It was 37 degrees and raining when I rode into work this morning, yet I was completely comfortable and actually enjoyed the ride. “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only poor choices in clothing.”
rain
Wet and dark commute
I woke up around 3:30 am and couldn’t fall back asleep so I decided to get up and go to work early. It was still dark when I mounted my V-Strom and pulled out of the garage. Soon I heard the pit-pit-pit sound of rain hitting my face shield.
It was a dark ride into work, and wet. I had fairly heavy rain most of the way in. As I was riding, the thought occurred to me that I was no less comfortable than if it was 43 degrees and dry. The only difference when it rains is visibility gets reduced slightly.
I put lemon Pledge on the outside of my face shield to shed water. Ironically, I can see better when riding in the rain using that method than I can in my car with the wipers going! I also rub shaving cream on the inside of my face shield to prevent fogging. It works like a charm.
Muggy commute
It’s been very hot in recent weeks, setting records in fact, and I’ve opted to drive my air conditioned car rather than ride my motorcycle and risk passing out from heat stroke by the time I reached my destination. Yesterday it cooled down enough that riding was feasible and desirable.
I wore my Draggin Jeans and had a comfortable ride into work. Needing to run an errand downtown, I took a long lunch and met a friend for teriyaki and then took care of my errand before riding back to work. By the time I got back to the office I was sweating inside my Aerostich.
When it came time to leave there were rain drops on my windshield although not enough to matter. It was a dry ride home but muggy.
It was raining by nightfall and still raining when I got up this morning. Rain doesn’t bother me that much so I intended to ride to work, but the forecast high was 75 and the idea of increased mugginess was very unappealing to me. So I wussed out and drove the car to work instead.
Winter maintenance, dryer weather
My 2007 V-Strom 650 hit 20,000 miles recently, giving me an average of just over 10,000 miles per year (I purchased it on Feb. 12, 2007). I change the oil every 3,000 miles, it’s on its third set of tires (Metzeler Tourance), its second chain, and I’ve had the throttle bodies synced twice (although I don’t think it needed it either time). The bike has been 100% reliable with zero failures or problems of any kind.
Saturday I changed the oil and gave my chain a real good scrubbing and lube job. I’m not sure what scheduled maintenance is due at 20,000 miles but I doubt it needs any of it. The bike is rock solid and a joy to ride.
The weather is supposed to be dry all week. I rode into work this morning and had mist until I got to Gresham, where the precipitation could be considered ‘pizzle’ … not quite rain, but close and certainly enough to get you wet. It should be dry by the time I head home.
First ride of 2009
I rode to work today. My last ride was Dec. 9th. Almost a month without being on two wheels, and it damn near drove me crazy. It snowed last night, building up a couple of inches at my house, but it turned to rain by 10pm and it was just rain by this morning. It wasn’t very cold, either. 44 degrees in Gresham.