A Week of Riding

The 2 AM ride home has been interesting this past week.

A BARREL OF FUN

I had the pleasure of watching a full-size pickup truck drive at full highway speeds through an on ramp with several construction barrels under the vehicle. I backed off - way off - and watched as one of the barrels dislodged and unpleasantly bounced across my path. Naturally, I was well prepared for this possibility - and quite safe. Moments later, a police car who was monitoring the intersection and construction zone pulled the truck over. That the truck pulled over onto the left side of the road with the driver's door against the highway barrier leads me to think - among other obvious reasons - that this individual suffered from chemically induced impaired judgement.

RIDING IN THE RAIN

I also enjoyed riding in the rain. This was a first for me and midnight, but she handled superbly. On the way to work, traffic was very slow since enough San Antonians don't know what that wet stuff on the road is or how to drive on it, which in this case suited me fine. On the way back, I got to experience 68° weather with cool rain beating down on my leather/mesh gloves. My rain gear worked wonders, but some weather-resistant gloves were definitely in order. I also remembered how wonderful hand guards work to prevent things like trees, rocks, flying squirrels and cold rain from hitting your hands. (Mental note: shop for hand guards.)

In the rain of course, a young man rolled down his passenger side window at a stop light and said, "I bet you didn't see this coming!" I guess I'm a little socially awkward. I replied, "actually I did, and I love it." (Before I left work, I checked the weather map which showed a very active storm system over 100 miles across centered over San Antonio.) The man was kind and well-intentioned. But I really enjoyed the pattering of rain, the coolness rising under the chin bar of my helmet and the sloshing of rain under my tiers.

The most difficult part of riding a dual sport in the rain is relaxing enough to allow the bike to do its job properly without pushing it beyond it's traction threshold. In a turn, a motorcycle tire has more road contact than a car tire. However, once traction is broken, then without care, other things will break in turn... But riding in the dark on a rain covered road with invisible "road snakes" will cause the handlebar to twitch as if hydroplaning, but the bike will keep itself righted so long as the rider relaxes enough to let the sensation pass and is responsible enough to not react by breaking or swerving. Which is why riding on the near desolate, well-lighted streets of San Antonio at night is actually safer than during the day whenever it is raining.