Post a picture of the conditions, a thermometer, a rain gauge, a weather.com snapshot, or heck a bucket full of ice.
Honor system as always- just make the posts interesting.
today, I rode in this, paid this for gas and it was fantastic:
(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d93/ohgooditsme/Picture3-3.jpg)
:)
Nice!!!!
These cool-but-not-too-cold afternoons make the 30*F ride in the morning worth it!
<edit>
(http://www.familyjones.org/paul/12-3-08.jpg)
I'll try to come up with more interesting ones in the future.
:cheers:
No graphics... But a small story...
I rode into work Monday, about 39 F when I left the house. I wanted to try my new Goretex jacket, which is also supposed to be windproof (I have had poor luck with supposedly 'windproof' gear), so I threw on a sweatshirt, wool sweater... and the jacket (which, to my delight... IS actually windproof). Although showers were forecast for late afternoon, I went ahead anyway, confident that the Goretex was up to a few sprinkles.
It's a pretty busy day, so I don't pay too much attention to the weather outside. Four PM rolls around and I took a peek out of a window at work; my stomach flip-flopped as I looked at the inky blackness approaching from west; the wind was really picking up. Man, was I ever about to get douched! The radar on the internet confirmed my fears - a long squall line had formed. I would be facing heavy rain and wind with dropping temps as I left for home. Sure enough, the sky opened up as soon as I hit the highway.
As I ride on, I could FEEL the raindrops as they impacted my upper body... but I remained warm and dry on top thanks to the goretex. My bottom half??? well, not so much. Denim and long johns provide very little comfort in a cold rain. Weather geeks are probably familiar with the sling psychrometer, a device for measuring relative humidity. It holds two thermometers, one of which has it's lower bulb covered in cotton or other fabric that's kept wet; the other remains dry. The instrument is attached to a handle by a cord, and is swung through the air in a circle. The "wind" from the spinning evaporates the water on the "wet" bulb, causing it too cool off, and will show a lower temperature. Thus, the drier the air, the faster the moisture evaporates, and the cooler the wet-bulb thermometer will read. So.... how does this relate at all to my ride Monday night??
Well, once my pants were soaked and the rain began to let up, the 50-55 mph wind started to go to work on them in the drying air and my legs became a wet-bulb thermometer. The last 20 minutes of my ride were excruciating. I haven't felt cold like that on my legs since I was stupid enough to go inner-tubing in a meltwater stream (and that was loooooong ago!).
The worst part, was that the colder I got, the faster I wanted to get home. The faster I drove.... the colder I got! A vicious cycle!
Anyway, I got home safely, my wife was amazed (we had some good sized hail at home during the same storm), and I was soon soaking in a very hot jacuzzi and eventually thawed out.
I drove the cage on Tuesday. :laugh:
but only because we had a rapid freeze overnight and there was LOTS of black ice in the morning. :o
I rode again this morning: 24F in the AM, 35 in the PM... NO RAIN OR WIND :thumb:
I'll try for the graphics next time...
Ahhhh yes, ive done cold rides on many occasions 8) 30f or less 60 mph ( rarely more)
Here in Orlando we got down in the Thirties last night burrrrr! But was up in the sixties by noon and been sunny not a cloud in the sky. Did have some storms earlier in the week but 'tis beautiful out!
Mary S.
Last few weeks its been in the teens and 20's in the morning and 30's and 40's evenings.
I rode though much of that to work, and in 6 days of riding put on a 1000 miles.
No rain stories though.
Cool.
Buddha.
as long as there was not snow on the ground i would ride. however i did get caught in snow one time on my TLR1000 and it was not nice. i would ride with a turtleneck, full techniks pants with padding and long underwear and ski doo gloves. so cold my visor was freezing up.