First rainy day ride (photo intensive!)

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but I did my first rain ride today and brought the camera with me. I posted this on a local forum as well, so if you already saw it, sorry!

I was working in San Mateo today, so I rode today to see how it was commuting in the rain since it was a short commute (5 miles). I took El Camino Real. It was all good, took it real easy as it is really my first day riding in the rain.

I got an email early in the day that our office was closing at 1:00. I had to finish a project so I got out around 1:30. I headed home, put my leathers on, my regular raingear, some metal on the iPhone and headed to the hills to see what it was like riding up there in the rain.

First stop was the Chevron in Woodside. I took Canada there so I could avoid 280, not ready for rain and freeways yet. Next I headed up Kings Mountain Road towards 35. Here are a few shots. I love it up there when it is rainy!
I learned a lot today. It was a really fun ride. The most challenging thing was seeing. I hit some really heavy pockets of fog and at some points my helmet would either get steamed up or just get all gunky on the outside. Once I gave it a good cleaning at STP I was pretty good to go for the rest of the ride.

This is at the bottom of KMR:







I spent about 15 hours over the weekend working on the bike, and about 5 or 6 of that was cleaing it. oh well.



Gorgeous


When I hit the top I made a left and headed towards Alice’s. Stopped at Skeggs Point




Next stop was STP for my usual Mocha.


As soon as I arrived there a Sheriff Deputy went by with his lights / siren on down 84 towards Woodside I think. A few minutes later a Fire Truck came by, but another Deputy waved him off.



So they went over to Alice’s


...

 

I decided to head back to KMR for the ride back down. Stopped at Bear Gulch



Changed my mind and headed towards 92 instead of go straight down KMR to see if the fog was low enough for any shots. It was!


I got a bit muddy climbing up to get the shot though.


Guess I will be washing the bike again over the weekend.




Went back to KMR, by this time it was getting dark and make my way back to the bottom. Saw one moto on the ride, coming up KMR as I was going down.
Mark

 

Man, That is Absolutely Awesome! Those are some really great pics!

SilverSurfer and I will be heading down that way to attend the Doc Wong riding class on the 7th of December. Send me a pm if you would like to attend also. It would be nice to meet you and go for a ride.

 

Thanks, it was a blast. I'm no photographer, just like to take snapshots to tell a story.

I'm taking my kids horseback riding on the 7th

I grew up in Sebastopol and lived in SR for a couple of years. I'll be up your way on my bike soon!

Mark

 

Very cool, Mark! Make sure you let me know when you head up this way!

 

nice pictures.....noticed in one of your pics you have a gamin looks like a great size and must be water proof what model are you using and how do you like it?

 

I use that thing for everything. Freedive spearfishing, SCUBA diving, bicycling, walking, motorcycling, skiing and so on.

It is the 76Cx. It is indeed waterproof, it is the 1 meter for 30 minutes standard, which basically means it is splashproof, I've heard you shouldn't push the buttons while it is wet. It did lock up on the ride, not sure if that is why. It is only the 2nd time or so in a year that it has locked up.

You need to add maps to it, so that can be expensive. I added a BlueChart (Ocean Navigation) map for a bit over 100 bucks, the street map for about the same price I think, A topo map for 80 bucks, and a ski resort map for about 30 bucks.

It calculates routes fairly slowly. It does have the SiRF chip which is important for getting a signal in cover, but doesn't matter much on the ocean. It is pretty easy to use on the bike. Rechargeable batteries last a couple of days when I don't use the backlight. I don't ride at night much so I don't use the backlight much, but I will be hard wiring power to the bike when I get a chance.

It is mounted with a RAM-MOUNT. I have the base on each of my motorcycles and my bicycle so I can just swap it out from vehicle to vehicle.

I wish I had purchased the model up, the 76CSx I believe. It has an altimeter and a magnetic compass I think.

Garmin has a new set of handhelds out, called the Oregon I believe. They have touch screens. Not sure how well they would work with gloves on. I believe they come with some maps already.

Mark

 

Nice, good to see it rains down there too.

 

Shhh, it was really a heavy mist. We call those thundershowers down here :ncb:

 

i enjoyed your pics, you're pretty handy with a camera.

nice composition in a couple of those shots.

bless the white bikes for they get cleaned....often.

keep em coming!

 

Thanks for all that great info! ill have to check them out for sure. i just want something that i can easily down load my own ride plan into it from pc and @ the same time suitable for MC

 

I do like that I can manage it from my PC and quickly load the data to the device. Creating complicated routes tends not to work very well. What I typically do is create a group of waypoints and then just route to them in the order I want to go. I also keep the detailed California map in it so I can find most anything. You can keep a lot of data on a 2GB mini-SD card!

It is also nice to be able to put your track (where you went) in your computer, then have it show in Google Earth. You can also compare times for specific routes. It also has a speedometer and clock both of which are very accurate.

Mark

 

Lovin it, my first 4 months on the street was in the rain. I was gonna mention about your iPhone I have a rain proof, water resistant case on mine maybe you should check out the otter box defender series. http://www.pencomputing.com/images/otterbox_defender_iphone.jpg
Min is the black one. I do cell phones for a living and ride in the rain with mine on my belt never an issue or worry.
Beautiful pics, makes me wanna go ride even thoagh its rainin here.

 

after looking at your bike it is amazing how beautiful it is. Honda got lost with design ideas for 6th gen.
Your gen is arguably best looking.Clean lean lines.Love it

 

Thanks.

Sort of like Chevy. The 67 / 68 Camaro was perfect. Why did they have to mess with it?

 

Vary nice pictures.