Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Worst weather you've ridden in???

[Howard]

Three years ago heading from Andorra to Barcelona on the Friday before the G.P. we thought we'd be safe arriving in Barcelona around 7.00 p.m. as our hotel was on Las Ramblas and the traffic should have subsided a bit by then.

We got a bit lost on the way in and the traffic was appalling - I think Spanish rush hour must be around 7.00 p.m. on a Friday! The temperature signs outside the pharmacies were telling us it was 35 to 38 degrees. The temperature guage on the ST was showing over 120. I had to stop at the side of the road to puke as the heat was really getting to me.

When we reached the hotel I found that mt inner thighs had cooked nicely in their own sweat and resembled a boiled ham. Two weeks later all the skin peeled off.

It doesn't have to be cold and wet to be bad

[MARTIN H]

Col du Galibier a few years ago returning from South of France where we had endured temperatures of about 40c As we got about halfway up the snow started and got worse and worse until the road was covered, it was very very cold and wet. And very scary as just at the very edge of the road are very long drops down the mountain, soaked to the skin wearing a Bks one piece suit that was full of those little holes for ventilation and summer gloves. What made it scarier still is that year I had gone on a Honda Blackbird with the linked braking system so everytime I used a little rear brake the front came on as well which was no fun on snow. A few hundred metres from the top is a cafe where we stopped to thaw out, by the cafe is a little tunnel about 70 metres long that takes you to the other side of the top of the mountain, it goes without saying that the tunnel was closed and we had to carry on right to the very top before slowly descending the other side. I have never been so unhappy whilst sat on a motorcycle.

[BDG]

A couple of exampleas at opposite ends of the spectrum.

The first was coming over the Pas de la Casa from Andorra back to France in a blizzard, we stopped for a minute for a quick breather and a local also stopped and said the pass was closed and we wouldn't get over, but we just had.

All the cars were fitting snowchains and the snowploughs hadn't been over yet. By some miracle i didn't drop the bike but my mate binned his twice.

The scariest and worse incident was off roading in the Sahara desert in a sandstorm, visiblity was all of about 20 feet if that. Thank God for GPS as you couldn't see a thing. Without that we would have had to sit it out for several hours as we would never have found the bivouac and its a big place to get lost. Even with GPS it was hard work keeping the bikes together and i was more than a little worried. (polite understatement for *****ting myself). The complete lack of vision whilst being sand blasted was not nice.

There was also a little incident of being stranded on a ridge in the desert overnight after a massive storm and flash flood (only happens once every 10 or 20 years according to the locals) turned the valley into a river, and the ridge into a small island, but that wasn't riding it was just marooned. When the water went down a bit the next day the bikes were floated to shore on a raft made of inflated inner tubes and sand ladders from a Land Rover.

[kwikbitch]

Last nights weather was EXCELLENT to ride in...scary as hell...but I love that tickle in the tummy feeling anyway.
The worst weather was last year trundling down to Gunthorpe south Notts and just "hitting" a sheet of THICK fog with about 5 metres visibility. Couldn't see a thing and was on my own...great fun tho! It's all experience!

[madmav]

coming back from the Alps 3 weeks ago ! pi55ing down with rain !

sitting at 140mph on the motorway, when the rear tyre lit up! rev counter maxed out and i **** myself!,mmmmmmmmmmmm standing water eh?

[phoenix n max]

Last year - some god awful storm I rode through on my way to Lincoln- tipped about 6 inches of water out of me boots-couldn't see a thing due to spray and rain and my leathers took 4 days to dry - not nice.
Other than that -8 the first winter I passed my test - blimey was it cold - I could hardly get off the bike when I got back - frozen stiff you might say!

[ericthered40]

Originally posted by ericthered40
Slightly overcast

And one time I think it was slightly chilly