thanks guys! excellent ideas. i think the problem was as simple as Jeff said. when i got home from work, i wiped off my chain, took it for a quick spin, and it seems to already be working much better. i have to get to bed now as my charity ride is in 6 hours, so i can't test it any further tonight. hopefully it will dry even more overnight and will be tip top for my ride.

it just seems suspicious that simply wiping the chain off is gonna fix this annoying problem...but who am i to question? thanks again! i'll post tomorrow to let you guys know if this did the trick.