One of the things I love about California is that we enjoy a year-round climate for riding motorcycles. Even in the depths of winter, high temperatures only dip into the 50s, and rain only shows up at most 2 days out of 3 in a genuinely wet year. Sure, we have our share of natural disasters, looking at you – fire and earthquakes. Generally, rain is mild, and we are afforded plenty of dry days throughout the year.

It’s often said that there is cold, and then there is cold on a motorcycle. Because of this, I will ride in the cold or the wet – but not both. Typically, in northern California, our rainstorms come from the north, bringing cooler weather and precipitation. We have a meteorological phenomenon known as an “atmospheric river,” where an intense band of rain comes from the Hawaiian Islands, bringing focused precipitation, warmer temperatures, and the risk of flooding. My motorcycle had been sitting for a while, and I wanted to cycle the remaining gas in the tank. I’d ridden my local loop on the weekend, yesterday with a new rider, and as I looked out the window, seeing that atmospheric river descends from the skies, I decided I’d go for a grit ride out of the rain.

My old riding community used to host “True Grit” rides where many riders would go into the mountains on small winding roads during one of these heavy downpours to see “what was out there.” With so many pleasant days, “Why would anyone ever get on the motorcycle in such inclement weather?” I thought. It so happened that I was headed down to Paso Robles a few days later, and it looked like there were similar conditions. Since it had been so long since I’d ridden in the rain, I wanted to give it a test run. Watching and impact scale (they mention it every time any threat of water might come from the sky – we have no weather here).

I gathered all of my gear, closed the zippers, and aligned all the gaps in my gear the best I could. The rain had been coming down pretty well all day, so any surface oil or other slippery substances would have been long gone from the pavement. I let out the clutch and rolled down the driveway. I could feel and hear the pitter-patter of the warm 55° rain around me. Here we go!

I squeezed the brake and could feel a slightly different motion in the rear tire. There was an ever-so-small slip I didn’t feel when the pavement was dry. In many ways, I felt like I was starting all over in my motorcycling career. I had to trust the tire technology to maintain grip in a different environment.  On a motorcycle, there are no windshield wipers, so I restarted the practice of wiping my visor with my left thumb. I didn’t remember purchasing Gore-Tex gloves, but I’m glad I did! My hands with the glove and heated grips stayed warm and dry!

The helmet had an anti-fog lens, which utterly failed. About 5 miles into the ride, there was no defrosting, venting, or wiping the fog out of my view. I briefly flipped up the visor and road, but the rain quickly became little daggers at 50 miles an hour. I pulled over, and out went the lens.  Writing this blog, I did some browsing around on RevZilla and wonder now if the antifog lens was installed correctly or if the silicone bead might have dried out. I can’t imagine my experience was the intended one.

Fog is a big deal on a bike. I fogged up my screen pretty well and used the camera to simlate my view when the fog gets too much. That’s why the fog lens had to go!

At the end of the loop, I had a decision to make. Would I turn towards the freeway and grind through traffic, or would I return the way I came, taking the twisty roads in the rain at night? Many moons ago, a good friend of mine, Tyler, mentioned how much she loved riding in the rain on her way to Death Valley. At the time, I scratched my head and thought she was crazy. Fifteen years later, I was offered the opportunity to experience the same ride she had. I would go back through the twisty roads in the rain at night.

But first, the steam coming off the motorcycle was simply beautiful. Photographer Dan wishes Motorcyclist Dan would’ve put his bike on the center stand for a more geometrically correct photo. It was dark. It was raining. Chances are, the center stand would’ve sunk into the mud (or so I told myself).

The GS1250 has “ride modes” to help better use the powerband and features of the bike. In rain mode, the throttle acts more gently and the traction control is more aggressive. The rider can twist the throttle quickly but the motorcycle slows throttle body opening, allowing for more controlled acceleration. The traction control intervenes early in wet conditions or hard acceleration.

As I headed towards home in the night, they quickly found that the speed limit was enough. I began to see Tyler’s delight in riding in the rain. Motorcycling is simply about the immersion. Rainy nights are something we are taught to avoid, and here I was, several turns from home in the pouring rain. Was I up for this over 200 miles on Sunday? I’m thinking no. But for now, it’s enough, and I am content on my motorcycle, making my way home turn by turn.

And at home – I was wet. All of my grear was spread out on the home gym to air out and dry.

As for the ride on Sunday? The weather intensified and was projected to be worse for Southern California, so the organizers canceled the ride! And while I started writing off that this area doesn’t have strong weather -> I was wrong on this one. Today Nature delivered a 4 that’s on par with the storms back east.

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