Originally Posted by mjw16
In recognition of Bike to Work Day, and despite a steady rain, I rode this morning. This will be my 3rd "all ride week" of the year. My waterproof jacket did a great job but my exposed legs got a good soaking. Surprisingly, my shoes remained fairly dry although my socks soaked through. My cubicle is adorned with various articles of clothing hanging out to dry. Too bad for WABA, I'm guessing turnout was low to non-existant for their activities. I saw only one other rider, who looked to be a courier, those guys will ride through anything. Although I managed to stay pretty dry this morning, the ride home will be another story-It's absolutely pooring out there right now. Cheers to anyone in the DC area who braved the weather and rode today.
This was a 4-day riding week for me (meetings forced me to drive Wednesday). I would have wimped out the way it was pouring this morning, but (a) I'd been talking up BTWD at the office so I had my honor to uphold [it was - the office now KNOWS I am nuts] and (b) mother nature tricked me and it was a moderate drizzle at launch time. Which turned to a nice heavy rain before I reached the bike trail. I saw a few more commuters today; rode in with 1-2 others from Herndon to the reston pit stop. The reduced turnout should have improved my chances in the prize drawing but didn't. [If I'd won the massage I'd have given it to my wife.] Rain jacket worked fine, cheap rain pants were fine when moving and too sweaty as soon as I stopped, and the hotel shower cap on my helmet was also OK until I stopped than immediately was too hot. Liked seeing the different commuter rigs, a lot of people were riding straight road bikes with camelbacks/small backpacks and no fenders (my fenders worked really well
). Socks soaked thru but that's why I brought an 2nd pair and my pannier rain covers did their job. They said they had 300-400 (forget the number) people register for the Reston stop, obviously the rain kept a lot of people off their bikes. Liked the water bottles but last year's t-shirt was better.
Ride home was dry, overcast, low 50s and a headwind. Gloves never dried out (will try newspaper next time) but it wasn't too cold for the situation.