Bad weather will make you rethink if riding a motorcycle is a good idea.
I awake Sunday morning eager to get this next leg of the trip underway. The plan is to get to Philadelphia early and meet my friend for Sunday football, dinner, stay the night and hit the road early Monday. I take a look out the window and my plan turns inside out as it is raining.
The forecast shows rain coming from the southwest, which is the direction I need to travel, until late morning, so it delays my plan to get to Philadelphia by 10am. Around 10am , a window finally appears where the rain slows enough to ride in it, so I break out the rain gear only to find my new rain shoes are two sizes too small to cover my boots. Lesson learned: always double check your gear prior to needing it.
I have a slight glitch in that I now need to return the rain shoes back to Staples for an Amazon pick up and then order new ones to be sent to one of my stops along the route later in the week. This also doesn’t go off as planned as the clerk in Staples won’t have the correct shipping labels until Tuesday, for the box this needs to be shipped in.
As I walk back to the bike it begins to rain, and my thoughts are now on “how wet will my feet get “since it’s the only part of me exposed to the rain. As I zipper up my coat, I start thinking that maybe I should just call it a day and head back to the house and wait out the bad weather or just leave tomorrow when the forecast is much better. Probably the safe solution but I decided to press on and take my chances that the rain would not get worse.
About halfway into the ride the sky opens up and my feet are now soaked inside my boots. If you have ever ridden a motorcycle in the rain then you know it’s a very harrowing experience. Being wet is one thing but the water tends to also make you cold. Riding a bike while cold and wet makes it very difficult to stay focused on the road. It creates a dangerous situation since you tend to stiffen up when cold which takes away from you reaction time should a quick maneuver be necessary.
I decide to stop at my sister’s house which is on my route, to dry off and change my socks. The decision is a good one because not only did she dry my socks and my boots but also served me a really good cup of coffee that took away the chill I had.
When I get back to riding, I begin thinking that maybe I am too old to be doing this. Maybe taking this trip wasn’t such a good idea. It’s very easy to scare yourself if you get inside your own head too much. You start to play all these different scenarios in your mind about what can happen. I think about how many other riders let these thoughts play in their head or if I am alone in this. It’s almost like you subconsciously create these thoughts to scare yourself into not riding. I wonder how I convince myself to ride after having these thoughts. I guess I continue to go forward because riding most days, is a great experience. An experience that is difficult to describe to someone who can’t feel what I do while riding. I’m guessing this will play on in my mind until the day I hang it up.
Today though, the good news is I arrive to my final destination dry and safe, with a few memories to help me better prepare for my next ride.
Just one man’s opinion..