Worst Rides

Something Len posted in another thread got me thinkin'. And, I didn't want to  that one.

What's the worst ride you've ever done? All of us here have ridden or been riding for a number of years. And I'm going to assume that each one of us have had at least one bad ride. You know, one that you look back on and thank God that it's over and swear to never do again. I'll go first.

This past year, I had a good friend from BACA pass away and the service was to be held up in Navarre. It was around February so it was a bit chilly up there. I and several of my brothers and sisters rode up to attend the funeral service. Now, I don't do much riding in cold weather so my gear is good only down to around 50 degrees for any length of time. As we left Central Florida, it was a comfortable 60 or so. However, the further north we went, the colder it got and quickly. It's an eight hour ride and by the time we got there, temps were hovering in the low 40's. Now, we checked into the hotel, thawed out and crashed.

The service was the next day so we were staying local and then leaving the following morning. Well, surprise surprise, the weather forecaster lied and temps stayed in the low 40's for the day we were there and were in the low 30's the morning we left to head back north.

Most all of us, 8 or so, just weren't geared for that kind of cold so we were stopping every hour or so and spending 20-30 minutes warming up. That was a double edged sword because when I'd get back on the bike and get going again, I'd spend the next 20 minutes shivering uncontrollably before I could relax enough to stop. 6 hours of that before finally hitting I-75 and heading south. The ride home took an additional 4 hours because of all the stops. I'll continue to say, I will ride in cold, I'll ride in rain, I won't ride in cold rain and, after that run, I won't ride in cold taht is lower than the gear I'm wearing can handle.

Eric I was riding with Fred, Doc and others in NC a couple summers ago.  It had gotten warm so I was down to my t-shirt when we left Cherokee.  We hit the Blue Ridge Parkway gaining altitude for about an hour.  When we stopped we were on top of a mountain and it was 50 deg.  I was riding the Triumph with no protection from the wind.  Didn't think I would ever get warm again.  That was the coldest I have been while riding.

when I first moved up to hale , i was still working down state , rode my 66 full dresser back and forth , many of days i would hit into rain or fog , it was a 5 hr round trip , some days on the eway , when it was raining or foggy it would make for a very bad trip , white knuckle stuff , truckers were my worst thing to deal with , ya couldn't see after they flew by ya , sometimes i would end up on the side of the road befor i regained control of the bike , windshield was a mess to try and see thru

I was a young buck riding the same 61 HD. I used to hang out with an old fella that owned a Triumph dealership in Markleysburg ... up in the Summit Mountains. I loved to listen to his stories and he hated my HD. One night after I closed shop with him I headed down the mountain. Three miles of winding two lane. I was bout a quarter mile into the decent when my headlight went out. It was pitch black and no other traffic. I figured I was either going to ride off the road to my left and over the mountain .... or off to my right and into the side of the mountain. I geared down and started braking when I felt the gravel under my wheels ... figured I was going to buy the farm. I said a quick prayer and damned if the light didn't come back on. Well me and Jesus have been best friends ever since. I traded that bike for a Triumph Tiger 750 at old Art's shop the next week. I would have done it sooner but I had to wait for old Art to get back from bike week. He was 72 and rode his Trident all the way to Daytona.  

Great stories all! Patty and I left Pensacola for Shreveport on our wing and pulling a trailer. We rode though EIGHT storms (read monsoons) before we got there. That was a long prayer and pucker day.

