Too chicken, difficult cold and wet start

After a Xmas dinner, I got back to Toronto around 12:30am.  I was too chicken to ride on the highway, in the dark, in the rain, in 70km/h gusts of wind.  That was fine.  I stuck to the streets and didn't really lose that much time as there were virtually no cars given the time of the day and year.  Oddly, I did not see a single RIDE check.  They are usually out there in full force at this time of the year.  Maybe in a few days, when new year celebration starts, they will be more prominent on the road.

Yesterday, there was rain.  The day before there was also rain.  I was in the suburb of Mississauga.  My bike had a lot of problems starting in the rain but it seemed like a battery problem.  Twice I was unable to start the bike to the point the battery ran out of juice.  As soon as we boosted the battery, the bike started up right away.  The first time was around noon time when it was drizzling, and the bike was stored in a garage then taken out onto the driveway to start up.  The second time was around 11pm when it was raining, and the bike was parked on the driveway. 

Back in Toronto, this afternoon, the bike started up right away when I threw the ignition switch on in my building garage.  The battery is fine I guess.  I suspect that in cool and wet weather, it would take more time for the carburetor to get rid of the excess moisture and by the time most of the moisture is gone, the battery had already lost much of the charge so it couldn't get the engine to spin.  So when I boosted the battery, it so happened then that the condition was then right for the bike to start up.  But, what actually gets rid of the excess moisture?  The choke?  Maybe if I open the choke up for a while before starting the bike, it may start it up easier?  Hmmm...  I will experiment with this further later.

Time to prepare to leave for the airport.