Holy Hail that was Scary....

[Spud]

Yesterday I was on I-15 between Helena and Butte, MT. I'd been riding through a lot of thunderstorms. I see a real nasty looking one ahead but figure I'll just ride through, I'm already wet....

So the rain starts, then the drops get bigger, I drop from about 80 to 70, then the road ahead is suddenly covered in water, I go down to about 55, then like a wall I'm in pea-sized hail, crashing on my helmet, stinging like hell on my hands even with heavy gloves. The road goes from a puddle of water to a puddle of slush to white within about 100 yards.

I keep the tires in a lane made by a car ahead, panic sets in, wondering should I bail off to the side of the road and stop, but I'm on an interstate in next to zero visibility thinking I'll get hit from behind. After probably only less than a minute I'm back into heavy rain, ride out of it.

One of my most hair-raising experiences ever on this bike....surely helped I've got brand new tires on for the ride. I've really learned to trust this bike--the thing is very stable if you don't panic.

 

[Intech]

Wow pretty scary. I bet you have new underwear now too! Good on you for keeping your cool. I only experienced those conditions in a van. Can't imagine on the bike. I have driven it through some pretty nasty weather though. About everything but hail. And that's ok with me. Glad you made it through.

 

[wheatonFJR]

You made the right decision in my mind. Forging ahead in the wheel washed track of the car ahead is preferable to stopping on the shoulder in zero visibility.

 

[FJRBandit]

That's some scary shit Spud! Totally agree that your confidence in the FJR is well founded. NEVER hurts to have new rubber, or at least good rubber. Coupled with the fact you kept your cool and maintained your focus was the key. Thank goodness it stopped hailing not far out ahead.

I've had a couple of pucker factor 10's on the FJR myself that basically I was locked into with no plausible escape. One evening, the wife and I, were caught in a hellaceous downpour on I-75 that was five or six lanes wide in Marietta, GA. The fact my wife was on board with me only served to make the matter that much worse given the thoughts of "I'm going to be responsible for killing my wife" swirling around in my head.

It was approx. 7:30 so the traffic was still heavy, but flowing around 60 mph. When travelling thru high traffic urban areas on the interstate I typically take the far left lane and put myself in the 1 position, closest to the Jersey wall. Well, in this instance, there were various deep puddles building up along the Jersey wall, extending out into the number one lane. The rain was so heavy I could hardly see ahead of me and the panic started setting in as I was clearly having to drive too slow for the flow of traffic. I just knew we were about to be the possum in the headlights of an approaching 18 wheeler.... We NEEDED to get off the interstate! My option was to move to the right and get off one of the many exit ramps. But the fact there were numerous exits only added to the problem, because that meant there were numerous on ramps as well, leading to more and more merging traffic to negotiate. Fortunately, the wife and I were connected through radio headsets and she was able to spot for me to move over to the right to finally reach an exit ramp, all the while I was holding on for dear life pushing forward. In hindsight, really the only option we had was to not have been on the road at the time. But who knew??? It was just one of those freaky situations we all find ourselves in sometimes. Just having the confidence knowing that the FJR is the capable machine that it is allows you to somewhat keep your cool and do what needs to be done.

 

[GalaxyBlue]

I remember riding in a similar storm during SFO in arkansas... I was headed back to Eureka Springs when a TORNADO was running the highway just ahead of us. Hail, debris, extreme winds... that sucked. and hurt.

 

[Spud]

FYI I'm running a new set of Pirelli Angel ST's (190/55 on back). So far so good, they seem to stick VERY well in the wet, but honestly I think all of the new tires do (bridgestone, avon, michelin in my experience).

 

[Big Sky]

Spud, I came through the same storm last night - 5:15 at Billings. Fortunately(?) I was driving my wife's Corolla. Had to talk to the insurance adjuster this morning. The Billings Gazette reported hail just under three inches in diameter (a little smaller than a baseball), which would be deadly. Also, funnels were spotted and one touched down. I know I was being pelted by golf-balls. I thought I was going to lose the glass on the passenger side. Instead, just several dozen dimples in the sheet metal. I have lived in Montana and North Dakota most of my life and have never seen hail like that. LOUD!

 

[Spud]

Wow--I guess I'll consider myself lucky that it wasn't that bad where I was--That would be a disaster on a bike!

 

[PapaUtah]

2010 riding out through Nebraska on I-80 I was suffering through a miserable day of riding. Light rain and cool from Des Moines all through Nebraska. I got just past Kearney and things started to get real interesting. The sky was darkening in front of me and was beginning to take on a familiar hue of jade green that's fairly well known to all who inhabit flyover land. Another mile down the road the hail started. pea size at first then quickly getting to marble-sized. The road was covered a couple inches thick. The sky was getting ominously darker ahead. An exit presented itself and I took it. There was a gas station right at the top of the ramp. I pulled in under the canopy, put my bike up on the centerstand and went inside. Within 2 minutes the wind outside was wailing. I waited there for 5 minutes or so waiting for the worst to pass. As I gassed up my bike I noticed sheriff's vehicles with lights and sirens starting to appear. I headed back to the highway and took the on ramp west to continue my trip. Little did I know there were flipped motorhomes and semis on the highway and in the fields north of the interstate. A small F2 tornado has passed across the freeway heading north about half a mile down the bottom of the on ramp. Trees snapped off, a mess all around. And it raised hell with those vehicles unlucky enough to be in the path. You could see a path about 300 feet wide or so where it came through. As quickly as it was there it was gone. Consider it one of the luckiest days of my life. Had I continued I probably would have been caught up in it.

 

[HotRodZilla]

^^^Holy Sheite!!

 

[Bugnatr]

Time to go Darkside Spud.

I run a M+S run flat on the Hippo. We look for snowstorms

 

[TomInPA]

Time to go Darkside Spud.
I run a M+S run flat on the Hippo. We look for snowstorms

And yet, you live in California.

 

[Bugnatr]

Time to go Darkside Spud.
I run a M+S run flat on the Hippo. We look for snowstorms

And yet, you live in California.

Snowed over the hill yesterday.

 

[Fontanaman]

Wow interesting and scary experience. In all my years of riding and living in Seattle I have never road through junk like that. My first reaction would be to stop but now, if I remember, I will try to keep going.

 

[RPrice]

^^^Holy Sheite!!

+1!!

 

[CA G-Man]

My wife and I rode through a few showers coming home on Monday (nothing worth any notice). I only found out later from a friend that a fairly major hail storm had passed through within a few kilometres of where we were riding. Sort of makes me think that every time I pass under a good sturdy-looking overpass I should make a good scan of the horizon and see if I should stay put for a while! Okay, I'm not paranoid enough to actually do that, but I can imagine regretting not doing it the one time I should have...

 

[CAJW]

Spud, Glad things worked out well for you. We were camping that same night west of you when this thing popped up about 30 miles southwest of us (near Newcastle, WY). We'd ridden the bike around the Mt. Rushmore area earlier in the day in absolutely gorgeous weather and then heard this in the distance around dinner time. Glad it wasn't visible from where we were as I doubt we'd have slept that night. Really a wild day for weather in that region for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeDUe3WU-as