Aug. 17, 2025
It’s just too….. to ride
In this episode of the Throttle and Roast Podcast, host Niels Meersschaert draws a parallel to the Goldilocks principle as he explores the ideal riding conditions for motorcyclists. He reflects on his own experiences this year, discussing how relentless rain and extreme heat have made it challenging to find that "just right" time to ride. Niels emphasizes the discomfort and safety concerns that come with conditions that are either "too wet" or "too hot," reminding riders to listen to their instincts and wait for the perfect weather before hitting the road.
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00:00 - Introduction
01:48 - Too wet
03:42 - Too hot
06:56 - Too tired
09:20 - Too windy
11:19 - Too cold
14:17 - Wrap up
WEBVTT
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It's too 'whatever' to ride. I'm staying home.
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Welcome to the Throttle and Roast Podcast. I'm your host, Niels Meersschaert. As motorcyclists, we're much more affected by outside effects as we ride than in other types of vehicles. And sometimes it's just too 'whatever' to ride, and we keep the bike parked. With many of us having limited times of the year to ride, when those times are impacted by being too much, we may not ride as much as we would like to. And I ran into that personally this spring coming into the summer. Where I live in the northeast United States it's fairly common for April to be rainy. But May is typically much drier, and it's a popular time for people to get out and go riding for the first part of the year. Likewise, June and July are often great summer weather. It's not too hot. It's not too cold. And August tends to be a little bit more of the hotter month. But this year has blown that norm out of the water.
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Both April and May were filled with torrential rain. June and July had nearly every day above 90 degrees Fahrenheit and humid.
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It just kept me from riding as often as I normally would have.
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And I'm on pace now to do about 5,000 fewer miles this year than in a typical year. So it's been a significant headwind for me personally. So in this episode, I'll look at some some of the situations that might just be too much for us to ride.
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So let's start with one that I think a lot of motorcyclists will probably get on board with and be used to, which is when it's just a little too wet to ride. Now look, I'm not one of those only perfect weather type of riders. I'm perfectly happy if I'm on a trip and it happens to be raining, that's like, fine, I will ride.
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I'll even ride if it's really heavy and raining. But where I think I am probably a little bit more similar to some other riders. If it's pouring rain, as you look the window, it's unlikely that you can be like, yes, now is the perfect time for me to roll that bike out of the garage and hop on and go for a ride. If you're already stuck in it, it is what it is. Or if it's just maybe a light drizzle, maybe say, yeah, no big deal.
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But when it's pouring rain, I think this is one of the ones where you're just really not in the mood to do it. And this is what I ran into in pretty much April and May of this year. Now, April typically has that, but it's maybe not torrential. It's usually, yeah, you get a rain every once in a while, but you can find a couple hours here and there where you can go out. We just had massive, massive amount of rain throughout April and May.
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So there really was not a lot of windows when you could do that, that fit for other commitments that one may have. So sometimes it just gets a little too wet.
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And when it is that this is, this is where it becomes a little bit of a miserable feeling Because yes, you could put on riding gear that is going to protect you from rain. And there's some really great options that are out there. But it still is going to make it a little bit harder to see. It's going to block visibility with it hitting into the visor of your helmet. Obviously the slicker conditions can have control issues that will come into it. So it's not something that we may intentionally that this is the perfect weather to go out and ride in. So it can be a really big hindrance to you.
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Now, the other one, and this is the one that probably bothers me the most, is when it's too hot. let's call a spade a spade. When you're on a motorcycle, you are not in an enclosed environmentally place like you are in a car. We don't have air conditioning. If it's high humidity, that cooling vest that you might have isn't going to help. And this is what I ran into personally. I don't mind if it gets 80, 90 degrees because it's going to throw on a cooling vest, which if you don't know what a cooling vest is, a cooling vest essentially something that you fill with water. And there's usually two variations, one that you soak, the other one that actually has a bladder inside of it. You fill it with water and this just aids with evaporation. Problem of course, is if it's already there is no evaporation that is going to occur. And therefore there is no heat exchange and therefore you will just be hot. So when it gets to be so, so hot that you have no opportunities to remove some of that heat, This is really limiting, and, and I tried it a bunch this year, but it was just really miserable. It was over 90 degrees, even in a full mesh jacket There was just no way for it to be comfortable.
