eugenek

It actually wasn't that bad - at first. Some intermittent rain, high 40's to low 50's, little to no wind. I even saw the sun when I was passing through Pauma Valley. The worst of the storm didn't really hit until noon. One moment I'm riding along and it's nice and clear (though a bit gloomy), ten minutes later it's heavy rain, visibility under half a mile, and cross wind with gusts that try to throw me into the traffic. I was already done with the last big climb so I held out for half an hour or so of THAT and called my wife for a pick up.

It might sound unpleasant, but good gear helps a lot to cope with these conditions. That's my main lesson of the day. I had a rain hood that went under the helmet, it proved invaluable. Bike rain pants are all but impossible to find in San Diego, the only kind I saw anywhere was $120 Pearl Izumi pants. I went for REI microlight pants and leg warmers instead. That worked too (leg warmers may have been excessive). I got Bontrager Race Windshell gloves. I could swear that the hanger said "waterproof" but I can't find it anywhere now, and Google says that they are really only water-resistant. Sounds like a fine distinction, but, after 5 hours of intermittent rain, it gets very important. My mistakes were not triple-checking that my jacket was waterproof (it was not) and not getting shoe protection.

And when you're done, you get to appreciate "normal" riding weather so much more