Ok. Stuff you need to know:

- Goretex does not breathe well in wet air - ie when you need it to! That's because it relies on air moisture gradient diffusion - ie moisture travels from damper air to wetter... so you have to get pretty sweaty before moisture leaves in the rain. (The British Army call goretex "Boil in the bag.")

- Merino base layers are less smelly than anything else when sweaty. That's because bacteria find it hard to live in them, and the fatty oils that make sweaty REALLY nasty are scavenged by merino to repair its fibres

- You can buy gear that does breathe in the wet, but you have need to import it from the UK. I wear a Paramo Velez Light (you do NOT want the non-Light for cycling!) and it protects against rain and wet by being super-wicking - ie it pushes water so fast using a "pump layer" fabric that rain can't get in and sweat gets pumped out. Riding fast in an English winter downpour is very strange - the rest of my body gets soaked, and my t-shirt gets wet - because mt armpits are pumping out sweat becaue I am going FAST - but the air around my torso is dry. So my torso says "I am in an air conditioned gym" and the rest of my body says "I am drowning!" At moderate speeds, you shouldn't have a wetness problem at all. Paramo also lasts forever (typically about 10 years) and cleans in a washing machine (you use a special wash and re-proof easily bought in the US) but it's too hot for summer (unless you are in the UK..)
and you'd have to import it.

The ideal set up would probably be Paramo + merino t-shirt and boxers to work; change boxers and t for cotton ones, then leave the merino your locker with a tumbler dryer sheet - I use a plastic box with some holes pierced so it can breathe. This way an expensive set of merino will last weeks if you want it to - it'll be like fresh when you take it out of the locker.