As of late, weather has been on my mind.  Good weather. Bad weather. Snow weather. Rain weather…. well, you get the picture.  The reason it has been on my mind is because motorcycling is very dependent on weather.  We do not like to ride in the rain due to safety issues but also it is just damn uncomfortable riding in the wet – unless you have a primo rainsuit that will keep you dry without turning into a moving sauna.

For quite a while I was fixating on the weather to let it determine my riding schedule.  Even a hint of rain in the forecast and I was parking the bike and grumbling when the forecasted rain would never appear.  I found  myself reading 3 – 4 different weather sources and each giving me different results – and getting more confused and more grumpy.  Will it rain? Won’t it rain? If it will rain, how much?  As most of my riding schedule depends on my work/oncall/pager schedule, it would frustrate me to no end when I would read 40% chance rain in the forecast, then look outside to see bright, hot, sun ~berating myself for missing yet another riding opportunity all the while cursing those motorcyclists who I saw out and enjoying themselves. Of course this does not equate to looking outside and seeing it bucketing down then deciding to ride anyways.

It was not until I got to a point in my riding career where I felt confident in my ability and in my trusty bike which I had been riding for 4 years, halfway across a country and 30,000k+ that I got into this state.  After much fussing and fuming with myself, I heard and researched and came up with a plausible explanation of these confusing reports.  If I am reading the forecast for my city and it says “there will be a 30% chance of rain”, it does not mean I will get rain.  This “30% chance of rain” equates that there will be a 30% chance of rain in my geographical area.  Get the stressing of that point?  In my geographical area.

In past years, even when there was a whiff of rain in the forecast, I would leave my bike parked and find other ways to get to work.  Not this year.  So far I have been highly successful.  If it has rained, it usually takes place while I am in the office and clears off before I set out to ride home.  As well, I find that every year somehow, someway, Mother Nature sends me the blessing of being caught in interesting weather while riding early in the season.  (Based on having to ride up and over a mountain pass if I wish to ride anywhere outside my valley – aka geographical area – early in the season I am bound to hit some form of interesting weather.)  I have noticed an alarming trend though that when it is raining ( my bike is parked outside), coworkers get all upset that my bike is getting wet and that I need to move it inside. I am really not sure what that is all about – yet.

My advice to you ~ be brave.  30% chance of rain? Ride anyways.  Yes, you might get wet and be uncomfortable once in a while.  Eventually all of us will end up getting caught in some form of precipitation in our riding career.  The upside of all of this is you have an interesting ride, you get a chance to ride, and you have an interesting story to tell at the end of the season.

Of course this all comes with the caveat – RIDE YOUR OWN RIDE – If you do not feel comfortable riding in the rain… DON’T DO IT!

See you in the wind.