Our guest post today is from Marilyn Elmore Bragg, a Southern writer, photographer and long time rider who had to improvise through the snow, sleet and winds of a New England nor’easter.

We get asked all the time which winter motorcycle gloves are warmest for winter rides. Here\’s one rider\’s unusual way of dealing with unexpected weather.more

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Keeping Warm, by Marilyn Elmore Bragg

As I write about this subject, the temps outside are falling fast.

The red stuff in the thermometer outside my window read 54 degrees! The skies are partly cloudy with a slight breeze. That’s changed in a matter of 2 hours. Right now, it’s 48 degrees with grey heavy clouds spitting out the wet stuff.

Not snow yet, but the weather dude says the low today will be 18 degrees. Get ready for ARTIC BLAST!

This weather reminds me of a trip I took to Orange County N.Y. many years ago …

When I left Florida the weather was warm and predicted to stay that way (for the most part) all the way up I-95 into New York. It didn’t actually occur to me that riding in the northern climes at this time of year could be cold and miserable. I had lived in Florida for 20 years after all. It just doesn’t get that cold, and when it was cold … it was easy to amend.

A new lesson about arrogance was about to be dished out.

Riding thru the Nor\’easter

I reached Philadelphia and a nor\’easter hit the area. Snow, sleet and winds hit me hard. I tried to wait out the weather at a truck stop watching TV in the Driver’s Room. I didn’t have the right kind of clothing for the rest of this ride.  

As I talked to the drivers, one told me he was having a tire change.  He was complaining about the cost of a new tube, when it hit me: Tubes are hollow. Tubes are neoprene. As a scuba diver I knew neoprene was warm. I headed over to the service garage and spoke with the mechanic, who gave me an old inner-tube and a box cutter. I got busy hacking away at the tube.

Ingenuity …

First to go was the area of the valve. Then I took the box cutter 180 degrees from there and cut the tube into 2 pieces. Time to slip my legs into the tube.

The legs were a tad long; I cut off about 4 inches, cut thumb holes into those 4 inches and slipped them on over my gloves. Like open ended mittens — not perfect but suitable.  

I rode the rest of the way (about 100 miles) in sleet and rain. I wasn’t really WARM, but I wasn’t really cold either. No frost bite, no hypothermia.

I arrived alive with all my digits.

If I was taking on this ride today, I\’d have better gloves.  But then again, I wouldn\’t have this story to tell.  Live and learn.

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Which winter motorcycle gloves are warmest?

We get asked all the time which winter motorcycle gloves keep hands warmest.  In certain parts of the country, wind, cold and rain is a given. That\’s why we make a wide variety of winter gloves, to suit your needs.

If Marilyn was taking that ride today, she might be wearing some nice, toasty, waterproof Olympia winter motorcycle gloves on that ride.

Just sayin\’.

P.S.: What have YOU done to keep warm in an unexpected weather situation? Got a good story for our blog?  Leave a comment or get in touch!