Absolute Worst Riding Conditions You Have Endured.

I'll ride with anybody. Doesn't matter if they're a beginner or pro. I enjoy it all.
The worst experiences I've had is not related to weather or location.
It was due to whining guys who don't prepare for the ride.

• No bike prep (Always breaking something)
• Doesn't carry any tools (Well,... I knew you had tools)
• Forgot gear (Can I borrow some goggles) I've done this :)
• Forgot gas (can I borrow some gas)
• Didn't bring water (we live in a desert)
• Didn't bring snacks ( can I have one of your Cliff bars?)
• Complained the entire time. (Sand it too deep, trails are too rutted, there are to many whoops, too dusty, too hot, too cold, trails are too wide, trails are to tight and overgrown and on and on)

Got caught in a blizzard on Beartooth pass on a rented Harley dresser. The storm blew in so fast that by the time I turned around up top and began my ride back to Red Lodge there was at least a foot of snow on the ground and howling winds. This was in early Sept! It took me forever to get down only to find that the gate was closed and the road was shut down. I had to skirt the gate off road in the snow.....on an 800lb Harley. Needless to say, I was puckered!

Was riding north on a holiday weekend and it was bad weather .the further north i went the worse the weather became.At one point i noticed the rain had little hard bits in it...the rain turned to sleet ,then snow.By the time i go t tthe highest point in the trip the road was starting to get covered in snow.I was very very hesitant but i found that the K100rs(was about 1986 or so) handeled the snow well(my theory is the tyres were very good at "cutting through" the snow.After a time i was catching and passing cars.When i stopped for petrol a bit later the whole front of the fairing and the upper part of my Jacket had a layer of powder snow on them. It was that trip that made me realise that BMW know a thing or two about motorcycles.I was quite comfortable behind the fairing with the heated grips

When returning home from honeymoon with 1st ex-wife, we got nailed by a hail storm while riding my Honda CB750. Not really dressed for it (early '70s) either. She was NOT happy.

Austin, Tx. in the '70s was good times, mostly.

"Back in the day" of my youth, I had a CB125S and could get it up to around 60 mph on a flat road, no wind, as I probably weighed about 125 at that point. One afternoon in the summer I rode it 75 miles up into the Black Hills and Custer State Park. Wearing my 3/4 helmet, a windbreaker, and street clothes, as was pretty normal for riders at that time.

Anyhow, got caught out in a very bad hailstorm. Thankfully I kept the helmet on! It sounded to me like hammers hitting it for a long, long time. The rest of me got beat up pretty bad; cold, wet, shivering.

That's not my only foul weather ride but at the time it was certainly the worst I'd encountered.

2006, last year of university, last exam. I had about a week between my second last exam and the last one, so I had moved all my stuff out of my apartment. The mid-April weather was beautiful so I rode my Hawk GT down for the last few days to camp out on the floor and study. When I left the forecast was for more of the same. The day of the exam dawned grey and rainy, and by the time I finished my exam it was about 1 C and sleet. I checked the forecast again and there was snow for the rest of the week. The ride home is only about 2hrs so I put on every piece of clothing I had brought with me, called my dad and told him I was attempting it, told him my route, and set off.

My shitty Joe Rocket outfit soaked through in 10 mins, but once the ice started forming on me it got a bit better. The roads were slick so I could really only maintain 60 km/h at best, riding for extended periods with my left hand on the rear cylinder head. Fortunately at about the half way point there is a Tim Hortons in a small town called Fenelon Falls. I made it there, and when I walked it the door it was like a scene from an old western - all the conversation stopped and everyone looked at me (front half coated in ice, icicles hanging off my helmet, snot glaciers on my face). Several nice people bought me some hot drinks and I proceeded to thaw out. Sat there for nearly two hours. Checked in with dad to give him a status update. He offered to come get me with the truck, but I wisely refused. I asked him to have a fire going for when I got home.

Warmed up, I put on my soaking gear, steeled myself, and went back outside. More of the same, except that now the sanders had been out and so I had the spray to deal with. I ruined my visor wiping that crap off with my glove. And, it had gotten colder, into the negatives for sure. Riding was trickier, and that cylinder head wasn't really that warm. Finally got home, wheeled the bike into the garage, knocked the ice off and went inside and curled up on the floor in front of the wood stove. Stayed there until the next day.

