Rain Gear - It Only Works When You Wear It.

Ohhh Nooo, his first trip and it rains. Poor Mr. Bill! Welcome to my riding world.


If you set out for home and it is raining, it's easy to see you should put on your rain gear - assuming you are one of the mortals that needs rain gear over your normal riding attire. You people with 'Stitches (the 3 that don't leak like a sieve) can just avert your eyes to the pictures on the right for the next couple of paragraphs.

The decision to don rain gear on an overcast day is a far more complicated decision. Let's think about the factors. Is that just mist? Is it raining? Is it going to keep raining. Are you riding toward more rain or clear. What am I wearing, what is my passenger wearing? Is the air temp cold. We're ok for mist. We're ok for 30 min. How much farther do we have to go? How easy is it to stop. Can we take cover to put gear on? What bike am I on, how much protection does that offer. And on and on it goes. Misty rain, and indecision can leave you all wet.

And for arguments sake, let's pretend we actually have our rain gear with us. When Lisa and I travel, I don't always have all of it with me. This weekend I brought my rain coat, and Lisa's coat & pants. I forgot the rubber gloves in my tank bag, so my deerskin gloves were going to be out of luck no matter.

Heading home from a fun weekend in Maine we knew the forecast was for afternoon showers. The sky was gray. We'd seen drops here and there, but mostly grayness. We made a gas stop and the mist was obvious. I had full Rev'IT gear on and riding boots. Lisa had mesh pants and leather jacket. I can't remember the last time Lisa and I rode 2 up on the GT. But it does afford more protection around the legs because of the faring. You can tell where this is going?

The mist turned to intermittent drops, the country road was exchanged for the interstate, and before you know it, we've not geared up, we're on the highway and it's a steady rain. Screw it, the temps are comfortable, and we're 45 minutes from home...HIT IT. The Rev IT held up fine, just a little dampness at the top of the collar, and where my hair wicks in the water. Lisa was in even better shape the front of her pants were just as dry as can be, and only her pigtails took the weather. You know, once you've been caught in 10 hours of torrential downpours...45 minutes is a walk in the park!

Well ...here are some pics from the Lobster Bake. Hope you had some late summer fun!

Before


Good Night Mr Lobster, steam well


Oooh Nooo, Lisa and Irene just figured out what is happening with the lobsters


Getting all steamed up


Ummm, no after pics, my hands were to buttery!