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It was so humid. You were just getting exhausted from the heat.
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It just was not a good time to be riding. And if you get stuck into any traffic or whatnot, then that's going to be another element that's going to play into this. I just had this happen so, I was out for a ride.
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I was coming back from that ride and ran into a ton of traffic. I literally was sitting in standstill traffic because they were compressing the lanes down.
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So it was about 45 minutes to go three miles and it was 85 degrees Fahrenheit. And this was just insanely hot, and I'm in an air-cooled engine. I was on the R18. So it was getting hot just for the bike to be sitting still with no airflow over it. And of course me as the rider having no airflow over me. And I think this is where the real rub comes in is when it is too hot, there really isn't an escape for us.
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That cooling vest is really the only option, and when it gets to be so miserably hot, you just don't want to get out and ride.
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And I found this happening to myself quite often. I would look at the weather. And I'd say,"Okay, fine. It's going to be 85
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30. Fine. I'll go and ride at 6 a. m. And I'll ride for a couple hours. At least before it gets super hot." But that does really limit you and your ability to ride. maybe not everyone is up for going for a ride at 6 a. m. I know I'm kind of silly that way, but I do like to ride. And I'm perfectly willing to go very early in the morning if I need to. But when it's just this super, super hot conditions, it's really, really hard to feel motivated. Now, maybe if you're riding out for,"Hey, I have to run an errand," and you're just going to go no matter what, that's okay. But I think that's different than riding for pleasure. It's different than saying, "Oh, I feel like going for a ride." Where you know that you're going to be uncomfortable on the bike.
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So we covered a couple of the big ones that really hit me personally, I'd say, this year, especially with it being both too wet and then too hot in the beginning part of the summer.
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The other one I want to reference is, what if you're too tired? And this is something that as motorcyclists, I think we probably don't give enough attention to that we probably should. When you are getting ready to get out onto the bike and you are thinking about, you know, where your plan for where you're going to ride that day is, whatever your intentions may be, as you're contemplating this you really have to also take stock of what your current energy level is. Being on a motorcycle requires a huge amount of focus.
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And if you don't have that focus, this is when mistakes can be made. This is when you can get into an accident. So it's really critical that you are at the top of your game when you're going to get out on that bike and go for that ride. Same reason why, you know, I've spoken about this in previous episodes, where if you're going on a trip just have regular breaks, regular fuel stops or taking a rest stop, whatever it is, just to recharge and clear a little bit of that, fatigue that you felt just from being focused for so incredibly long. So that being too tired can be a real negative impact.
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Now one other thing, and this is kind of where it ties in a little bit to what we just talked about, if that too hot and that too wet, is the external weather conditions can also accelerate your fatigue level. So if it's really, really hot, it's very easy to become fatigued much more quickly than you would be if it was a much more temperate and comfortable condition. Same thing if it's too wet, you're now going to feel wet, you maybe shiver every once in a while, that's going to then add in a little bit more exhaustion. You're probably having to focus heavily to see past all of the raindrops to clear your visor regularly. So that exhaustion can really just make it such that you're like, yeah, I just don't want to ride right now. And this is the hard thing, I think, for us as motorcyclists. We love riding so much. And when you try to the passion for riding to someone who does not ride, I feel sometimes it does come up short.
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We're not able to really effectively communicate it as much as when you just go out and experience it for yourself. But there are times when we just don't have the energy. We just don't have the desire to go out and get on the bike and go riding.
