Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique Late winter/early spring riding guidance???

Here in CT, Friday lots of rain expected. However, Saturday the weather could be sunshine and 50 degrees. TBA has been calling for a good ride since unusaully warm January day of 70 degrees. This brings up a good point that more experienced riders may have knowledge of, each season has particular road hazards summer overflowed antifreeze, molten pavement, fall acorns or other tree debris on road way. However as this will be my first spring to ride some advice from the experts would help. How bad might spring road conditions be. I have seen some streets covered in sand. Also water from snowmelt or stream runoff cascading across roads. Any other items to be concerned about? Some guidance would be helpful. Keep to the main roads? Or just wail till the road crews complete street sweeping? A fun ride is not worth a spill.

Potholes are among the highest spring hazzard around here, also left over sand watch for this at intersections on the back roads especially.

Good advice Jack. There are some potholes out there that could swallow a front wheel.
It's probably best to stay to main roads and ride the center of the lane where it's cleaner. Also, you may not want to push the bike or yourself. Some riding skills may be rusty as well. Be sure to give your bike a good once-over before you go for a ride.

The only bad news is you'll probably need to wash the bike when you get home.
Enjoy & ride safe!

sand sand sand sand!!!! can't say it enough. at least the state moved forward this year and stopped using sand on the state roads but the town roads are sandy and wet. not saying wait until they sweep in april, just be careful.
enjoy
mike

The rain will wash off a lot of sand, but it may also create some washout, or like little sandbars at intersections. Maybe even take the cage out friday night and check out your favorite road ahead of time.

Once you have all the road hazards imbedded in your mind, remember this as well: the cage drivers won't be expecting you to be on the road this time of year.

Concentrate on smoothness, which is helped by good foward planning, brought on by reading your visual limit. The more warning you get from good foward observations, the better your ride will be, using the engine as an excellent extra & safe brake. There are a great number of excellent tips in the riding techniques section too. I ride through UK winter when not falling off and smoothness for me is the key

For us in MD, there are piles of gravel at every turn. Very treacherous. A few good, hard rains usually take care of the problem but proceed very cautiously.
I find my awareness skills have decreased. In January, during one of those crazy warm days we had, I nearly rode through a intersection where I did not have the right of way. Fortunately the cage driver saw me and stopped, must have been thinking I was nuts. Thats the kind of stuff that drives up our mortality rates...

Sand, salt, sand, salt, sand, rusty skills, oblivious cage drivers, sh!ty roads, oh yeah and sand...just take it easy you, your bike, your surroundings, your fellow road users, are ALL in need of a skill sharpening and respect...

oh yeah be carefull of that "first ride of the season" smile...it can be hard to remove at times...so try not to ride to a funeral or other event where your inability to "wipe that sh!teating grin off of your face" might be considered in bad form.

The only issues we have around here now is making sure we stock up on sunscreen and or sun tan oil. Wally world here in Tucson stocks their shelves heavy starting in March.

This is why I champion learning on a dirt bike. If you learn on dirt, all these hazards are familiar.

But....hitting gravel on a familiar road in good weather at speed in a corner unexpectedly is a dream I dont want to live in.

its the unexpected stuff like that that can make statistics of us all.

Just took a 15 mile spin late this afternoon. Temps in the high 50's here in MD today. LOTS of gravel, had to be very cautious. We also still have large piles of melting snow, but I stayed dry.

Did ride today, a little cool at 11:00 am but by the time I got to East Hartford temp was 57, nice. There was lots of ice melt cascading across roadways, less on the slab. Quite a lot in Rt 8 north of Thomaston, CT. Stuck to main roads so not too much sand now that the state of CT uses sodium or calcium chloride (or something like that) to treat road surfaces. Was real nice to get out for the day. Clean up was not too bad either. There was lots of chloride wash on TBA, a little window cleaner on exhaust pipes, and plastic cleaner on fenders took care of the problem nicely. NOW when will I get to go out again????? Monday back to he deep freeze here in CT. But it sure was nice for the day.

The roads will be in crap condition. There will be road crews hiding around every turn working on that and, when they move to the next bend, they will leave behind fresh oil, gravel and sand.
Wildlife and loose pets will be out in abundance. So will the bicycle people, proving once again that those silly looking tight black pants cut off the circulation to your good sense.
Water running across the road will usually not cause any problems other than the buildup of a sand or gravel hump at the edges. You will be OK as long as you remember the slippery road rule, "never do anything suddenly". If your state salts roads in the winter, be sure to wash your bike thoroughly as soon as you get home, paying particular attention to the underside and inside the mudguards.

I don't think this was mentioned yet - but watch out for the cagers! They are not used to having to share the road with bikes this early, be extra aware! They are not looking for you.

Yeah, what Pat said...

i found out saturday that whilst spraying my snowblower with silicon i also sprayed my back tire. had a couple of "clenched" moments til the silicon wore off.

You want to talk clenched moments, I forgot to tighten the axle nut after adjusting the chain. And then when I figured out why the bike wasn't handling, I didn't have a wrench with me.

Jonathan,

Rod made a very good point about reading the road. always do your best to be aware of what is going on; front, back, left and right.

this is the ideal time of year to hone road reading skills. approaching a turn or intersection covered with sand will affect how you choose to navigate the turn or stop. if it's a stop at a sandy spot; remember that when you move along. if you need to avoid a sandy patch; do you have a palce to move to?

really the same kind of stuff we deal with at high season. like coming onto the slab after a summer rain to find oily stripes miles long.

caution, smarts and of course smiles...

Always Check you brake light before you ride. My buddy had his burn out last spring and nearly got rearended. Luckily he saw the guy coming and pulled forward and out of the way.

Check everything, You never know when something as simple as air pressure or lights could cause you to go down. Be aware and have fun!

I'm putting LED brake/runnning light on my hard bags so if I do burn out a tail light I will still be visible from the rear. I am also wiring them to an unused fuse for further redundancy. Getting rear ended scares me worse than anything.

If I am in the outside lane, I plan my escape to the left if a driver is not slowing. Several times in my truck I've had drivers go onto the shoulder on the right if they were coming too fast and I was stopped.

Very good point! I check my tire pressures often, but I don't check all light functions prior to riding off. It wouldn't take but a few seconds and it would be a very good habit to get into.