Springtime

They say that motorcyclists are like mushrooms, as soon as the rain stops they come out. In western Oregon if you don't like the weather in the springtime, wait five minutes and it'll be different. The converse is true also, if you do like the weather in five minutes it might be raining again.

At some point every spring I just say screw it, accept the rain, and ride anyways. At least its warmed up enough that I don't feel hypothermia after a ride without heated gear. With the weather around here it might be dry in one valley and wet in the next, you never know. The weather forecast is as much voodoo as trying to determine why torque feels good to the soul.

I've ridden in the pouring rain before. Rain and mist so heavy that the only way to keep my visor clear is to ride 90 miles per hour and use the air off my windscreen to blast the water droplets away. Then there's the rain so torrential that small rivers of running water appear at the apex of every corner, reminding me that worn out track tires are a poor fall touring choice.

Just because I'll do it doesn't mean I prefer it. Sometimes parked motorcycle syndrome (PMS) is so strong that I go riding in horrific weather just to satisfy wanderlust and satiate my office worker dissatisfaction with life.

Motorcycle racing in the rain sucks. Watching those races from a nice dry warm couch is awesome. Its mind blowing that GP racers can put down wet lap times faster than my dry lap times, drag knee in the rain, and still manage to keep rain tires warm. It also randomizes the race so that it isn't the reigning world champion who will for sure finish first. Last year in a race that turned wet halfway through Marc Marquez, the statistical favorite for the race, pushed his slicks instead of pitting in to change to a wet bike, costing him the race. A few years before when Rossi was fighting with the frameless Ducati GP bike (2012) he scored his first podium of the season in a wet race. For some reason it didn't matter that the Ducati wouldn't handle correctly when it was wet and being ridden like a flat track racer sliding into and out of every corner.

I got to have a new experience a few weeks ago. I have been riding since 2010 and this year was the first year I'd ever gotten a puncture in a tire. While stopped for a rest stop during a ride I noticed a nail in my rear tire, probably from all the new construction going on in my area.

Naturally my repair kit was in my tailbag, at home. I posted about it on FaceBook then rode home at a very reasonable pace, the whole time monitoring how the back felt, for signs of deflation. I got home without incident, pulled the nail and plugged the tire. There's no good timing ever for a tire puncture, but at least this rear was down to the wear bars and due for replacement anyways. In the future my repair kit is staying in my tank bag on the bike.

Now the big question is do I put on my half used Pilot Powers from last season or put on the new Avon Ultrasports?