Yep, its winter. And that usually means rain.
Rain, when it’s falling, can obscure your vision.
Rain creates traction problems as it acts as a lubricant between your tyres and the road.
You’ll likely feel cold and, if your gear isn’t up to scratch, wet. You’ll likely be miserable.
Rain is a bugger.
Prepare
First, you can help prepare to ride in the wet by considering your clothing. Make sure your jacket, pants and boots are waterproof. Not showerproof, waterproof. If you travel at any sort of speed water will find leaking seams, holes, or a thousand other ways to get into your clothing.
Wear warm clothes under your jacket and pants. Consider a balaclava. Wear a scarf. Do what your mum calls rugging up.
Clean your visor. There are treatments that will make the water bead and blow away. There are visors with anti-fog inserts. You can treat your glasses so they don’t fog up, or are less likely to.
The ride
It goes without saying there is less grip in the wet. It’ll be easier to spin the wheels on takeoff, and easier to lock the wheels when braking. The bike will want to slide more when you are cornering.
The first thing to remember is to be smooth. Smooth applications of power, brakes and steering inputs will help maintain grip. Keeping the bike as upright as possible will also help. So, rather than staying in one spot, moving your body weight is important. Remember, however, to be smooth.
You’ll probably use straighter lines than in the dry, keeping the bike upright for braking and acceleration will do that. Don’t use as much of the road as you would in the dry, the edges are usually dirtier or covered in debris. The centre might have oil and other contaminants floated from the surface and sitting on top of the wet. Wheel ruts (yes, they occur in well-used bitumen) can fill with water.
Enter corners slower, it will give you more time to react. If it’s all good, you’ll be upright sooner and able to open the throttle (smoothly, did I mention the key is to be smooth?).
Modern tyres are amazing and offer much more grip in the wet than they used to. Be smooth, and let them work their magic.
Oh, and look out for white lines and steel manhole covers. They offer no grip. Don’t forget your boots probably have smooth soles, so be careful when stopping. Putting your weight down on the white line on a wet road is “exciting”…