It was not pouring, though. It was raining lightly and a little windy. If it wasn't a short week, I might have chickened out and taken the bus. I only work three days this week and I hardly got to ride last week--I was on travel--so I rode.
As you can see in the photo--and as you probably remember from an earlier post--my bike now has its own rain pants. I got the set of Planet Bike "Hardcore" yellow fenders about a month ago. They are pretty burly, designed for touring. They are also eye-catching--which I wanted because I do not trust my motorized bretheren on the roads of Outer Sacramento. The fenders are great because they keep me from getting soaked by my own tires. Riding on wet roads--even under clear skies--I would get soaked by the water flying off of the tires without them. These allow me to cruise right rough a mud-puddle with not even a splash on my clothes.
They don't protect me from rain, though. Yesterday, I bought a high-quality rain jacket for cheap at a Mountain Hardwear factory sale. It's durable, stretchy, waterproof, breathable, and MATCHES MY FENDERS! This last attribute is of course not required, but it is really cool and it makes me very visible in the misty rain. I also have a pair of Patagonia rain pants that I bought years ago on Ebay. I got dressed in a Patagonia silk-weight top, boxers, socks, and the rain gear. I usually don't wear much under rain gear when I'm cycling because I just get TOO WARM! The temperature was 48F this morning, and I was just fine dressed this way. Part-way to work, I had to open the pit-zips on the jacket.
Over the rain gear, I wear a pair of old-beat-up gaiters. These keep the rain pants from funnelling water down into my low-top cycling shoes.
I have a wool cycling cap which I wear under my helmet. If it had been pouring, I might have put on a helmet cover to keep out the rain. Either way, the woolly keeps me warm even when it gets damp.
I wear neoprene paddling gloves when I go cycling in the rain. I have a pair of NRS guide gloves that I bought for rowing the Grand Canyon, last year. These are great--they get wet but still keep me warm and have a fair amount of cushioning.
My shoes are Keen's Austin pedal shoes. They look like sorta-dressy brown shoes and go well with my office clothes. In their soles they hide SPD clips which attach me to my pedals!
My helmet is a Specialized--Prospero I think. I got it for the high degree of ventilation it offers--it gets hot here in the summer. On a day like today, ventilation isn't much of a help, but whatever. That's why the wool cap.
I have a piece of double-sided velcro that I have wound through the back of the helmet. I have a second tail-light mounted there. I have a front-and-rear set on the bike. I worry more about cars not seeing me from behind than from the front--my reaction time is better for problems in front of me.
All suited up like this, I ride to work. When I get here, I pull clean, dry clothes out of my pannier and change in the restroom. My cubicle becomes a drying rack for a bunch of damp raingear. And now, I'm sitting in my cube... eating lunch... looking out the window to see what this afternoon's ride will be like! In the afternoon, I leave here after dark!
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