Long trip in 100 degrees lessons learned
I am only willing to share this story with you because I hope you all can learn from my mistakes.
So there I was last night a usually very well equipped and experienced motorcycle enthusiast ridding down the interstate damn near blind in the dark in very hard rain at 60 miles an hour with my flashers on with no fuel or working cell phone. I feel like this all changed in a matter of seconds but the truth is I should have been better prepared because I was an accident waiting to happen.
I just got back from an 850 mile each way trip to Panama City Beach, FL this morning. I have made this trip earlier this year in March and it was no problem.
The trip to Panama City beach, FL
I rode 10 hours on Thursday in 85 - 97 degree heat from St Louis, MO to Montgomery, AL with no problems. I finished up Friday morning the last 3 hours which has nice high speed sweepers through back country roads where I can zoom along between 80 and 100 as needed. A really nice fun ride to say the least!!! At one point I passed 10 cars and a truck carrying a house in one pass. Man was I in the zone!!! Please do not do this at home!!! This is not recommended and extremely unsafe. I need to keep myself under control when riding this section in the future.
The trip home tested my endurance to say the least.
I rode the trip home on Sunday from Panama City Beach, FL to St Louis. It was in the mid 90's when I left and was up to 100 degrees for nearly 10 hours of the trip. I had originally planned on stopping in Paducah, KY but I decided to make the whole 13 hour trip in one shot. The last 3 hours would be in the dark so the temperatures would be lower in theory. I had my yellow fuel light come on so I was just turning off to get gas before getting onto highway I-64 for the last 70 miles to my house when the rain of biblical proportions started. I was wearing the Scorpion Transformer helmet as a 3/4 with pull down visor. The visor got rain on both sides immediately and I could not see anything so with the other cars zooming by I could not take the exit to get gas. I pulled over under an overpass and put on rain gear but was already soaked to the bone. I then realized that in my packing I had forgotten the full shield part of my Scorpion EXO-900 Transformer helmet. I have never ridden in the rain without it. I tried switching to sunglasses with the foam but this caused my night time vision to be even worse. After missing the fuel stop exit I was now on I-64 and needed gas ASAP and I could not see anything. I put my flashers on and maintained 60 mph so I would not be run over. I went down the road a few miles and saw the first sign telling me that it was 7 miles to the next exit. I pulled down that exit and there was nothing there at all. I got back on the highway and the next sign a few miles later told me 9 miles to the next exit. In my head while trying to keep the bike upright at highway speed without being able to see anything I was calculating how many miles I had to go before I would run out of gas. I figured that if there was not gas at this next exit I would have to turn around and go back to the exit before I pulled of on I-64 and hope to make it back to the exit on fumes. During the next 9 miles all I could think about how could this happen to someone like me. Here I was at night and I was running out of gas in biblical rain with no cell phone almost 20 miles from where I last saw an exit with gas and people. I forgot to tell you my phone had died an hour before this.
These simple mistakes forced me to pull off and check into a hotel.
Lessons learned:
1. Always have complete rain gear.
I don't know how anyone could ever ride in a heavy rain without a full face helmet. I have ridden for 8 hours in the rain in the past with no problem. The Scorpion EXO-900 Transformer helmet is a great helmet but when transformed into a 3/4 helmet with only the pull down sun visor it will not work in the rain. I had a clear full shield but not the part that connect to the helmet and holds the shield. It had been so hot lately that I had been riding with the 3/4 and the visor. I guess I have been too lucky this year and had not been caught out in the rain this year.
2. Have a means to keep your cell phone charged.
One other mistake I made was not getting my USB charger port installed in the left fairing pocket. I installed it the night before my trip to Panama City Beach, FL in March but it did not work. I had not needed it until this trip and once again it cost time because my Android phone battery does not last more than a few hours when using music and GPS.
3. Always pull over and get gas at a half tank
Hydration Packs also help
Thanks for sharing your story. We've all pushed the limits in one way or the other. I've done a few long distance trips in high heat and just this year bought a
Camelbak hydration pack. I know it's important to stop, stretch and recharge oneself at gas stops but I was surprised how well
the hydration pack worked for keeping me hydrated on the fly. With the pack half filled with ice, it also stayed cold for a long time. One tip for using one is after taking a drink, blow back into it to flush the line of water that would otherwise heat up in the sun.
