What was the worst weather you've been in.

[TejasRider]

Last April I was with a couple of buddies running south to north in eastern Arizona. We had a great ride up the Coronado Trail. As we got into St. Johns we saw a huge line of black clouds coming out of the west. We topped off and decided to keep going thinking we could hit I-40 before it caught us. We didn't... and it did. Flat empty land with nothing around, bikes leaned way over to deal with the cross wind and rain. Found out afterwards that my buddy on the BMW had actually gone off road at one point when a rut in the road paired up with a strong gust of wind. By the time we reached I-40 the temperature had dropped and the rain felt like it was going to turn to ice. We pulled into a convenience store and ate chips and watched the weather for about half an hour. Then the sun came out and it was like nothing had happened.

[srl5791]

last spring I got caught in a flare up thunderstorm man it sucked and when I got home my boots were full of water up past my ankles. I bought rain gear the next day and have never used it, I always have it just never need it.

[jetblack]

Last night was the worst so far. There was a huge, nasty thunderstorm coming through the area (the storm was red on the radar), but I was hanging out watching a movie with friends, pretty much just hoping it would pass over before I was ready to go. Nope, it poured all the way home (about 30 min riding) with huge lightning flashes, and I was completely soaked and cold. It's the first time I've ridden in a torrential downpour, and without the proper gear it is miserable.

[AWM]

Last year on St Patricks day i got caught in a snow storm.I missed the heavy stuff[13.4"]but had to ride home with my feet stick'n out from the pegs so i didn't fall over.
There was 3-4" on the road!.The good news was the sportster ran good in the cool air.
It would have been a good time if i had the DR.

[Anthonyd5189]

Ok this wasn't during a tour. Before I bought my car all I had for transportation was my bike. Both my parents worked during the day, so I had no other choice to ride my bike. It was a decent day out but strong thunderstorms were in the making. I was at work(yard work for some old fella') and what do you know, it started to rain. Since we were doing outdoor work he just told us we could leave. Well just as I got on my bike and out of his drive way, down pour...then I see the lightning and and hear the thunder. I did some quick math and figured it was about 4 miles away...so I hauled ass home(live only about 6 miles away, but it's highway. Now for those of you who have ridden in pouring rain on the highway know how fun that is...getting soaking wet(dont have rain gear), spray from cars making it hard to see, helmet fogging up, I'm glad I only had to be on the highway for about 3 miles.

That my friends, is the worst weather I have ridden in....a complete down pour with thunder, lightning and some decent wind.


EDIT: Just read your's jetblack...sounds exactly like what I went through, so I feel for ya.

[adambomber707]

Last summer about 15 miles out of town. I was headed home and saw a huge storm rolling my way so I got on the gas trying to make it home in time. Then the winds hit and I was just holding on and hoping I wouldn't get blown over. Pretty soon I came upon a Goldwing that got hit by a gust of wind and fell over. I think the guy riding it was father time he was so old, so another motorist and I helped him get it tipped back up and we rode down to a fishing access that was close by. Me and the Goldwing guy huddled under an outhouse overhang and watched trees blow over and a lightning storm I will never forget. He was from Tenessee.
It was actually a really cool experience. Scary as shit but pretty cool.

[Major 662]

Riding from Eureka, CA to Boise, ID, a friend on an FJR and I decided to do it in one shot. Once you leave Lake View, OR, you've got 140 miles of high-desert until you reach Burns, OR. No overpasses, no gas stations, no run down shacks, no nuthin. Of course the weather was great when we left Lake View, but then the clouds started to form. By the time we were mid-way (i.e. no turning back), the rain was coming and the lightning was starting to hit the ground. No trees around there, so it's just us and our conductive aluminum framed bikes. Since Oregon speeding tickets are about a million dollars, we'd been trying to use a little restraint, but once the chance of getting zapped factored in the equation, we decided to open it up. By then the wind was blowing the water up off the road, like some sorta Hollywood movie. We both tucked in and whacked that throttle open for 45 minutes of tense riding. Of course just as we reach the next town, the rain stops and whoever was at the gas station had no idea that we'd just finished a run-for-your-lives ride.

[jim schmidt]

Crossed the Continental Divide out of Boulder during a snowstorm on my old '79 KZ650. Those old bias ply tires got pretty slippery in the snow. I think I was going walking speed at the crest.

[mr. coffee]

Torrential rain in Tepic Mexico. Unlike anything I have ever seen. For 2 hours. There was so much water flowing down streets they were impossible to cross. I was on a XT600 which has pretty good clearance. Water was half way up my boots.

[Mr. Whippy]

I bought my Multistrada from a guy in Knoxville, TN. To get it, I flew there one way, with just my riding gear as luggage, checked out the bike (only 800 miles on it), paid for it and rode it home. As we finished business at the bank, the rains started. This was July and it was a huge front with high winds and bigtime rain.

My trip home was tangential to the front. On the freeway sections, I could stay just to the east of the storm but every time I stopped for fuel or food, it would overtake me. On two lane highways, I was continuously in high winds/heavy rains. Temps were in the 60's and I only had a light rainshell (think wet gloves, boots, legs and crotch).

One time I had to stop because I was shivering so badly. 550 miles. The bike was flawless. The only really scary part was near Winchester, VA where the temps changed enough that my helmet fogged inside and out AND my glasses fogged. It took about a second and I couldn't see a damn thing on an unfamiliar 2 lane road.

