Any day I don't ride, and they are few, is like a lost day. I feel somewhat poisoned if I don't get my "fix", whether on a fixed, tandem or some other steed from the stable. I don't know how you were able to handle twenty-five years without cycling. You must have a much tougher psyche than I do.
By the way, very few folks ride in the rain here in OR either. If there is even a threat of drizzle, roads that I would see thirty other cyclists on in sunshine are completely void of cyclists. Even the in-town bike paths are empty of everything but dogs and puddles. If I do happen upon a cyclist in the rain, he/she is invariably someone from CA for whom the joys of wet riding are still a new-found pleasure. Or maybe they just became addicted to riding while living in a place with 275 days of sunshine like I did and cannot let a bit of water get in the way of a "fix".