Advice: Riding in the rain

A colleague of mine, suiting up outside a caffeine palace in central Victoria for the next leg of whatever ride we were on, blurted, "Rain is our friend. I like riding in the rain" Hearing this, I gently backed away and avoided making eye contact - hoping he wouldn't suddenly run feral and bite me.

In hindsight, I reckon he was right. Sort of. Of the rides which really stick out in my memory as being truly thrilling, many have involved difficult circumstances, like it being isolated and dark, on unpredictable roads, or in the rain.

I never really got to analyse this until Ed Snag got on his patented soapbox and demanded a feature about riding in the wet. So here goes!

Looks dodgy
So what gives you grip in wet conditions? Contact between the rubber of your tyres and the road surface. The channels in the tread of your tyres, allied with the rough surface of tarmacadam, leaves gaps for the water to be squeezed out of the way. If a sheet of water succeeds in getting between the road and your rubber, the tyre literally skis across the water - this is called aquaplaning.

It's more common for cars, with their bigger and flatter contact patch on the road, but can happen on bikes. I can't recommend trying it, but can pass on what it feels like. Imagine that your tyres have been instantly replaced with ball bearings, and your bike has just become a supermarket trolley in the carpark of life. You have absolutely no control and the best you can hope for is that things sort themselves out before anything solid gets in the way.

A tip here: If you find yourself aquaplaning, the best thing you can do is just sit there. Don't steer and don't brake, as either of those will guarantee a crash. Just sit and hope - you'll be surprised how good motorcycles are at sorting things out for themselves. In fact ace AMT motorcycle trainer Steve Brouggy will tell you that motorcycles are inherently stable and are happiest when left alone.

So you want to avoid the worst? Here's rule Number One: If it looks slippery, it is. Mirror-like surfaces on wet roads are poison and I don't care how sharp your skills are, or how grippy the tyres - slick is just slick.

Right, having gotten over that, let's have a squiz at some of the clues you should be looking for on the road. Painted and metal surfaces are poison. As is the centreline of your lane, because that's where the rest of the traffic dumps oil. You should always ride in one of the wheel tracks, almost regardless of the conditions, because they're swept clean by other people's tyres. The only exception is the odd polished patch (usually a surface repair), which can make the centre track a better option.

You also need to understand what happens when it rains. If the dump is the first after a long dry spell in that area, the road is literally being washed of the ingrained oil and deisel which will form a nice little slick. Time to slow down and just live with it.

If it's been raining for a while, the tarmac will have been washed clean and supply a surprisingly high level of grip. In those conditions, a course tar surface will always provide more grip than a super-smooth one - or concrete.

Now for a couple more clues. Is the road cambered? If not, it won't drain and aquaplaning becomes likely. Is there a hill or cliff on one side of the road? If so, it's likely that there'll be somewhere around the next bend where the drainage isn't working and soil, bits of tree, rocks et al are being washed across the road.

Are you in a farming district or logging area? Look for paddock gates and side-tracks - that's where the road will have nice thick patch of mud and dung dropped by the beasties and machinery being moved from one paddock to another across the road.

By now you should be getting the impression that this is not rocket science. Good observation is the key.

Let's just quickly examine creek crossings. There's plenty of them across Oz, even on tar roads. If they're flooded, the rule is, regardless of the type of vehicle, stop and try walking through it first. What looks shallow will always be much deeper than you thought, and might be running an impossibly strong current. If you reckon you can make it, just amble through slowly - splashing water into the ignition system midstream can be both embarrassing and expensive. Always start the crossing on the upstream end, in case the current pushes you across - this is no time to be fussy about sticking to your own side of the road.

Scout creed?
Okay, the uniform is a tragic fashion statement, but the scout creed of "be prepared" has a lot going for it. A bike with decent preparation will increase your chances 200 percent. Nothing fancy, just plenty of tread, good brakes, reliable running and an overall package you can trust. The reasoning is that you should be concentrating on your riding, and any distraction is an additional risk.

You could say the same for the rider. Alert, in riding gear that you're comfortable with - this may sound petty, but feeling like shite in cranky conditions is just asking for it to turn pineapple-shaped.

Getting back to the bike, you need no special preparation. Run normal tyre pressures, suspension settings, and make sure the chain is well-lubricated. The latter will suffer in the wet, with a constant washing from an interesting mix of water and road grime.

Make a note to clean the toy after the ride, as the inevitable crap that's sprayed over the front of the powerplant hobbles its cooling ability. Besides, if you let the muck bake on, it becomes a lot harder to remove.

Trust me
This is time to trot out the guaranteed Guido theory on motorcycles: "In 99 percent of cases the motorcycle can and will out-ride you." So trust it. It's a tough theory to get your head around - until you overcook a corner and decide not to panic-brake but wash off speed and tip in harder. Even in the wet.

Just as a quick aside, let's pretend you've gone hooting into a turn way too fast. You have two choices: 1. Try to stop; 2. Make the turn. Option One usually means you have to stop the bike in a distance even Mick Doohan couldn't achieve, before you bundy off into the scenery. This means you have absolutely no chance of making it.

Option Two is to wipe off as much speed as possible and just keep tipping in, no matter if you think the mount can cope. Risky? Yep, but it generally works and I've yet to hear of a better option. (Other than not stuffing up in the first place.)

I reckon the wet reduces your grip by anything from 20 to 70 percent, depending on the patch of road. The low end of the scale - which is most common - would be a lot less than many motorcyclists suspect and leaves a lot of margin when you consider that most people rarely ride anywhere near the outer edges of the machine's performance envelope.

Which is a verbose way of saying that you have a lot more grip than you might suspect, in most cases, though water makes things a lot more unpredictable. Like traffic. Is it just me, or does it seem as though a lot of city drivers seem to get more impatient when it rains?

Riding tips? Observation is 70 percent of it. Look a long way ahead - many folk tend to look at the patch of road just in front of the bike, which is way too late as you're going to run over it anyway. Another 20 percent is being smooth - firm but gentle on all the controls. Watch a wet GP race some time and you'll see the leaders can drag their knees in the wet, but they're working a ballet technique, avoiding the usual violence.

And the other 10? That's what you keep in reserve - in the trust account. Good luck. Although now you're prepared and may not need it quite so much.

Scout's honour...