I mentioned is in the bottom half of my seat bag, and my water bag....in the top half is a electric tyre pump/gps/camera... they go with me all the time.... unless I take my #2 system. Which is an expandible seat bag that hold 2 times the stuff.

 

I got caught in it returning from the Mid-Ohio Vintage Race Days last week. Made to within an hour of my brother's house in Syracuse, NY when the skies opened up. Decided not to stop and put on my rain gear. Rode through an hour of torrential downpour on the thruway, soaking me to the bone through my mesh gear. The lightening was a bit disconcerting, too.

After we arrived and pulled into the garage, I got undressed and turned my boots upside down. Had about a half pint of water in each! They're waterproof, but that doesn't help when the water is running down the inside of your pants directly into the top of your boots.

Got rained on again the next day on my way home to PA.

The rain doesn't bother me any more. I got back from a 14-day 5,000+ mile ride a few weeks ago, about a third of which was in the rain (got caught in it in three states and across Ontario).

It was a good, if not pleasant, experience. Taught me to trust my tires. It's amazing what good traction they afford.

 

Here's the bigger seat bag.

 

I commute to work and sometimes I get caught in a downpour on the way home from a fun run. I have to say I love my sargent seat because it allows you to only use the driver's seat and I can store my rain gear in the passenger cowl. (Omitting the passenger seat really frees up a lot of room!) I've got a cheap rain pants/jacket set along with winter gloves that have a waterproof lining.

I do get people ask me how I can ride in the rain but it's not really that big of a deal. You just got to go a little slower and really the biggest issue I get is that sometimes the visor gets fogged up or rained up. What works to clear up the visor is to tilt my head sideways as I'm moving so the wind blows away all the drops.

Oh, and as for riding with no rain gear, that's just insane because even if you ride during the summer the rain will get you really cold. Just ask Matt1986VF500F about that one I learned the hard way even cheap rain gear is better than nothing; I got caught in a thunderstorm and had to ride a half hour to home. My leather pants and jacket took TWO days to dry up!

 

Always remember that the roads are extra slick on a first rain ( spreading out the oil from the middle of the lane that we all avoid, to a much larger slicker area ). Also remember that painted surfaces become deadly slippery when wet.

That said I got caught in a rain storm on the way back from a weekend in chico. I wasn't prepared in the least. It was so windy that my side of the road was barely wet and the oncoming lane was flooded. I was leaning very hard into the wind to stay straigh on the road but a few times the wind would get the best of me and push me into the oncoming lane where my cb750 would promptly stall because the carbs would suck in water I beleive.
One thing I found is that if you arre caught in that type of situation and you arent prepared your best friend is the laundry mat. LOL.
I would park my bike, head inside dripping wet to the bathroom, change into dry clothes ( I was lucky enough to have a garbage bag in my backpack and had put my clothes inside ). Put wet clothes into the dryer and sit in the heated laundry mat.
When the clothes were dry, I would change back into them - so nice and warm, and put my spare clothes back into the garbage bag and into the backpack. The only thing that didnt get dry were my boots, but I would stuff them with paper towells while I was a the laundry mat to at least soak up some of the water.

This isnt ideal at all, it was just an experiance I lived through that could have been way more miserable had I not saw that first laundry mat and remembered how clothes felt coming out of the dryer on a cold day when I was young

 

Just to clarify-- I do own waterproof gear such as First Gear's TPG Rainier jacket and TPG pants, as well waterproof gauntleted gloves. Also, I have a FieldSheer tail bag, filled with extra riding gear.

Again, the point of my little 'exercise' was to find out what it's like to get caught in a heavy rain, unprepared. As I mentioned, this was a bit of deliberate unpreparedness on my part, for the sake of learning. :wink:

Thanks for all of the great responses and stories!

 

I have been caught in two downpours this week. One was a severe Thunderstorm with wind and BUCKETS of rain and the other just the tail of some thunderstorms but the rain was very heavy. I was wearing my Mesh jacket, jeans, my helmet, boots and gloves.

The jacket was fine but my clothes underneath were wet. Jeans were wet. Feet stayed dry. Gloves were soaked. I just threw the stuff in the dryer for a bit then hung it to finish drying.

The bike handled fine. Even with the heavy standing water on the road way.

I am off to the store this weekend to get a tail bag or a larger tank bag to carry my rain gear in. :thumbsup:

 

For your next experiment, try riding across Death Valley in a short sleeve shirt without any water....:crazy:
:biggrin:Next time I get caught doing something :crazy: I'll tell them I was running a test.....

