Most Unpleasant Ride . . .
Road Master
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 822
Likes: 4
From: Huntsville, AL
Had to make a ride back in February. 200 miles roundtrip. Left the house at around 5pm. temp around 36. Got home around 11pm. Temp was around 26. Have ridden in worse, but not often. I had just gotten my 2010 Wide Glide a week or so before...and of course i dont ride with a windshield. To make things worse I hit a possum on the way home. It hit my peg and bottom of my boot hard enough to jar it and make my foot pretty damn sore for the rest of the ride....I pulled up in the garage and i was so cold my wife had to help me off the bike and into the house.....Thats about the most unpleasant ride i can remember!!!!!
Road Master
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,008
Likes: 6
From: Jax, FL
Rocky Mountain National Park the first week of June, last year. 30 degrees, huge crosswinds that almost blew me off a cliff, and snow in the air. No stopping for pics, just had to get through the park alive. The 40 degrees and rain the rest of the day were no problem compared to riding through the park.
Cruiser
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 174
Likes: 0
From: Odessa, TX
I went on a ride from Odessa TX to Lubbock TX a while back with the OL on the backseat it is probably 150 miles one way. On the way back just after getting out of Lubbock we got hit with a HAIL storm like 1/2 golf ball sized. One of them split my forehead open. I could hear it pinging off the OL helmet as she was ducked down behind me I will never forget that ride.
Club Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,192
Likes: 168
From: Knoxville, Tn
Worst Ride
Worst in recent memory was yesterday on I-40 West of Asheville stuck in traffic for about an hour because of the big slide in February. Moving slow enough that you had to walk the bike,and hot enough to make the bike over heat on three separate times. Finally had to pull over and let the bike cool. BEWARE of I-40 West bound for the next 6 months !
Tourer
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 289
Likes: 0
From: GLOBE AZ..
5 days 3000 miles from Baltiomre to Atlanta to Pheonix last week in Jan. this year everyday was 30 degrees and rain, freezin rain, sleet, snow,wind and went threw the snow storm that messed up Tulsa.......LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!lol
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 4,990
Likes: 9
From: Marina del Rey
most unpleasant ride
Went down @ 55mph when a flatbed truck I was passing turned left. But that is an event which lasted only a moment, not specifically an unpleasant ride per se.
It seems like most of our very worst days of riding occur when we have to be somewhere, so macho it out instead of holing up and waiting for a weather or traffic window.
I just had to be in Hemet for a dinner commitment on a rather hot day. My work obligations finally freed me to leave Venice @ 3:00 pm. This trip was less than 90 miles directly through and across Los Angeles but took 3 hours of the most stressful and dangerous riding, splitting lanes to keep the bike moving in the worst kind of bumper-to-bumper freeway traffic imaginable. I simply NEVER want to experience that again.
Earlier, deepsea said: "Give me the back roads."
That is what my Harley and my riding are all about.
Advanced
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 52
Likes: 0
From: Waseca, MN
One of the best yet most unpleasant ride was in Jan 2010...We went on a cruise out of Miami, came back to port to a planned bike rental and ride to the Keys to extent our vacation by a couple of days...
When we got in the cab to get to the dealership the thermometer in the truck said 36 degrees!!!! Wind chills (seriously wind chills in Miami!?!) were 20 degrees...
We FROZE riding down to Marathon...at one time we got off the bikes and had frozen droplets on our glasses. No being prepared for such cold temps, we bought sweatshirts and wore pj bottoms under our jeans.
The next day we headed out to Key West...the news was reporting it to be the coldest day on record. Again we froze but it was all worth it because it was the most beautiful ride of our lives!
When we got in the cab to get to the dealership the thermometer in the truck said 36 degrees!!!! Wind chills (seriously wind chills in Miami!?!) were 20 degrees...
We FROZE riding down to Marathon...at one time we got off the bikes and had frozen droplets on our glasses. No being prepared for such cold temps, we bought sweatshirts and wore pj bottoms under our jeans.
The next day we headed out to Key West...the news was reporting it to be the coldest day on record. Again we froze but it was all worth it because it was the most beautiful ride of our lives!
Club Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 23,178
Likes: 19
From: elsewhere
Riding in Minnesota last year. One super cell, looked to be a 1/2 mile or so wide, and every turn we took went straight at it, while following our trusty (?) local guide(also ?). Temperature dropped 30-40 degrees in seconds, the wind was bowing trees over, lightning bolts were flying everywhere, and then the hail hit. Yep, that sucked a bunch.
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Tourer
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 252
Likes: 0
From: SF East Bay
Cold and foggy...
Christmas eve, about 25 years ago. I was stationed at Camp Pendleton in Southern Cal, my fiance lived in S.F. Almost exactly 500 miles door-to-door. I got in my car to drive up to be with her for Christmas and the car broke down 5 miles from my barracks. Went back to the barracks and started over. Sweat pants under the jeans, sweatshirt under the leather jacket with a snowmobile suit over all of it and off I went. Driving down the Grapevine into the tule fog was something I'll never forget, it was almost like driving down a boat ramp into the water. My face shield was too wet to see through so I had to keep it up so my face was exposed. Long before I was halfway there I was cold and sopping wet. I could see 2 of the white lane dividers, the one I was next to and the next one. I played connect the dots at about 25 MPH on I-5 for hours, constantly watching the mirrors for the glow of oncomming headlights and trying to see through the fog in front to watch for brake lights.
I finally arrived, hours later than I should have, got undressed and cuddled up next to her. She woke up screaming at me about how cold I was.
I finally arrived, hours later than I should have, got undressed and cuddled up next to her. She woke up screaming at me about how cold I was.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 4,990
Likes: 9
From: Marina del Rey
fog
Christmas eve, about 25 years ago. I was stationed at Camp Pendleton in Southern Cal, my fiance lived in S.F. Almost exactly 500 miles door-to-door. I got in my car to drive up to be with her for Christmas and the car broke down 5 miles from my barracks. Went back to the barracks and started over. Sweat pants under the jeans, sweatshirt under the leather jacket with a snowmobile suit over all of it and off I went. Driving down the Grapevine into the tule fog was something I'll never forget, it was almost like driving down a boat ramp into the water. My face shield was too wet to see through so I had to keep it up so my face was exposed. Long before I was halfway there I was cold and sopping wet. I could see 2 of the white lane dividers, the one I was next to and the next one. I played connect the dots at about 25 MPH on I-5 for hours, constantly watching the mirrors for the glow of oncomming headlights and trying to see through the fog in front to watch for brake lights.
I finally arrived, hours later than I should have, got undressed and cuddled up next to her. She woke up screaming at me about how cold I was.
I finally arrived, hours later than I should have, got undressed and cuddled up next to her. She woke up screaming at me about how cold I was.
Where the road levels out at the bottom of the Grapevine is notorious for its' fog and multi-car pile-ups.