Riding in the cold

[Steel]

Once i rode my bike home in the pouring rain when it was ~70 out. Never been chilled to the bone worse than that day. I can't imagne riding on a 30* day.

OH wait, yes i can, I had to do it my junior year of highschool. I could barely work the controls my hands were so cod, my breath kept freezing to the inside of my visor, and i swore you could have shattered my legs with a 1 oz hammer by the end of the ride...in other words, it SUCKED!

Im looking forward to riding in AZ in August.

[jeffcoslacker]

You got me thinking about the coldest I've ever been...and I remembered it, but a bike wasn't involved....

It was when I still drove big trucks OTR...I was headed up to Chicago and had to stop for my DOT nap in mid Illinois somewhere...there was incredible wind and sleet and I was actually glad to be getting off the road for a while...was getting pretty bad.

When I woke up and started going again, it was about 1:30 am, and the storm was really kicking...the wind was making the truck rock and weave all over, roads were glazing over with ice, really nasty.

It was then that another truck driver hollered at me on the CB that my trailer had no lights...I looked in my mirror and sure enough, I was dark back there...so I pulled over to the shoulder and began to get out to check my trailer electrical cord...

The step on the fuel tank was iced up, and I slipped and fell all the way to the ground...I tried to grab the door as I fell, but all I managed to do was push the lock down...and the wind slammed the door shut as I was getting off the icy ground. Fuck.

Now I'm locked out of the truck, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, no coat, and it's driving freezing rain, about 25 degrees and 30-40 mph winds...I didn't even have a belt on so I could break a window with the buckle...no rocks around, nothing.

So I huddle between the cab and the trailer close to the exhaust stack, and step out when a car or truck passes by and try to flag them down...I was out there for about 30 minutes before another driver finally stopped to help...I have never been so glad to get into a vehicle in my life...my clothes were soaked and were freezing solid in places, I couldn't stop shaking, and couldn't even talk right...beginning to get hypothermia I think...

I stayed in his cab while he was able to get another driver on the CB who had a lockout tool in his truck...he opened my door, and I had to get moving again, now about an hour late on my trip plan...

Ended up getting double pnuemonia and almost died about two weeks later....3 day in the hospital...

[richtazz]

Damn Larry, I had to go get another cup of coffee after reading that! BRRRRR!!

Me and my riding buddies used to take a trip to the Lousiville flat track race (from Michigan) that was held on the first weekend of June. We had gotten to the hotel early the day before and decided to ride over to Indy to see the speedway. As we left our hotel after unpacking our stuff, we started to head out. All the Harley guys ragged on me (I had my Honda Magna at the time) and my dad (he had a Harley but ain't no dummy either) because we packed our gloves, chaps and leather before we headed out (it was 75 and sunny when we left). After seeing the speedway, they decided to head to a gentlemans club (not my thing, but I took one for the team) and stayed quite some time. When we got ready to leave, a cold front had moved through and there was frost on our windshields. My dad and I just grinned as we donned our cold weather gear and told them we'd have the coffee ready when their frozen asses got back to Louisville. Most of them didn't even grab their leather jackets, and had to ride all the way from Indy to Lousiville in t-shirts and no gloves, HA HA HA HA!!!

The freezing rain and locked door remind me of one of my favorite "here's your sign" scenarios. How many people do we know (I know many and rag on all of them) that buy lock de-icer, then toss it in their glove box? What good does it do for them in there?