...that our weather forecasters SUCK, and unexpectedly getting caught riding in significant snowfall sucks.
I've more or less been riding through the winter whenever the roads were clear enough, and today was no exception, but left an outing tonight to find the parking lot full of snow. Decided to make an attempt at riding home, despite really knowing better, but lost traction and dumped the bike in the parking lot. Lucky we'd doubled back when my rear was slipping out on the main road, or I probably would have been in a much worse situation. The piss-off was that less than a KM away, the roads were pretty much clear of snow and slush, but I know I would have had a very hard time making it that first KM.
As was suggested by a fellow rider/GTAMer, I might've been ok if I'd dropped my tire pressure and had a bigger contact patch. But tonight marks the last time I'll be attempting riding in snow anytime soon.
On a side note, a question for those of you who've ridden in those conditions: I know part of why I dumped it was because I (stupidly, albeit as lightly as possible) used my front brake while trying to stop. The rear was already slipping before that, but would I have had higher chances of keeping the bike upright if I'd either used the rear brake instead, or just allowed the bike to coast to a stop? In hindsight, I was in a parking lot and should've just blown the stop sign, but in this case obeying the "law" probably did me in.
Fun times, at least I've gotten past my first drop with the Wee. Took it like a champ too, I absolutely recommend the crash bars & spool sliders -- they saved the bike from potentially much more significant damage.
I've more or less been riding through the winter whenever the roads were clear enough, and today was no exception, but left an outing tonight to find the parking lot full of snow. Decided to make an attempt at riding home, despite really knowing better, but lost traction and dumped the bike in the parking lot. Lucky we'd doubled back when my rear was slipping out on the main road, or I probably would have been in a much worse situation. The piss-off was that less than a KM away, the roads were pretty much clear of snow and slush, but I know I would have had a very hard time making it that first KM.
As was suggested by a fellow rider/GTAMer, I might've been ok if I'd dropped my tire pressure and had a bigger contact patch. But tonight marks the last time I'll be attempting riding in snow anytime soon.
On a side note, a question for those of you who've ridden in those conditions: I know part of why I dumped it was because I (stupidly, albeit as lightly as possible) used my front brake while trying to stop. The rear was already slipping before that, but would I have had higher chances of keeping the bike upright if I'd either used the rear brake instead, or just allowed the bike to coast to a stop? In hindsight, I was in a parking lot and should've just blown the stop sign, but in this case obeying the "law" probably did me in.
Fun times, at least I've gotten past my first drop with the Wee. Took it like a champ too, I absolutely recommend the crash bars & spool sliders -- they saved the bike from potentially much more significant damage.