Adventures in Puddle Jumping!!

[Raptor]

Well, Winter decided to show up in CA after all! After days and days of freakishly warm weather and all the prognosticators saying that the rains were basically over, we have been getting hammered out here by a pretty decent storm. Monday and Tuesday was OK, only bad at night. Today is a different story. Big rains, high winds, downed trees... It's on baby!

When I stepped out this morning it was 42 degrees out, 30-plus winds blowing and pretty chaotic. I saw all of this and thought "ahh, maybe not." I was going to turn around and just jump in the cage. But after getting inspired recently by some of you hard core guys out there (you know who you are!) that are riding in the cold and snow, I decided to man up and take it on. Not sure if that was the wisest choice, but I did it anyway!

When I pulled out of the driveway I got hit staright-away by a gust of wind so strong it moved the bike! Then I had to run the gauntlet with all of the debris. But the accumulation of water on the road was the most impressive aspect of the ride in. I kept looking for my fellow bikers that I always see in the morning, but none were to be found. People were looking at me like I was crazy. And I have to admit, there were times where 14 would just start plaining and I wondered if I was going to recover it. But I never panicked, she did great and we made it 50 miles in without incident. I have to say that the Spyder holds up extremely well in adverse conditions like these. It was a semi-white-knuckle affair!

However, since 0700 it hasn't stopped raining, things are looking even worse and now they are talking about flood warnings. So the ride home is going to be even more "interesting". Should be a blast! Or will it? :shocked:

Stay tuned for the on-going adventures of 14!

 

[DougB]

Waaa waaa, try a midwest winter...lol

 

[Raptor]

Waaa waaa, try a midwest winter...lol

:roflblack: :roflblack: I know, I know!! At least I had the option to ride ot not; you guys are just S.O.L right now. That's why I rode; because I still could!

 

[CyncySpyder]

:2thumbs:

I can relate. No rain, snow or Ice for us here today, but WOW, 30 mile an hour winds on an RT is another :yikes:White Knuckle Experience:yikes: The byke wasn't do'n too bad, but it was me that was almost blown off a couple of times :gaah:

Take it easy out there :thumbup:

opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:

 

[SpyderGirl]

Ride safe!!! I still want to ride with you and I am sure your wife would love to have you home.

 

[Sopher]

waaa, waaa, waaa. You should try a New England Winter!
This year is something like out 5th or 10th worst winter in history?

The past week or two have been wide spread reports of roof collapses and even MALLs being shut down because of buckling roofs. Houses and flat roofed building are secumbing to the heavy amounts of snow fall.

Every house has ice dams. I STILL have a 30" snow pack in the back yard. The park bench under our bent over birch tree is totally covered.

Need some snow? come and get it!

 

[SpyderGirl]

waaa, waaa, waaa. You should try a New England Winter!
This year is something like out 5th or 10th worst winter in history?

The past week or two have been wide spread reports of roof collapses and even MALLs being shut down because of buckling roofs. Houses and flat roofed building are secumbing to the heavy amounts of snow fall.

Every house has ice dams. I STILL have a 30" snow pack in the back yard. The park bench under our bent over birch tree is totally covered.

Need some snow? come and get it!

WOW.... someone has a serious case of PSS. Chill out man! He wasn't fishing for sympathy and it's not a bloody contest. :chill:

 

[IWN2RYD]

We all cannot live in Hawaii... Suck it up people! hyea::roflblack: :yes: :bowdown: :shemademe_smilie: :spyder2: :doorag:

 

[COOLMACHINE]

We want you around.

Everybody has their own comfort level when riding. My suggestion is to not ride beyond you or your machine's capabilities. Hydroplaining is definitely a bad thing. Keep it on 3-wheels and most of all...HAVE FUN!!!
Raptor, we want to see you around tomorrow and the next day and the next, to share your fun and exciting stories. Stay safe. :thumbup: Jerry

 

[SethO]

Well, Winter decided to show up in CA after all! After days and days of freakishly warm weather and all the prognosticators saying that the rains were basically over, we have been getting hammered out here by a pretty decent storm. Monday and Tuesday was OK, only bad at night. Today is a different story. Big rains, high winds, downed trees... It's on baby!

When I stepped out this morning it was 42 degrees out, 30-plus winds blowing and pretty chaotic. I saw all of this and thought "ahh, maybe not." I was going to turn around and just jump in the cage. But after getting inspired recently by some of you hard core guys out there (you know who you are!) that are riding in the cold and snow, I decided to man up and take it on. Not sure if that was the wisest choice, but I did it anyway!

