Rain Gear Test

[fakebikerdude59]

Against all common sense I decided to ride the Nomad this morning on my weekly jaunt between Tacoma and Bellingham, WA. It's about 135 miles straight up I-5. I usually leave by 4am to beat the Seattle traffic and often ride in the dark and rain on the way up.

The forecast was for heavy rain showers along the route and when I checked the 3:30 am radar is showed heavy showers to the south, moving northward, and light rain along the route north. Figured I could outride the heavy stuff, so set out at 4:02am in full rain gear (Cheap Motoboss rain jacket and pants from Cycle Gear, Nelson-Rigg boot covers). Within a mile it was coming down pretty steady and by the time I merged on I-5 it was bouncing off the pavement. Thought about turning around, but by the time I did that and got back on the road in the car, I figured I would have passed out of a locally heavy shower and be OK, so I gritted it out. Long story short, rain was bouncing off the pavement for the next 50 miles, the longest heavy downpour I've been in, although I ride in the rain all the time around here. To add insult to injury, it was still dark and there was lots of spray. I kept my speed between 55 and 60 in the right lane and things pretty much were fine. The weak sunrise was like riding into heaven.

I'm happy to report that my inexpensive gear kept me bone dry...surprisingly so. When I first hit it I was wishing for some of Kris Olsen's Carhartt gear, but I lucked out. I also discovered I don't really need the boot covers as my new hard lowers kept everything dry and toasty down there.

Final observation...no HDs out in that weather. Couple of wings and a crotch rocket or two...and lots of crazy looking stares from people in cars.