The Irish motorycle adventure begins

wet two-lane road (really!) in County Kildare

The wonderful guys from Celtic Rider arranged taxi service between our hotel in Dublin and their shop outside the city. Mike took our BMW R1200 GS on an orientation ride while I packed up everything we need for five days on the bike. The two side cases and the tail case hold only the essentials, and it's amazing what I can learn to do without for five days.

It was raining when we left Celtic Rider for today's destination:  the Ardlenagh View B & B in Donegal in the northwestern part of Ireland. Along the six-hour ride, I made a list of all the terms I knew for rain:

• drizzle
• shower
• light rain
• downpour
• torrential rain
• mist
• monsoon

We experienced all of these except for the monsoon, which is a fairly typical day in Ireland. The wet weather didn't stop us from enjoying the lush green grass in the meadows, flowers, and hedgerows towering along the roadside so high we couldn't see over them.

Mike in front of the stone walls and hedgerows that line many Irish roads

Mike set the GPS to avoid highways, which meant we traveled on roads barely wide enough for two cars, even narrower roads that comfortably allow one car to drive down the middle, and roads with grass gowing in the middle of the road, similar to many Vermont driveways but much narrower. These paved roads look like a bicycle path at home, and imagine the fun we have riding down these twisty lanes lined with hedgerows, trees and stone walls that block Mike's view of oncoming traffic.  Meeting a speeding car heading the opposite direction on a blind corner is not for the faint of heart! Mike's orientation instructor said that when the British ran Ireland, they took centuries-old wagon roads and dumped macadam into the ruts without any additional improvements, which evidently includes paving over the grass. When asked why they don't simply widen the roads, he said that would be solving the problem, and the Irish aren't good at that. It turns out that these narrow, winding roads are our favorites.

We arrived at our B & B home for the next two nights ready to change out of our wet raingear and head to dinner. Rob and Kelly, a couple from Canada, are on the 8-day Celtic Rider tour, which means we share the same itinerary for our first four days. Tony, the owner of the B & B, drove us into Donegal for dinner and highly recommended we attend the Slice of Ireland dinner and show at the Central Hotel. What an evening! Traditional Irish ballads mixed with drinking songs,  five musicians playing the guitar, accordion, fiddle, Uillean pipe, Irish harp, and bodhran (Irish drum); a guest performance from the Milwaukee Irish Fest choir who happened to be in the audience, two incredible Irish dancers from Riverdance, the 6 and 8 year old sons of one of the musicians who started the show with a ballad, and a local comedy duo rounded out the show. Everyone, the musicians and dancers included, was having so much fun the show continued longer than usual.

It was an incredible introduction to our Irish motorcycle tour and we're looking forward to more adventure tomorrow.

Thank goodness for rain gear!

We've been traveling for seven days on our BMW motorcycle, and today was the first day we had to break out the rain gear. The Midwest is in the midst of a terrible drought, with record high temperatures, almost dry creek beds, brown fields that are usually green, and deep cracks in the ground from lack of water. We've endured temperatures as high as 105.8 on the bike, and even purchased new mesh motorcycle pants to keep us as cool as possible.

It was cloudy and overcast when we left Valpo at 7am, and by 7:30 it started raining. The sky ahead of us was a solid mass of dark clouds, and we knew this wasn't going to be a short sprinkle. Mike pulled off the road so we could put on our Frogg Togg rain gear, and it was a good call:  a short time later the temperature dropped 15 degrees from 75 to 60 and it started to rain even harder. We rode in and out of rain for the next four hours, but we stayed dry. We've worn the Frogg Toggs in rain before, but this was the first test for our BMW Allround boots. Mike read a review of waterproof boots in Motorcycle Consumer News and these boots were one of the very few that were indeed waterproof according to their test. They met our test as well since our feet stayed completely dry.

We stopped for gas and chatted with a Harley rider on his way from Cleveland, OH to Ft. Wayne, IN. We talked riding in the rain, travel by motorcycle, and attending motorcycle rallies before we headed East and he continued West.

