Jim from Boston

I used to be a fair weather commuter up until about two years ago for my 14 mile commute. Even though I had a beater bike for wet roads, I avoided active precipitation with the excuse I hated to get the bike grimy. I read a thread on BF from one subscriber who posted that he just wiped the chain and put some lube on, and I decided that wasn't too hard, and now I'm a virtually year round rider (I did always ride in cold).

I have some pretty good wet weather gear, but I have come to the conclusion that no matter how good the wet weather or cold weather gear, I will be comfortable for about ten miles, then I endure the rest. Just this morning I was chatting about wet riding with a fellow BF subscriber I know personally, and we agreed on that premise--try to stay dry but you will get wet. I'm further fortunate to have a place at work to hang out my wet clothes, and even have a floor fan to blow them dry.

June of 2009 in Boston had a memorable amount of precipitation, and I would have lost important training time for a July Century had I not started riding in the rain.