Now I always knew that there was a reason that I didn't like riding in the rain. I was reminded of that this evening.
So it was 6:00pm, a little bored, a little sad that my beloved 400 hasn't had a rev for a while, and a little restless. I decide that I'll take her for a spin to "blow the cobwebs out" and grab some fuel. I check the sky and it's very clear. Even the forecast said that the showers were going to be in the afternoon. I figure that I won't be out long and it won't rain.
I firstly headed out down Charles Street toward the city, bearing left off onto "Perth GP" where I end up heading toward Charles Street again, but this time I veer into the tunnel. So I make some noise in the tunnel, gearing down and up, miss the East Parade exit... Ah, I'll get off at Ascot and do "Burswood GP". There are ALWAYS cops there, and as always, two cop bikes are parked up and they had pulled someone over. I tonker around Burswood, opting not to do a U-turn at the roundabout and head back the way I came. I head out towards Victoria Park, take Canning Highway and then follow May Road out towards the South Perth foreshore. 178km on the trip meter, if I'm going to do the "Shelley River Run" I should probably get some fuel. I get into the filter lane to turn off at the BP in South Perth.
"MAAAAYAAAAAAA"
So I look over and there's Robin having a beer with a mate at the Windsor, calling me over. I park up the bike, wander over, have a yarn, express my prediction that it won't rain by saying "nah, those storm clouds would be somewhere over Northam by now", say goodbye, fuel up the bike and head down the Freeway South towards Canning Highway.
At the lights on Canning Highway, I've just turned onto the highway when I feel small droplets on my helmet. A spray. A sprinkle. I think, it'll be okay, its just a shower.
WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH
It starts pelting with rain. And I don't mean a shower, I mean someones done a bomby in the pool and the water is heading straight for ya! I decided to U-turn near McDonalds in Applecross, get lost, nearly get run over to the point where the car has almost locked up, I've come to a halt and we're both just stopped in the middle of the road! Mind you, it was my fault, the deceptive Give Way sign wasn't a one-way thing... The darkness, poor street lighting, recent roadworks, the rain and my general bad navigation didn't help either. Anyway, so things are going pear-shaped for me. I've got at least 15 minutes before I'm home, I've nearly had a prang and I
hate riding in the rain.
Faff it, I'm riding home. I'm not even going to bother waiting this out, I'm already wet and standing around all damp won't do me any favours either. So I get on the Freeway again and crack up laughing. I'm doing 100km/hr in the pouring rain. It's raining so hard that I can't see more than 50m in front of me. The streetlights are lighting up the drops. I can hear the rain on my helmet, the screen and the tank. The tank. I can feel the water streaming onto my jeans. Soaking into the denim. Then soaking into my thermal pants. Now there's water in my jocks. I'm really laughing. There's a stream down under my jeans and its starting to make its way down into my boots. My socks are getting damp. I'm still doing a hundred and basic physics says that if you have a saturated material and run air over it, it will cool down due to evaporation! Yep, it's starting to cool down now. My hands are getting cold. My gloves are soaked. Fingers are getting stiff. It's not too far now...
The heavy rain continues, I keep riding. I finally end up at home, I pull up in the driveway, open the garage door and roll the bike into the yard. I start peeling off my wet gloves, jeans, back warmer, neck warmer, helmet, jacket, jumper, boots, socks... everything is wet! I needed to wring my hair out! I trundle up the stairs in a pair of wet jocks and a tee-shirt. After stripping the rest off I realised that the only thing that didn't get wet was my bra. ^_^
Dad opens the bathroom door, doesn't hear me getting changed and says to mum: "It's pissing down and that idiot has gone out on the bike". Thanks Dad. Mum laughs and dad apologises. He's right though, who likes riding in the rain? I mean, honestly?
So what has this adventure achieved? I don't know, but I hate riding in the rain, and now I'm off for a beer. Can't help but laugh; it stopped raining about a minute after I pulled up at home... its 8:00pm now, and it's still not raining...
Ah well, at least the 400 had a good time.
I wasn't allowed to take any photos whilst there, but I did get to speak to the engineers and a pilot about maintenance and general engineering. Turns out that the engineers there do similar things to what I do with underground drill rigs for mining. The industry is similar in theory, but looking at the workshop there and comparing it to one of ours, it's completely different. Everything is bagged and labelled, the paper-trail is enormous. In the mining industry, everything is ripped off and usually pilfered by someone else. Like assembly of IKEA furniture, there's always too much of one part and not enough of another. *sigh*