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And this sometimes happens for a lot of riders, too, where maybe if it's a little too windy, they may not want to go out for a ride as well. Now, if you're just riding on some back roads and it's a little windy, probably not a big deal, but when you start to get out onto, let's say a highway, where you've got maybe a bunch of trucks that are riding alongside of you and the wind is moving the bike side to side, this might feel a little, again, exhausting. Too much effort to sort of deal with for it. I remember many, many years ago, a friend of mine was buying his first and he didn't have a license. So I ended up riding the bike home for him from the motorcycle dealer, which was probably 30 or 40 miles away from where he lived. I was going across the Tappan Zee Bridge, which is crossing over the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City. the winds on there can sometimes get a little bit strong. And in this case, they were quite strong.
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And this was a Suzuki SV650 that I was riding and fairly lightweight bike. But the wind was so strong that I had the bike leaned over at a good 10, 15 degrees just to stay in the lane. And so this is where sometimes that wind might be a little overwhelming for you to want to go out and ride. And of course, if you're on that highway, you're going to have, as you'd normally pass trucks, there's going to be a little bit of vacuum as well as a pressure variation that's going to cause the bike to move around a little bit. So that wind can just feel a little exhausting, e if you're on a lightweight bike like that SV650. You know, if you're on a large, full-dress Harley, probably not as big of a deal when you've got 900 to 1,000 pounds of weight. It is not as affected by the wind as maybe a lighter bike would be. But it's still something to consider of why you may decide not to go out and ride because it's just too damn windy.
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course, as I'm recording this episode in the middle of August in the Northeast United States, we're in the Northern Hemisphere. It is in the midst of summer. So thinking about when it might be a little too cold may not be the most common thing. But for our listeners, of course, who are in the land down under, whether you're in South America, Au, for you, you're in the midst of your winter And so this might be really right there, which is thinking about when it's a little too cold to ride.
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Now, I personally am less bothered by it being too cold than I am when it's too hot. And the reason is I can always add layers. I can always add in heated gear. Unfortunately, no one really makes a true portable air conditioning vest for motorcyclists. If they did, they would probably sell like hotcakes. But when it's too cold, this can be another reason that you may not want to get out there. And different people will have different ranges of where it gets to be too cold. I had just the other day, I was going out for a ride and it was going to be very hot in the earlier part of the morning. So I went out fairly early. I put on a full mesh jacket and was riding.
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Now, when I first got out there, it was maybe in the lower 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Not something I would call cold. But when you're at speed and you have all the airflow coming in through a mesh jacket, it was cool. And that might have felt a little too cold for someone to want to ride. this is where if you kind of look out and you see that, it may keep you from wanting to go out on the bike.
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Same thing in the winter months.
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And I know for the vast majority of motorcyclists, they do not ride year round. Most of them don't even consider riding in the middle of the winter. But if you can see your breath as you go outside, it's much more likely that you're going to say, I'm going to leave the bike parked. And a lot of motorcyclists actually do that on a regular basis. So it may not feel so extreme. But every once in a while, y may have a cool summer day where it may be even a little too chilly for you to want to go out in that moment.
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And this is something where these almost like it's too much of something just can hold you back from wanting to go out and ride. And I personally just find it super frustrating and I really would want to see what you guys think of this because this is something that really holds you back from maximizing your riding in a lot of ways.
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And as I said, I'm probably going to do about 5,000 fewer miles. This year than I have been doing in a typical year just by virtue of the fact that it was too whatever for me to actually get out and ride.
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So let's wrap up. We covered how very high temperatures might keep us from getting on the bike along with when it's way too wet to want to pull the bike out of the garage.
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Spring, fall and of course winter can feel too cold to get out on the bike, since we don't have heating nor cocoon surrounding us to protect us from old man winter. And when it's too windy we can be blown out of the lane and it can be exhausting to ride for extended periods. And finally, sometimes you're just too tired either because of other things going on in life or all of these other factors sucked in what little energy you had and you just don't feel like riding further.
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So my question for you this week is what has been the too much for you to ride. Share your thoughts to the text the show link in the show notes or leave a voicemail at throttle and roast dot com slash voicemail.
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Thanks for listening.I'll talk to you next week.
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