It was raining when we stopped for lunch, but when we came out the skies were blue and the temperatures increasing. We had clear blue skies and hot temperatures in the 90's the rest of the way to our destination:  Oil City, PA. We left flat farmland behind us in Ohio, and ended the day riding through the rolling, wooded foothills of the Allegheny Mountains.

You never know what you might see on the highway, but this was the first time we saw a helicopter. We keep reminding ourselves:  the point of this trip isn't the destination; it's the journey.

First trip in the rain

Who cares about fashion when the weather forecast is for rain, heavy rain, and possible thunderstorms?

Friday afternoon we set off for Indian Lake, smack dab in the middle of the Adirondack National Forest, a 2.25 hour ride from our home in southwestern Vermont. We knew it was going to rain, but we had fantastic plans to explore the Adirondacks with Wayne and Colleen for the weekend, and we weren't going to let a little rain get in our way.

I wrestled myself into my FroggToggs rain jacket and  boot covers before we left, feeling a bit like a deep sea diver with the extra bulk. It was sprinkling when we left, but by the time we reached Granville, NY we were riding through a steady, heavy downpour.

Guess what - I stayed completely dry!

It was a unique experience riding pillion in the rain. I could barely see, but Mike reassured me his vision was fine. If you've ever opened your eyes underwater, or smeared vaseline on your glasses, you have a good idea of what the world looked like through the visor of my helmet. Since I couldn't look at the scenery, I paid attention to the sound. I've always enjoyed listening to rain pounding on the roof, and it's even better on my motorcycle helmet! Riding through the rain, exposed to water coming down from the sky and also water kicked back up by passing cars, ended up being a fun experience.

I'll be honest - I was surprised that I stayed dry and not even a bit damp. No rain dripped down my back or seeped through the seams. My jacket came down low enough over my pants to prevent wayward leaks. Mike didn't wear his booties, and his feet were completely soaked. Mine were absolutely dry! No squishy shoes for me the next day.

My one complaint was my leather gloves didn't keep my hands warm or dry. I'm going to try out the waterproof mittens that I wear for winter running during the next motorcycle ride in the rain, and am betting that they'll keep my hands as dry as the rest of me.

Saturday and Sunday the weather was warm, sunny and dry, just as predicted. I'll tell you all about those days in posts later in the week.

Footnote:  After spending some time at the nearby laundromat to dry their clothes, Wayne and Colleen decided to purchase raingear for future trips.

Prepared for any type of weather

Mike and I are in the final planning stages of a dream trip:  a tour through the Alps on a BMW 1200! We lived in Augsburg, north of Munich, for almost 3 years when we were first married, and we can't wait to go back. We never rode a motorcycle in Germany, although friends of ours rented a bike when they came to visit and of course had a blast. Now it's our turn!

Here at home if the weather forecast is for rain, we stay off the bike. We  have to be prepared for any type of weather on the 12-day tour of the Alps, so we purchased rain gear from Froggtoggs. It's not specific for motorcycles, but it's waterproof and large enough to fit over my motorcycle gear. Plus it packs down into a very small bag, which of course is essential when we have to carry everything with us on the bike.

Here I am modeling the rain pants. Of course they have to be big to fit over my bike pants, which already make me feel somewhat like a sausage. Just wait until you see the full outfit.....

Now I know what my kids felt like when they were little and I dressed them in their snowsuits. When they fell down, they couldn't get back up without help. Hopefully I won't fall down, but I haven't yet tried getting on the bike wearing this stuff. Stay tuned for that story.

You may wonder about the hood. Does it go:

1. under the helmet
2. over the helmet
3. neither

#3 is correct, because the Trek Toad jacket (I am not making this up - that's really the official name. Now I look like a huge magenta toad) is not designed just for those of us fortunate enough to ride motorcycles. The waterproof and breathable material is designed for any type of outdoor activity. I'm just going to hope that I don't have to move very fast or very far when I put this stuff on, because it seriously limits my mobility. At least I'll be dry!

Obviously a woman didn't design this gear, because no female I know wants to look like a magenta toad, even if we're dry while riding through a rainstorm on a motorcyle. A friend of mine always chooses form and style over function and I can't wait to hear her reaction when she sees this outfit!