07-11-2015, 04:08 AM
I actually enjoy riding in the rain. With the quality of raingear since a few years, you stay dry. My gloves are goretex lined and have a small rubber squeegee on the left index finger for wiping the visor. You do have to adapt your riding, but for me it is still enjoyable.
The worst I ever had though was one winter here in Switzerland. Yes, I would ride all year, but tried to avoid snow for obvious reasons. At the time my bike was a Ducati ST2, and I was riding home from work with the temperatures below freezing. Shortly after I started out the rain began, but it soon became snow. I kept going since I didn't have more than maybe 30 minutes to go, and roads still seemed okay. This is where the first problem appeared: snow on a visor leads to inevitable fogging. There is nothing you can do. Unfortunately, I was wearing glasses at the time, so I opened the visor enough to let air in but trying to avoid the snow hitting the glasses. The snow would sting my face, but at least I could see something.
Then the road was become seriously white, and so I moved over to the emergency lane on the side, riding as straight as I could with my feet dragging on the ground. I did keep on going, and perhaps an hour later I finally pulled in to my garage. I was absolutely frozen, and struggled to get my gloves off, with the snow being everywhere. Seriously, I should have stopped, but it was just one of those things when you think that just a few more minutes and it will be over. I am not sure how I kept from crashing, but I did.
I have not done that again, and I certainly don't plan to.
The worst I ever had though was one winter here in Switzerland. Yes, I would ride all year, but tried to avoid snow for obvious reasons. At the time my bike was a Ducati ST2, and I was riding home from work with the temperatures below freezing. Shortly after I started out the rain began, but it soon became snow. I kept going since I didn't have more than maybe 30 minutes to go, and roads still seemed okay. This is where the first problem appeared: snow on a visor leads to inevitable fogging. There is nothing you can do. Unfortunately, I was wearing glasses at the time, so I opened the visor enough to let air in but trying to avoid the snow hitting the glasses. The snow would sting my face, but at least I could see something.
Then the road was become seriously white, and so I moved over to the emergency lane on the side, riding as straight as I could with my feet dragging on the ground. I did keep on going, and perhaps an hour later I finally pulled in to my garage. I was absolutely frozen, and struggled to get my gloves off, with the snow being everywhere. Seriously, I should have stopped, but it was just one of those things when you think that just a few more minutes and it will be over. I am not sure how I kept from crashing, but I did.
I have not done that again, and I certainly don't plan to.