For obvious reasons this thread does not have enough photos so here is my contribution. This was in the Ozarks a couple years ago. I was carrying my teenage son on the Trans-America Trail with all our camping gear on my R1200GS. Pictures never do things justice but it was WET, on street tires, in the mud. (And yes we did crash a time or two).







Although, it is cold rather than wet that is the most insidious. Almost every spring I ride from ABQ to Moab too early and freeze my butt off in between. I am convinced that no amount of insulation will keep you from slowly freezing at 60 mph+ in the cold. You aren't producing enough heat to hold in! Now I am 100% sold on electric gear, it is a godsend.

This X10000000

People wonder why all my rides are now invite only.

Winter 1964. Graduated high school that summer in SF Bay Area. Took a quick "Christmas week break" to ride north on Hiway 101 and go steelheading on the Eel River ... and then check out Humboldt State College. Thought i might go to college there the following year. It fogged, drizzled, rained, poured, hailed, blew, flooded, rained some more ... and then the sky opened up and i saw the end of the earth. At Willets, Ca. i finally decided to turn back ... maybe try the next weekend. Later i read the SF Chronicle the next week about "The Thousand Year Christmas Flood" in the Eel River. Glad i followed my head that evening. There but for fortune (and good luck karma) go you and I.

I remember on the old XT riding on the freeway at night, 50 miles away and my headlight goes out. Burned hot wires to lamp.

Riding home in April on my big trip and in Iowa temps are in the lower 40's. Kinda winter like and need to get up to MN where it's in the 30's. No warmth in sight, not dressed that well either.

Riding from Chicago to Indy in torrential rain in one afternoon. 140 miles, cheap ass rain gear. Ug.

There’s definitely a common theme here:
Young, dumb, unprepared, Ill-equipped, poor planning. Somehow toughed it out and survived.

Most likely the folks who succumbed to hyperthermia along the way aren’t posting about it on here - but it’s still amazing what you can endure when you have to.

In Wisconsin, hot temps in early April and early November are rare, and great to enjoy. But, change quickly always follows, two examples:

Nov 76 (recall the Edmund Fitz?). It was like 70+ warm for my birthday so I enjoyed riding my CB350F on a Friday. Saturday I planned to head 40 miles north to my folks cabin for my brother's birthday. Well, the cold front came through hard with temps in the high 30's and raining the next day. Young and dumb, I put on my thin leather jacket over flannel, gloves on and headed north. Soaked and cold in no time, I kept my hands kinda warm by laying on the fuel tank and grabbing the header with my soaked gloved hand till it started steaming, then switched hands to the other header. I was shivering so hard it was difficult to control the bike. Got to the cabin ok. Put the bike in the van for the ride home.

April 03. It was 80+ so I decided to ride up north for an overnight event. That night in the hotel the weather report said a cold front and potential severe weather Sunday morning. I headed out early on my BMW R1100RS, but found rain and dropping temps ten miles out. Since 76 I have upgraded my riding gear to easily handle the weather. But, when I saw the dark green wall clouds forming I thought, if I see any rotation I'm going for the ditch. Seconds later the first near golf ball hail nailed my helmet. I continued on to Three Lakes WI and at one point HWY 70 was covered white with hail. I stayed in the car tracks ahead of me, let the bike wander as it needed to, rode under a fallen tree leaned over the highway and dodged all sorts of branches and vegetation all over the road after the CAT 1 tornado had passed over. Got there safely.

Hypothermia is even worse

Had a day off after rain halted shearing sheep in rural Hawkes Bay in NZ, so headed off to do some things in town, about 20 miles away. A nor-westerly blew up during the day...... A very strong dry wind, which is always followed by a southerly storm; cold with heavy rain. Riding back to the quarters the wind was a bit of a battle, but nothing I had not experienced before. Copping a bee sting on my cheek on the way, made for some pain, discomfort and swelling...... I was not feeling good but only had another 5 or 6 miles to go.

Coming out of a cutting about half a mile from the quarters it was like hitting a wall. The hills funnelled the wind to such a high speed that riding was impossible. I left the bike on the side of the road, and continued on foot. I could not even stand up in the wind; had to crawl about a 70 yards. I looked a mess when I got home..... Rested up for a few hours, until it tuned southerly, then trudged out in the squalling rain to retrieve my bike.