[traveler]

Trip from Boise to south Florida, April/May '06:
Encountered high winds in N.M., then massive thunderstorms in central Texas, north of Sweetwater, on hwy 84. 18 wheelers were actually pulling off the road. I found out later it was because of tornado warnings. Anyway, hwy was almost impassable due to rapidly rising water and the wind was extremely violent. I saw an exit for a town, took it, only to find the town another couple of miles farther. Don't remember the name of it, but when I got there, the little main street was flooding, big time. I saw a ramped approach up to a covered sidewalk and took it. Waited out the storm for maybe twenty minutes. Rode the remaining miles (1/2 hour) to Sweetwater, got a motel room, only to find they didn't serve alcohol in the restaurant. AND we're under a tornado warning.

Next day rode in relative calm to DFW on I20, and then the fun began again. High winds, heavy rain, lightning, the works, all the way across east Texas, Louisiana and into Vicksburg, Ms. Wind almost blew me and the bike over when I pulled into motel parking lot to inquire about a room. Sorry, no room at the inn. Eventually, I did find shelter at a nearby motel. Still raining.

Awoke in Vicksburg, still raining, wind lashing me as I packed gear on the bike. Rain, thunderstorms and wind would be my companions the rest of the day, all the way to the Florida panhandle. From there down to West Palm Beach the next day, I enjoyed sunshine.

During the period riding on I20 through Louisiana, I saw numerous wrecks, witnessed slide offs into the median and general mayhem on the highway. At times, it grew so dark I couldn't see squat, and feared getting run over by idiots trying to make time in absolutely horrendous conditions.

Bike - VFR
Gear - 2-pc 'stich and Aerostich triple digit rain gloves
Outcome - made it it back to Boise safely, but chain was totally shot, due to all the rain and high water conditions. It was new prior to trip.


Utah, late April '99:
Awoke to light snow in Capitol Reef N.P. campsite. Rode to Torrey for a hot breakfast, in the snow. Back at camp, packed up and loaded bike, did a ride through park to enjoy sights, in the snow. Took hwy 12 south from Torrey, climbing into higher elevations, with snow increasing. Eventually got so bad I couldn't see road edges, with snow appox. 2-3 inches deep. I'm totally alone on the road, creeping along, scared shitless (never ridden in snow), when a compact car approaches from above (I'm still climbing). I stop, wave them down, and two women stop beside me. I ask about conditions farther up and they say it's much worse above. I ask them to watch for traffic while I make a u-turn, and then ask them to follow me back down to Torrey, to make sure I get there. They obliged, and at about 10:30 a.m. I'm getting a motel room in Torrey, with my bike covered in snow and ice. Needless to say, I'm also freezing cold. Took a hot shower, ate, slept, ate, drank, slept. Snowed more that night.

Next day hit more snow on hwy24 north of Torrey. Couldn't wait to get out of Utah. Took I15 straight for Vegas and bike service. After oil change, I rode on to Barstow, no snow but cold and windy all the way.

The above are only a couple of examples, but are two of the most memorable.

Ride safe. Getting there (wherever that is) is as important as the ride itself.

[bumblebee]

Saturday, May 29th, 1982...

I was riding my CB 750K4 from St. Louis to my parents home in Saline County, Illinois.

As I was riding down Interstate 57 to Marion, Illinois, to catch Route 13E to head to home, I got caught in high winds and hail. The storm was so bad I had to pull over and hide under a bridge near Johnson City, Illinois, because the rain was blowing sideways. after the storm blew past, I continued south on I-57 about 10 miles and got off at Route 13 in Marion. A tornado had blown through and killed 10 people, while I was hiding from the storm under that interstate bridge

[TheSollyLama]

Probably the worst ever was a short trip, luckily. A day in which a vicious Nor'Easter blew in and while it was cold when I rode to high school, there wasn't any snow. Within a couple hours the school was shut down and I was left to ride home in more than a foot of snow, blowing sideways.

I rode home thru town, longer route but slower. Feet out like outriggers. Sliding the bike around curves instead of turning. That sucked.

A couple years ago here in CO I rode my YZF to work and by lunch took off early, riding in a blizzard (luckily little snow had built up on the roads) that eventually dumped a foot of snow. Had I waited longer- I would have taken the bike home in the bed of a truck.

Here it's mostly high winds. We get driving rain or worse- hail, but the wind is absolutley brutal.

[Vstromer]

Back in 05, we were at Delmarva Bike week in Ocean City, MD and decided to take a ride up the coastal highway into Rehoboth Beach DE. It was a hot day, and we decided, for the first and last time, to ride with out full gear. We had boots, jeans, tank tops, and our helmets and gloves. We got up to Rehoboth with no problems, had a great lunch and spent some time walking the boardwalk and checking out some the shops.
We noticed some clouds forming so we decided to head back ahead of the storm. We didn't make it. Just as we hit a stretch of the Coastal highway that has parkland on both sides with no shelter at all for about 8 miles, we hit a wall of water, high winds, and lots of lightning. I had ridden in the rain before, but I had always had a jacket on, so neither one of us realized how much raindrops hurt at 50 mph. We slowed down to a speed that didn't hurt any more and found a Coast Guard Station, pulled in and ran onto the porch of the barracks, followed by about 30 other bikes.
The wife was wearing a yellow spaghetti strap shirt without a bra that at this point was completely see through, as were most of the shirts of all the other women, since none of them had any gear on as well. Being bikers, everyone noticed the wifes' shirt, as well as a few other ladies that were not wearing bras, and after a little coaxing we had our own wet t-shirt contest and lots of flashing for about an hour. There was some construction going on across the parking lot with a Porta-John, so we all had a good time.
Since the temperature had dropped about 20 degrees, it was a cold, miserable ride back to the hotel, but it was one of the most fun and memorable rides we have had.
Now, we never ride without all of our gear, and check the forecast before we head out.

[SAHTT]

Probably hail. I'd say extremely heavy rain is actually the most difficult to ride in due to visibility. It probably happens about twice a season, normal rain has no effect on me.