To Ride or Not to Ride...

Greetings All,

I'm heading down to Greensboro, NC tomorrow for the Atlantic Coast Conference college basketball tournament, a treat for my 46th birthday from my dear wife. The weather gurus are calling for torrential rains up and down the east coast, flooding in some areas with a much as 3 inches of rain falling in a short period. It's a five hour ride from my home in Southern Mayland. I don't mind a little rain, but this could be a bit much. Heated grips on my 12 year-old K12LT and my electric vest still work. I dug out my rainsuit. I haven't ridden much during the winter so I'm sure I'll have to shake off the rust. Weather should improve by late Thursday night. Temps from mid 30ies at night and up near 60 during the day.

Should I roll the dice or should I wimp out and drive? To ride or not to ride...that is the question.

What do you think?

Ron

Ask your wife-if she gives you "the look" then take the car.Ed

car

Check the weather radar in the morning, then decide. The front seems to be passing through faster than they first predicted.
Have a safe trip, whether on 2 or 4 wheels.

Cage...4-wheels are safer than two in a downpour.

Follow your instincts

I posed the same question to myself over the Thanksgiving holiday. Ended up taking the truck, and found some AWESOME roads that I must travel on with the bike this spring/summer. I asked the same question on another forum and the two responses that helped me most were "- the biggest reason not to get on the bike was that you had doubts - and that is why you were right to opt for the truck. Doing a little risk assessment before each ride and having the sense to listen to that voice in your head can save your skin" [Survived-til-Now], and the one I liked most was from a guy about kayaking "One of the most important decisions you will ever make regarding safety is knowing when to stay on the beach." [Rad]. There are certainly some awesome people on these forums.

You have final say. While I was making my decision I couldn't help but recount the steps to ORM that has been drilled into every employed persons head in the past few years. I hate the classes and training, but after a while.........

Whatever your choice, be safe and have fun.

Thanks,
a

listen to your gut feeling

4 wheels-live to ride another day.

If you feel the need to ask the question, take the car.

BadDog2020 said:

Greetings All,

I'm heading down to Greensboro, NC tomorrow for the Atlantic Coast Conference college basketball tournament, a treat for my 46th birthday from my dear wife. The weather gurus are calling for torrential rains up and down the east coast, flooding in some areas with a much as 3 inches of rain falling in a short period. It's a five hour ride from my home in Southern Mayland. I don't mind a little rain, but this could be a bit much. Heated grips on my 12 year-old K12LT and my electric vest still work. I dug out my rainsuit. I haven't ridden much during the winter so I'm sure I'll have to shake off the rust. Weather should improve by late Thursday night. Temps from mid 30ies at night and up near 60 during the day.

Should I roll the dice or should I wimp out and drive? To ride or not to ride...that is the question.

What do you think?

Ron

Click to expand...

How was your trip?

Ride or not? Your head, heart and gut need to be into it. Having said this there have been many times when I waffled on riding, rode the bike and was glad I did.

As it turned out, the trip was great. The rain wasn't that bad. No real downpours, accidents, near accidents, washed out bridges or flooded roadways. I have certainly been caught out in worse weather. By the time I got down there the sun had come out. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were perfect. The games were great, the seats were great, the price for the seats were great (free...good to be family friend of one of the players). Only negative was that UNC lost to Duke in the final. The ride back was awsome weatherwise and even the traffic on I-95 N was good for a Sunday evening.
I'm glad I opted for a little adventure and went on two wheels instead of 4. These opportinities don't come around to often for me these days. All in all, a good time was had.

To me, ultimately motorcycling is all about fun. I would look at the circumstances and, as much as I would want to ride, try to determine if it would be more fun to ride, or to be more comfortable in the car.

Several years ago I had vacation scheduled for a ride to the Deals Gap area with my wife. Just before setting out the forecast was something like you describe. We took the car and encountered some of the absolutely worst winds I've experienced in my life. I've never regretted taking the car.