Got rained on yesterday...

[Wicked96SS]

This is only the second or third time I have gotten rained on... and it wasn't bad... that is until the hail came.

That was a new experience... I have NO rain gear (going to get some today and keep in my saddle bags), and was wearing a half helmet with goggles. The hail was big enough I believe it made a couple scratches on my tank AND cut my face a couple of places. Nothing bad, but hurt when it was happening. Small cuts (3 or 4 of them), like shaving cuts. I was going about 50 MPH when it started. It stopped after about 5 minutes, and I never had a chance to find cover. Still, hurt.

Also, on the ride home, while still raining, a pickup truck in front of me lost a garbage bag full of shoes... yes, shoes... I swerved and locked up the front tire briefly, and rear, and slid a bit off the road. I thought I was going over for sure... but kept it up. Wasn't a huge deal, but it scared me pretty good.

What I learned is that you NEED RAIN GEAR, AND give even MORE distance in wet weather than you think you need.. I am DEFINITELY not the tailgating type, and give plenty of space, but at 60 MPH, the shoes came at me pretty quick... faster than I thought.

Anyhow, a bad ride home for me yesterday.

[agentfox1942]

Wow. Glad you are safe and sound except for a scratch here and there. I had a similar experience not long ago. I was riding north or Caledonia State park outside of Gettysburg 2-up. Down in the park it was nice, but on top of the mountain a typical summer storm came swooping in - only with marble size hail. All over the rode, like slush. We pulled over under a tree mainly just so we wouldn't get pelted. Along came a HD Roadking, 2-up, shorts, tank top, flip flops, no helmet (PA doesn't need one) on either rider, doing about 45 mph. I don't know if he was incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. Never saw them again. I'm sure they were safe, but I'm not one for that. Ever notice how slick those wide painted stripes get when they are wet? The white and yellow ones? jeez.

[cjp91068]

Back in March I was about to head out one Saturday morning for my classroom part of my MSF Ridercourse. I had only had my bike for maybe 2-3 weeks after not riding for 20 years so I was still a little shaky on it and still breaking it in obviously.
So, It decided to rain that morning so I put on my new one-piece raingear that was a pain to get into over my nylon bike jacket.
On the way there in the rain, it decided to SLEET. I was like wtf is this?????!!!
Thank God my gloves had a rubber squeegie on the thumb or else I would never have made it and probably crashed.
By the time I got there, my helmet and the front of the bike had about a 1/4 inch layer of frozen sleet on them.
Personally I think I should have automatically passed the course just for making it there in one piece.