 

Never hurts to put a bit of that Rain-X stuff on your face shield, works pretty well. I have lots of downpour stories, but overall unless I positively have to get there, I pull over under an awning or overhead of some kind and let the really heavy stuff pass.

 

About 80% of the time when commuting, I carry my rain gear with me...just in case. And it has paid off. But I have been caught in a down pur on occassion. The leathers take a bit to dry but other than that, really no issues. I agree the Michelins are great in the rain. Poured two days going and two days returning from Slo III this year. Only thing that got wet was my hands. The rain would ride up the outside of my sleeves and run down inside the gaunlet gloves. The gloves took a couple days to dry our cause they were basically waterproof. Joe Rocket winter boots kept my feet dry dispite two solid days of riding in the rain, and man did it friggen rain. I try to avail thunderstorms though. I have this thing about lighning.

Yep the Rainex is great on the outside of your shield. But the inside should be wiped with dishwashing liquid and left just a tad with a film. Works great at preventing the inside from fogging up. I have tried just about everything else and this works the best. You will get used to the slighly filmy shield.

 

Monk,

Why your sudden sententious and sarcastic comments? I merely decided to find out for myself what it feels like to ride a 100-mile roundtrip while being soaking wet.

Before you mock my little self-imposed test of riding endurance, consider the fact that it pales in comparison to what could be seen as far more idiotic and perilous tests of one's stamina, endurance, and the ability to tolerate and overcome pain, such as attempting a 1000-mile ride in a 24-hour period, without sleep, in order to become a novice member of the Iron Butt club.

Monk, were you ever a proud member of the Iron Butt club? If so, are you still an active member, or has your prostate gland become too enlarged to ride more than 100 miles without feeling an overwhelming need to pee?

Hmmm... the far more perilous and delirium-inducing Iron Butt gauntlet is a manly, prestigious, and widely accepted rite of passage into riderhood, yet you mock my deliberately subjecting myself to only 100 miles of riding while soaked in heavy rain, without wearing wet-weather gear, as being a stupid and reckless test of personal endurance..?

 

Rolla,Missouri to Gallup,New Mexico in 20 hrs. That qualifies as Iron Butt.......but I wasnt feeling all that manly at the end of that one....and its been some time ago. Heeeheee I didnt realize I had completed some kind of rite of passage, I had heard that was what a thousand in one was called though. Just wanted to see how hard it really was.

Btw I didnt get the same impression that you did from Monk's post, I think he was just trying to be cute. Unless you were just messing with him too. Hard to tell sometimes on an interwebz forum.

You may mock me all you want though, everyone else does and I dont care.

Bwahaaahaaaahaaaa

 

Experimentation in a controled manner is a good thing. You may learn what you could expect should you find yourself caught in a situation. I am sure Red had a back up plan should his venture out into the rain turned out to be more than expected.

Actually Monk's idea of drivng death valley is probably not a bad idea. So long as you leave yourself an out. Except riding in the t-shirt. ATGATT. You can have all the water you need but if you have no skin and skeleton to hold it, it is of no use.

I venture to guess Monk was having some fun Red. Not that he needs me to stick up for him. But i speak my mind often as I am now.

But....stay out of the thunder storms. They are bad news. Tornados can sort of screw you up too. Snow sucks as well

 

Actually, I have done a 1000+ miles in 24 hours more times than I can remember.... And at this point in time I have had my new bike just over 4 months and have logged over 11,000 miles on it. I have put 100,000 miles each, on 3 other bikes + another 100,000 on some other bikes in combo.... I've done crazy things that I wish I haven't, and some I was glad I did as well.

Since you chose to do this, I thought I'd poke some fun at you .... Sorry it was not to your liking.... I'll try not to bother you in the future......

 

Yea... Bear you're right the printed word makes it hard to pick out the fun in which it is meant.... Hence the use of these smilies..... If I can find a reason to mock you I'll take you up on it....:biggrin:

 

I like the smilies way more then the frownies

 

"Sententious" Monk ain't. Lighten up! Monk has never posted a vicious or mocking thread that I have seen. And he's posted a whole lot of stuff that has been helpful and enlightening. So take a chill pill, please!

 

Knife,

Monk and I PM'd each other a couple of days ago and we exchanged apologies. There was a misunderstanding and misinterpretation on my part, and I apologized to Monk for this. So it's cool, we're back on good terms, and all is well.:thumbsup:

 

You're a good man!