How do you cope?

Hi everyone,

We are experiencing a crap spring summer and lots of rain (P.S. I ride in the rain but I'd hardly call that riding)

Since accquiring my bike within the last 6 months I find myself getting majorly pissed when I cant ride due to wet weather or excessive wind.

Hence my question: How do you cope with not being able to ride. What are your coping mechanisms (I expect those in places that snow will have plenty of feedback)...

For me, having new parts to install has been a nice way to fill in the time and complete maintenance tasks and cleaning...

 

My bike stays in someone elses garage for the winter so I rarely see it. I spent alot of time looking at motorcycles I can't afford... actually doesn't help. Once I get my own place I plan to have major motorcycle projects over the snowy months. That being said I would like to get a ural sidecar to ride in the winter.

 

The best way to deal with not riding...... come onto a forum and act like a complete Ahole and start random ass thereads about how to rig a trailer on your broken RR so that you can ride around in the snow while drinking a fat tire beer and beating your spouse with a tiger by the tail.... (with consent of course)

or you just do long over due upgrades and maintainance on the machine that brings you joy and full fillment .


I like turtles

 

Crusty;

If you are full of fillment, try a laxative. Share the joy..

 

Hi Pap,
This rain is supposed to last another month.
We will have to arrange a ride, so we can both sulk about the best months and it is frickin raining!
I find VFRW is good therapy - The mods, the people, the disagreements, the make-ups.
The comment about long overdue maintenance.
I'm just about to replace my thermostat (running way too cool)

 

I prefer to do what TinkerinWstuff does.

 

I suggest three or four Guiness in the morning and no less than two martinis at lunch. This should of course be followed up with a fist fight.

 

I spend way too much time researching technical stuff that I want to have a better understanding of. Luckily for me, I still have a dial-up connection, as it takes me a while to understand most things...

And smoke a lot of cigars, too.

 

Don't like riding in the rain? WTF. You think you will shrink or something.

Sorry...had to spout off a bit. I ride regardless of the rain or wind. I have even been "caught" in snow, two weeks ago in near whiteout conditions. Now that was not nice. But I have the gear and really don't mind riding in the rain. Riding the bike in the rain beats the hell out of driving the big Jesus truck.

If I can't ride, then I usually sit on the couch and sulk. Cause we don't get enough snow for snowmobiles, and it is too cold to work in the woodshop. Glues don't set right.

I drove to and from California twice now and the "to and from" part of the trips were about 85% raining. Only part of me that got wet were my hands. I have yet to find a pair of waterproof riding gloves.

Reg71 was kind enough to help me sustain my sanity while I was there by encouraging the ingestion of copious quantities of an amber solution derived from H2O, and a mixture of barley, corn flakes, yiest and Hopps.

 

Big Jesus truck? I thought he was a carpenter, not a contractor... :biggrin:

 

First off you gota park your ViffeR in your flat mate! I couldnt live without walking out into the garage and seeing old faithful sitting there. If she aint there another bikie will surfice. Don't tell fiance but the viffer was there first and is still the first love. Am I a materialist? Fuk yah...anyway, if its raining just say F it and ride, whats the worst thing thats gona happen? your gona have to clean your bike with a garden hose the next day. Cheers

 

Solution that works!
Do not buy motorcycle gloves. Buy SKI gloves, and your hands will always be warm and dry. I found that out when I was 16 years old.

 

Thanks Don. But I have also tried about 3 different pair of expensive ski gloves as well. They are certainly widely available here. I think all of them would be fine for the shorter rides and for the most part, the commute my hands stay relatively dry. But anything more than the hour in driving rain at highway speeds is just too much for any of them

 

Freaking funny picture that SV is with that hideous vetter windjammer on it. Great Picture though! Reminds of a time I was out in the middle of nowhere NJ and just taking a break at a scenic spot and this old codger rode in. I had to do a re-take, as I could not believe there was another mental patient out riding a motorcycle in the middle of the winter. He had a CBR 900 with a lexan windshield drilled right into the upper fairing. We spoke and he showed me how he rigged the rear brake so he could use his heel to activate it instead of the front part of his foot. Said it was because he had a "motorcycle knee" from an old bike accident. You meet the nicest people on Hondas. Some of the crazy chit that sticks in your mind, bear in mind this was maybe 20 years ago, still remember it well Cheers it freaking Friday!!

 

All of the following is pretty much off topic, so sue me if you must...

My wife has never, until last week, given me attitude about going for a ride. But now she likes to go two up, but tore her miniscus (or whatever it's called), and can't throw her leg over the bike. So last weekend I got all ready to go for a ride, and got attitiude from her that made me give up on the idea. Guess she felt if she couldn't go, neither should I.

Well, she got back from the specialist yesterday and needs an operation, but isn't sure when she wants to have it done. So f*ck it, I'm going riding this weekend without her. When she gets her knee fixed, she can join me. Hell. I'm getting old and I'm not giving up any more riding time at this stage of my life.

Now, back to riding in the rain. I'm with you, Randy. I like riding in the rain. With the right gear on, it's a good feeling. I rode from the Far Rockaways (NYC) to west of Philadelphia and it rained hard the entire time. I had a blast! I also rode from west of Philadelphia to Church Hill, TN in the rain, much of it a torrential downpour, and enjoyed every minute of it. Also from west of Philadelphia to Mid-Ohio twice in the rain. And once from The Badlands to Rapid City, SD in a monsoon with side winds that moved me over a half-lane from time to time. For whatever reason, it just does not bother me.

Have yet to find a pair of truly waterproof gloves, though. I pull rubber overgloves on over my leather riding gloves. Works well, but feels a little funny.

 

I dig riding in the rain too, I gave up on waterproof gloves and just wear what ever I have on at the time which are my favourite gloves. Deerskin varietys, high ganglet. My hands get wet and sometimes they get black from the dye bleeding onto my hands. One would think that the dye would have worn off by now, but nope. My feet get wet too, but such is life. A bad day of riding is still better than a good day driving a cage! Cheers