Have ridden though wind, heat, rain, hail, and snow as well as 200 miles through a winter night to a frosty morning, albeit more so in my youth. Wearing appropriate gear makes it possible, but tend to avoid going out in such conditions these days (living in the tropics for now anyway, where rain tends to come in very heavy, but relatively short storms) but would if I had to. Never before nor since that day have I encountered conditions that were unridable.

OK,
Here are two, where I was not young and dumb or ill prepared.

Coming home from Austin a few years ago, now for those that don't know. Texas doesn't bother to control the rain water in any way with culverts or drainage of any kind. They just post signs to watch for water on the road.
I was trying to make time home (Colorado) because I know snow is coming. It is raining, hard.
I'm having to slow periodically for river running across the highway. At one point I had to stop in a gas station store to check maps. I couldn't just do it under the awning at the pumps, rain was coming in sideways.
About noon my rain gear had decided it did all it could and was now letting the water through.
With the water coming in I was now getting cold. I forget the town, but at about 2 I stopped for lunch and another look at the map. On the route I was on it was an hour to the next town. I had wanted to make it to Albuquerque before stopping for the night, but it wasn't happening.
I knew that with me already being cold and wet another hour in the rain would probably be a bad idea.
So I got a room and spread out all my gear letting each piece take a turn in front of the heater in the room so it would be dry the next morning.
Everything did actually dry over night (probably because overnight started at 2 in the afternoon) and I did make it home the next day before the snow hit.


Earlier this year,
I went up to Walden for lunch. After lunch I want to do a few more miles before heading home so I decided to ride up through Snowy range on the way home.
At first it was pleasant. But not long after heading North it started to rain. No big deal, I've ridden in rain before.
But as I got into the mountains and started to gain elevation it started to get cold.
As I got higher it got colder, as it got colder the rain turned to snow. No big deal at first. But as I continued to climb the colder it got, and as it got colder the snow started to stick to the road.
The front of my bike, myself and my helmet also started to collect snow. I had to ride with the visor cracked open to keep the face shield from fogging up so bad I couldn't see. I had to keep slowing my speed because the road was getting slick. I slowed so much I was pulling over to let cars pass.
I finally made the summit and started down, where thankfully the reverse happened. Snow lightened and turned back to rain.
I stopped for gas in Laramie and got a Hot Coco.
Good news was my new gear worked and kept me dry. But even the heated grips didn't really keep my hands warm. The only thing that helped there was warmer temps at lower elevations.

June 26th of this year. Had a great ride down to the Keys and back to Wi.. Everything was pretty good except the last day of the trip. Pretty severe rain followed me from southern Il. all the way home. What should have been a 6-8 hour day went past 12. Would've thrown in the towel if it wasn't the last push to home. Pic at an overpass doesn't really do it justice. Rain, wind, lightning, hydroplaning, etc. Ralley suit stayed dry however.

I was in Manhattan for a week long convention. Convention closed on Friday afternoon, packed up the booth and our crew went out for a final dinner on the CEO's ticket. We got back to our rooms and I packed my meager kit up and put it in my GL1800 in the parking garage. I woke at 4:30 and beat feet to get the hell out before traffic became insane on the island. I had an uneventful trip across I-80, making good time and rubbernecking till about halfway across Pennsylvania when the clouds thickened. No big deal, zip up the openings in the Roadcrafter, close up the neck strap and prepare for wet. Yeah. The lightning striking the tree to my right just off the freeway convinced me to take a short break under an overpass till the heavy stuff left the area. You just know it was close when the hair stands up everywhere on your body.

My boss shuttled to LaGuardia and flew out to Cincinnati to get home. I beat his traveling time on the bike due to flight delays and layovers going to Michigan on two wheels and I did the tourist thing all the way back to Detroit.

within a time span of 2 hours I went from blizzard conditions in Oregon, to a dust storm in Washington.

Snow


Dust


Some KLR riders having a bad time on ice when they tried to follow some Urals.


Fixing a flat in the snow.

I 95 at night during a torrential downpour, then roadworks on route 3 in the same conditions hitting every pothole without being able to see them in advance.
Visibility so bad only the orange cones were visible and weather so bad the rukka gore tex pants were soaked...

Eastbound on I-10 out of Tuscon, making a fast run to the Chiricahua Mountains. A huge storm came up from the south; all high winds and dust.

On my KLR, the wind was so gusty I could not keep in my lane, and passing trucks sent me into a huge weaving action.

I took the next exit, parked, and stood in the storm for 30 minutes.

Remember guys, discretion is the better part of valor.