I've had two, not including the one I wrecked on (That was a good ride, until the end), The first one was my first "long" ride. Three of us from my squadron rode from NAS Lemoore, CA to NAS Fallon, NV, about 400 miles. It was spring and there was no threat of storms in the extended forecast. We all had summer/spring gear and it seemed that was all we would need. The ride up was spectacular! Riding over the Sierras with snow on both sides of the road while it is in the mid 50s is the most beautiful thing I have seen riding. Now fast forward two weeks and it is time to ride back. A cold front passed through the day before the ride home. It dumped another foot of snow in the mountains and dropped the temperature by 25 degrees. We went out to the bikes at about 5am and had to brush off all of the frost that had accumulated throughout the night. After that we went back inside to thaw and put on more clothes. I wore long johns, Levis, riding pants, rain pants on the bottom and a thermal undershirt, long sleeved tee shirt, jacket, and rain jacket on the top. For gloves I had some thermal liners and we used some of those rubber gloves the maids use for cleaning over the liners and my gloves over those. I had a hard time closing my hand with all that on! We made it about 30 miles before we had to stop. We pulled into a McDonalds and had breakfast while the sun came up. It was still 30 degrees. We left from there and made it another 40 miles before we stopped and did the defrost evolution once again. As we rose into the mountains, all we could see was a huge cloud bank ahead and I thought, uh oh snow. As we got to the clouds, sure enough, there was snow. I was just thinking about calling it quits when the clouds parted and we could see nothing but blue sky ahead. It was smooth sailing after that. There were several more stops to shed layers but we made it back without incident.
The second one was much shorter. I was riding to work, 22 miles one way, it was cold, about 27 degrees. I had good cold weather riding gear so I was not worried about that. My only concern was fog. I'm sure some of you have heard of or experienced the fog we get here in the central valley of California, but, if not I can assure you, it is THICK and no fun to ride in. Well I always look out my window before I leave to check for fog. If it is there, I drive the truck and if not, I ride. There was no fog this day. I geared up as normal and headed off to work. The VTX always liked running in the cold, after it was warmed up of course, and I was enjoying the ride, of course. Seven miles into my ride I hit a fog bank, Crap! Only this was no ordinary fog, this was 27 degree fog, also known as freezing fog. As I rode, ice started accumulating on my visor and was getting hard to wipe off. It is not unusual to have to open your visor a crack to keep it from fogging up when riding in heavy fog so I opened it up. I now starter to get ice forming on the inside of my visor. I had to pull over and clean my visor so I could see three times on that 22 mile ride. My glasses even iced up on me at one point, luckily I did not need them badly to see. When I finally made it to the hangar, I had a full quarter inch of ice on every leading edge of me and my bike. The ride home was awesome!

Good thread Eric!
My half-brother, two others and myself left north Alabama back in Sept. 2007 on a Friday headed to Chattanooga to do the Trail of Tears Ride. I had viewed the weather ahead of time and mentioned we should leave Thursday evening, even if we had to wait in a Waffle House or 2 a few hours before motel check in and the bad weather Friday but it did no good.
So we leave out in slow rain and a quarter of the way getting into what I called, "the spin-off of a hurricane" (Hurricane Dean?). We stopped in a heavy down pour with 15 mph winds or so and Bobby which was kind of the captain said we can make it. I said, "let's try and wait it out" but we took out again. We stopped under an underpass and I was so cold I was shaking like a crystal-meth addict running a 90 lb. jackhammer. 
When we made it to Chattanooga, the storm was over and the sun came out. I could pour water out of my boots at the motel.
I will NEVER ride in that kind of conditions again, I will pull over.

GoldwingDave wrote:Good thread Eric!
My half-brother, two others and myself left north Alabama back in Sept. 2007 on a Friday headed to Chattanooga to do the Trail of Tears Ride. I had viewed the weather ahead of time and mentioned we should leave Thursday evening, even if we had to wait in a Waffle House or 2 a few hours before motel check in and the bad weather Friday but it did no good.
So we leave out in slow rain and a quarter of the way getting into what I called, "the spin-off of a hurricane" (Hurricane Dean?). We stopped in a heavy down pour with 15 mph winds or so and Bobby which was kind of the captain said we can make it. I said, "let's try and wait it out" but we took out again. We stopped under an underpass and I was so cold I was shaking like a crystal-meth addict running a 90 lb. jackhammer. 
When we made it to Chattanooga, the storm was over and the sun came out. I could pour water out of my boots at the motel.
I will NEVER ride in that kind of conditions again, I will pull over.

       

As I picked up my car tire for the bike I remembered getting caught in a snow storm. It wasn't supposed to snow till that. Night so I chanced taking the bike. The heavy snow came in about 2 in the afternoon so I went home a little early. Halfway home I was 'snowmobiling' in 2 inches of snow. My front tire was my rudder and my feet kept me vertical. That Goodyear TT205-60-16 really came through. I was going up and down hills in second gear with much prayer and pucker. It was kinda strange. There was a white car or truck in front of me or behind me all the way home. It seemed like a sign from God, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Good thread Eric indeed.

Dino, I can't count how many rides I've started out on with the thought "It wasn't supposed to snow rain till that. Night so I chanced taking the bike."    

The only time it really gets me bad is in the winter. At least here I just have to worry about cold rain and not snow.

About 5 years I rode from Lake City Fl. to Dade City Fl. on I75 in the edge of a hurricane moving in. High winds and pounding rain. It wasn't cold but 70mph. on the Interstate was a challenge.