When I pulled out of the driveway I got hit staright-away by a gust of wind so strong it moved the bike! Then I had to run the gauntlet with all of the debris. But the accumulation of water on the road was the most impressive aspect of the ride in. I kept looking for my fellow bikers that I always see in the morning, but none were to be found. People were looking at me like I was crazy. And I have to admit, there were times where 14 would just start plaining and I wondered if I was going to recover it. But I never panicked, she did great and we made it 50 miles in without incident. I have to say that the Spyder holds up extremely well in adverse conditions like these. It was a semi-white-knuckle affair!

However, since 0700 it hasn't stopped raining, things are looking even worse and now they are talking about flood warnings. So the ride home is going to be even more "interesting". Should be a blast! Or will it? :shocked:

Stay tuned for the on-going adventures of 14!

It is a experience that every owner should know, how well the spyder does in those kind of conditions, its a lot of work but is still pretty fun to zip around in that kind of environment. You should know that the stock tire is not the greatest in snow, if ya have to drive back, drop the psi to 12 so you get more grab.

Hats off to ya bud, run her 90 sasserbill

 

[Raptor]

It is a experience that every owner should know, how well the spyder does in those kind of conditions, its a lot of work but is still pretty fun to zip around in that kind of environment. You should know that the stock tire is not the greatest in snow, if ya have to drive back, drop the psi to 12 so you get more grab.

Hats off to ya bud, run her 90 sasserbill

Well folks, Sorry I am late with the update but I had to deal with some personal stuff when I got home. Seth, my man, you are scary good! That is EXACTLY what I did and it saved my arse on the ride home. No lie.

The ride in showed me a few things; first, The rear end can break loose fairly easily when contact gets light so you have to adjust your technique and anticipate so you can feel the slide coming and react smoothly. Never jerk your corrections; if you do, you are gone. Second, short shifting and keeping revs a bit lower than normal is critical in these types of conditions. If you try to downshift in a normal rev band, guess what? You are gone! And these stock tires are too hard! They channel water OK but they are just not sticky enough. Finally, a good thing; the traction control really does help! I now have a new-found respect for it. And now for part two!

As the day wore on the rain just would not stop and I knew the conditions would be worse on the home stretch. So I started thinking about what I could do to help things. And then it hit me; AIR PRESSURE! NEED TO ADJUST AIR PRESSURE! Anyone who ever set foot on a track knows this. So I went outside and took down all three tires to 12/12/24. I went back in, finished my day and suited up.

The ride started rough right out of the gate; cars were straying all over the place, I saw a guy riding a Busa right in front of me almost get creamed by a cage that wasn't paying attention. He actually had to stick his foot out and kick the idiot's door. All this and I was just getting on the freeway! But I just took a breath and pressed on.

Once on the freeway the tension eased up a bit, but I counted 3 cars that had left the road in a span of 15 miles; one rolled into a ditch. not good. The rain was pelting my helmet loudly and there was a sheet of water now coating the road. However, my gear was holding up great, my newly adjusted tires were handling it fine and I was making some pretty sweet moves. And then...

I was in a good spot and traveling straight and level at speed, just getting ready to set up for a kink right hander when I saw a deeper sheen crawling completely across the road. I knew this was going to be trouble. So I hugged the inside boundry of the lane, turned in early and waited for the slide to start. When she broke loose I kept my arms soft, shifted my weight inside and to the rear, kept the bars pointed in the right direction and feathered throttle hoping the rear tire would grab. AND IT DID! The pressure adjustment did the trick.

After my heart rate settled a bit I had a chance to think about what just went down and it made me let out a little whoop! That could have been a disaster but as it turned out it was cool as heck! And I learned a ton about what 14 can do in the wet. These Spyders do very well in the rain.

When I got home I wiped her down completely and checked everything out. She was A-OK and so was I. Another chapter logged "in the book of 14"! And the forecast for tomorrow; you guessed it... evil laughter ensues!

 

[SethO]

Well folks, Sorry I am late with the update but I had to deal with some personal stuff when I got home. Seth, my man, you are scary good! That is EXACTLY what I did and it saved my arse on the ride home. No lie.

The ride in showed me a few things; first, The rear end can break loose fairly easily when contact gets light so you have to adjust your technique and anticipate so you can feel the slide coming and react smoothly. Never jerk your corrections; if you do, you are gone. Second, short shifting and keeping revs a bit lower than normal is critical in these types of conditions. If you try to downshift in a normal rev band, guess what? You are gone! And these stock tires are too hard! They channel water OK but they are just not sticky enough. Finally, a good thing; the traction control really does help! I now have a new-found respect for it. And now for part two!

As the day wore on the rain just would not stop and I knew the conditions would be worse on the home stretch. So I started thinking about what I could do to help things. And then it hit me; AIR PRESSURE! NEED TO ADJUST AIR PRESSURE! Anyone who ever set foot on a track knows this. So I went outside and took down all three tires to 12/12/24. I went back in, finished my day and suited up.

