OFF THE WIRE
RAINY DAYS AND SUNDAYS
By John Del Santo
The rainy season is upon us…Are both you and your bike ready for it ? Many of the drivers around you in don’t have a clue how to drive in the rain. We need to keep our escape routes open, and maintain a bunch of extra space all the way around us to compensate for their poor driving habits.
The oil and water lifting off the roadway will make the road as treacherous as an ice skating rink in Kuwait . Good tires, properly inflated with plenty of tread is what makes a bike different from a canoe…Flat-bottom boats and balding tires go sideways in the water; not something we’d prefer doing in the middle of a curve.
When on slippery roads, anything that changes the smooth flow of your forward momentum can make your bike head off in a direction you had not intended. Easy acceleration, light braking and smooth steering are a necessity here. Are you ready for a good gust of crosswind? How deep is the pothole under that next puddle? Riding in the lane closest to the center divider can give you a good blast of water if the traffic going in the opposite direction hits a big puddle ! See those steel trench-plates in the construction area? If you can’t avoid them, pull your clutch in, don’t touch your brakes, don’t even breathe as you float across them in a straight line, and hope for the best. Wet brakes have a lag-time between application and grab…be prepared for that so it doesn’t come as a surprise.
What are you wearing? Can the other drivers see you in time to stop? Wearing your “colors” can have a whole different meaning on a dark and gloomy rainy day.
The Songwriter said “Rainy days and Sundays always get me down”. Well, our main desire as Bikers is to stay UP ! Properly maintained equipment, decent training and a defensive attitude will go a long way towards getting us home. We may get home wet, but we’ll get home in one piece.
RIDE SAFE……RIDE STRAIGHT…….KEEP THE SHINY SIDE UP
