DAVID L. HOUGH
www.soundrider.com
After a million miles of motorcycling, you’d think I would know how to ride in the rain. It was only going to be a 250-mile ride over two days. The weather report mentioned a storm blowing in from the coast; but after a warm and dry summer, I was lulled into complacency.
About an hour from the start, we smashed into the approaching storm front. Torrential rain was coming down in buckets and blowing sideways. The air was filled with blowing leaves. Tree branches were snapping off and blowing across the road. The pavement was quickly coated with layers of slippery leaves. It didn’t take long for me to realize I wasn’t prepared for serious rain. Let me share with you several secrets I should have remembered.
Choose riding gear that’s weatherproof
Riding in soggy gear is a bigger deal than just feeling miserable. Riding soggy is an invitation to hypothermia. At highway speeds, the evaporative cooling of wet riding gear can quickly chill you to the core, and your thinking and muscle control will be slower. Staying dry and warm is a big part of keeping your brain and muscles functioning.
One reliable approach to weatherproof riding gear is a fabric shell with a breathable membrane bonded to the inside. It’s very helpful to have a removable insulated liner. An electric liner or vest can provide additional heat. Waterproof glove and boot covers help keep your hands and feet dry, and don’t take up much space to pack. If you’ve been wearing open weave or mesh gear for summer rides, remember to bring along your waterproofs — either an insulated waterproof liner to wear under the shell or separate raingear to wear over the shell.
Read the surface
After my bike did the moonwalk through a puddle filled with slippery leaves, I started reading the surface more carefully. The secret is that clean wet pavement has something like 80 percent of the friction of clean dry pavement. It’s those slippery areas you need to avoid — like those wet leaves in the puddle, or a dribble of diesel oil or a slippery white arrow glued to the surface.
You can assume that painted or plastic lines and markings will be slick, including crosswalks and directional arrows. Brick surfaces will be slick when wet. Railroad or streetcar crossings will be slippery, especially the plastic or wooden aprons on both sides of the shiny rails. Oil and grease on the pavement will cause water to bead or streak and may have a rainbow sheen. When you see a change in the color or texture of the surface, ride more conservatively until you can feel what’s happening.
Practice smooth control inputs
The key to avoiding a slideout on a wet surface is to make all control inputs smoothly. To maintain steady front tire traction when approaching a curve, transition smoothly from throttle to brake and then ease off the brake as you lean in. As you lean the bike in, smoothly sneak on the throttle as you steer into the curve to help balance traction between the front and rear tires. An “outside-inside-outside” line will maximize the radius of turn and minimize slip. Even if you feel your tires let go for a moment, avoid that sudden disastrous instinct to snap off the throttle or jam on the brakes. If the bike can recover, it will.
Brake early
When approaching a situation where you must decelerate, brake early. It’s difficult to comprehend how much braking force can be applied on the wet surface. Braking early gets the bike slowed sooner and more gradually, reducing the need to suddenly brake harder toward the end of the stop. To give yourself more time for evasive maneuvers, drop back farther behind other vehicles. The minimum following distance in the rain should be four seconds.
Take a break when it first starts to rain
High-mileage commercial vehicles tend to dribble engine oil, grease and diesel fuel on the surface. A little moisture mixed with those contaminants can create a slippery goo that really reduces traction. That’s why the road seems so treacherous after just a light rain or morning dew. It takes about a half hour of steady downpour to wash the pavement clean. The clever rider takes a half-hour break when it first starts to rain, to avoid sliding out and collisions with less-than-astute drivers.
Be Smart About Lightning
A motorcyclist is very much exposed to lightning. A motorcycle’s rubber tires won’t insulate it from the pavement. Lightning is so high voltage that it can travel on the surface of objects, including rubber. Enclosed vehicles such as automobiles and airplanes are seldom penetrated by lightning strikes. A motorcyclist, however, is exposed to serious injury.
If you are caught in a mountainous area during an afternoon thunderstorm, the best tactic is to get inside a building until the lightning passes. If there’s no building available and strikes are getting closer (the thunderclap is less than three seconds after the flash) avoid standing under a tree. Get off the bike and lay down in a low ditch.
Editor’s note: David L. Hough has authored several popular books on riding safety and served as a columnist for Motorcycle Consumer News, BMW Owners News and Sound RIDER! magazines. To support Soldier riders, Hough and Sound RIDER! Publisher Tom Mehren have granted reprint permission to Knowledge.