The ride started rough right out of the gate; cars were straying all over the place, I saw a guy riding a Busa right in front of me almost get creamed by a cage that wasn't paying attention. He actually had to stick his foot out and kick the idiot's door. All this and I was just getting on the freeway! But I just took a breath and pressed on.

Once on the freeway the tension eased up a bit, but I counted 3 cars that had left the road in a span of 15 miles; one rolled into a ditch. not good. The rain was pelting my helmet loudly and there was a sheet of water now coating the road. However, my gear was holding up great, my newly adjusted tires were handling it fine and I was making some pretty sweet moves. And then...

I was in a good spot and traveling straight and level at speed, just getting ready to set up for a kink right hander when I saw a deeper sheen crawling completely across the road. I knew this was going to be trouble. So I hugged the inside boundry of the lane, turned in early and waited for the slide to start. When she broke loose I kept my arms soft, shifted my weight inside and to the rear, kept the bars pointed in the right direction and feathered throttle hoping the rear tire would grab. AND IT DID! The pressure adjustment did the trick.

After my heart rate settled a bit I had a chance to think about what just went down and it made me let out a little whoop! That could have been a disaster but as it turned out it was cool as heck! And I learned a ton about what 14 can do in the wet. These Spyders do very well in the rain.

When I got home I wiped her down completely and checked everything out. She was A-OK and so was I. Another chapter logged "in the book of 14"! And the forecast for tomorrow; you guessed it... evil laughter ensues!

I glad ya made it back, I should have brought up these points to you too. All are legit and required for poor weather riding. the nanny keeps ya alive for sure and lets you push it in the crap weather. With snow it is a must to feather the throttle and short shift.

 

[NancysToy]

You worry me, Raptor! nojoke All the technique and adjustments in the world cannot beat mother nature when she is out to get ya. There is an alternative. Under these conditions you could avoid riding like a bat out of H-E-Double-Toothpicks. If you continue to push the envelope, you may eventually pay the price. I'm not chastising you...it is your choice to make, but remember, there are old riders and bold riders, but very few old, bold riders. Save the adrenaline for the good days! JMHO

 

[Bob Denman]

:agree: Sometimes it's just best to save the adrenaline for other things... It's nice to grow old to a point where getting up in the morning is considered a good start to the day!

MidWest Winters might not be fun on motorcycles, but they're a BLAST on snowmobiles!

 

[Raptor]

You worry me, Raptor! nojoke All the technique and adjustments in the world cannot beat mother nature when she is out to get ya. There is an alternative. Under these conditions you could avoid riding like a bat out of H-E-Double-Toothpicks. If you continue to push the envelope, you may eventually pay the price. I'm not chastising you...it is your choice to make, but remember, there are old riders and bold riders, but very few old, bold riders. Save the adrenaline for the good days! JMHO

You are right, Scotty, and I sure do appreciate your thoughts on this matter. There is just something about being on that edge that is very intoxicating. I sorta can't help myself! And I love to test the machine to see what it's limits are as well. But again, you are 100 per cent right; sometimes you should save it for more appropriate occasions.

This morning I just had to call it good and take it down about 5 notches! As I was making my way out of town there were Police and CalTrans work trucks everywhere. The flooding has started and they were shutting whole roadways down. When I saw that, the switch just flipped to "OFF" and my only thought was "be safe". So the ride in was boring but uneventful. And when it gets like that uneventful is good! :thumbup:

I'm hoping we get at least a little break soon so the ground can soak up some of this water. I think it's scheduled to let up later today. We'll see...

 

[CyncySpyder]

ANOTHER GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE & ANOTHER GREAT REASON TO BE A SPYDER-RYDER:thumbup:

 

[GeminiJane]

Gotta agree with Scotty and Bob - plus remember that for non-riders, all riders become "one"....they remember the one rider endangering them and others on the road and forget about many other riders who show respect for others on the road. I love speed and I love to ride, but have to pick the time and place for some of the reasons stated above.

I just finished reading a book that made the statement that sometimes reckless disregard for the laws of physics and pushing the envelope past what is safe, should be cause to consider the potential of "accidental" suicide intentions. I'm not saying the addiction for that adrenaline rush is always such - but as a rider you gotta consider that death could be the result of such actions and you make the choice to continue - is that an "accident" when statistics catch up with you?

Sending you best wishes for fun and safe rides.

 

[Raptor]

Good post. Thank you for that, Jane. :thumbup:

 

[Havasu Rider]

Started raining here about midnight and rained until 0900 this morning. A little over 1 inch here at the house. In a area that averages 4.5 inchs a year that is a lot. The roads are covered with sand and gravel all over the area. This is when I am glad I am riding a Spyder instead of the 2 wheelers I had in the past. I sure makes for a more enjoyable ride.:clap: