I've been riding since October. I haven't gotten as many miles in as I would like since we have two kiddos, but I ride when I can. Up to this point, I've pretty much been a fair weather rider, avoiding the rain. But I decided that I won't be able to avoid the rain forever if I plan on continuing to take trips on the bike with the hubby.

The hubby and I had some things to do around the house today. We just bought this house earlier this year (closed in March), and there are some things we want to do here. Well, after we finished for the day, we decided to take a ride to get some dinner. The kiddos are with their grandparents this weekend. We had some storms come through here this evening, but they mostly missed us. The thunderstorm warning for our county was expiring at 6:30 this evening, and it would be after that by the time we left the house, so we figured we'd take the chance and ride. On our way to Fayetteville, we felt some drizzle. No big deal, nothing to warrant turning around and heading back home. Once we got farther into Fayetteville, though, we could tell they had gotten a good rain. The roads were wet. So we just slowed down and made sure we kept our distance all around us. So although we didn't really have that much rain, we got pretty wet from the water being splashed up by our tires and the mist from the cars in front of us. It was a good experience, though. It had been so hot today that it actually felt pretty good to get a little wet while riding. It definitely cooled us off. I'd much rather be in familiar territory for a first time experience like this one. Yeah, Fayetteville is crazy as anyone who has ridden or drive around here knows, but I know the roads around here.

On the way home, I had an experience that reminded me to always been on the defensive (which I always try to remember anyway). I was in the center lane of three lanes going in the same direction. That makes me nervous anyway, but I hadn't had an opportunity to move over into the right lane yet. I had been in the right lane, butthe four lanewe were on turned into a six lane through a certain part of town.I was watching the vehicles on either side of me to make sure I'd be prepared if anybody decided to do anything stupid. Sure enough, the car on my right came over into my lane practically right on top of me. Fortunately, I was watching him so had plenty of room to slow down without having to even use my brakes. My biggest concern was that there was also a car on my left and I wasn't sure what that one was going to do. I just didn't want to get boxed in there. But when that car cut in front of me, it gave me room to get into the far right lane, where I wanted to be anyway. The funny thing was that when I got into the right lane, the hubby blew past me on his bike. I think he was more pissed than I was about the car that cut me off. He got over in the right lane a car or two in front of me, and I caught up with him a few minutes later. I figure there was no need to get pissed, because I sort of expect people to do that when I'm on my bike...after all, that's what I was taught to watch for. The ironic thing was that the car had a bumper sticker on it that said "Got Jesus?" I was thinking to myself that it's a good thing I do since you tried to take me out!

Then when we got into our neighborhood, there were some kids that really frustrated me. There were two teenage boys and one little boy probably my daughter's age or younger. The littlest one was standing right in the middle of the road that the hubby and I were turning left onto. Smack in the middle! I had my signal on and he wouldn't move, nor did the two older boys tell him to move. He just stood there, with his little hands posed like he was holding handlebars. Bless his heart, I know he just wanted to watch, but the older boys never should have let him be in the middle of the road like that. It's dangerous for him, and for us as you all know. W

 

Sounds like you are pretty sensible about your riding habits. That is a good thing.

 

Glad to hear you made it through...and only turned out to be just a tad wet

 

Glad you made it back o.k.. Kid s are the great unknowns. No telling what they will do. I got some good advice here on the forum about only asking your tires to do one thing at a time while riding in the rain. When turning, don't acelerate,don't brake, don't shift. Made alot of sense to me. The rain can be fun if it is not cold.

 

1of2 - yes, I believe I'm a good rider, especially considering the amount of time I've been riding. However, I'm also realistic about my skill level. If I'm not comfortable with something, I'll say I'm not comfortable with it. One kind of weird thing...if my instincts tell me to stay off the bike, I leave it in the garage and cage it. I believe that saved my life one night because I was in a car accident. I was at fault (everybody makes mistakes). But I thank God every day that I was not on the bike and that I didn't hit a fellow biker. Things happen for a reason.

Bluerose...Yep, just a little bit wet. Just enough to cool us off. The hubby joked that we should have taken our friend's advice and brought a bar of soap and a towel. Nah...didn't get THAT wet!

 

That makes a lot of sense. I'll have to keep that in mind in the future. I didn't really do much differently this evening, except just taking everything more slowly. I think my biggest fear was slipping in a turn. So I took them LOTS slower than usual. Turns and curves are usually my favorite thing. My only thing with the rain right now is that I don't have a windshield and ride with a half helmet. I seemed to be ok with the goggles as long as I was moving. Would be interesting to see what happened if it was REALLY raining though. I think this was a good transition into riding in wet weather. Maybe next time we have a decent rain (not torrential downpour) I'll get out and ride a bit to get the feel for it. Just gradually building my confidence!

 

Two things you can always count on when you ride that could possibly cause you a problem, you can always count on weather and crazies.

You never know what either one will do for sure. I always expect the worse out of both of them.

Just always go prepaired and you will be fine, common sense goes a long way.

 

Glad you made it Ok, rain is different, as a firefighter we see auto accidents increase many fold here when it starts raining, people just think they can drive the same on wet surface as they can on dry. It's amazing.

I know it takes alot of fun out of riding, but when in traffic you have to ride like everyone out there is trying to run you down. Reminds me of the old Frogger video game. You got the mind set though, stay safe, and keep having fun.