Originally Posted by
elcruxio
The question is however, were you damp or absolutely drenched? Because that makes a difference. Also rain in itself is not that big of an issue, but when the rain is cold and there's a lot of millimeters coming down you cannot avoid getting hypothermic if the other conditions are also bad. That is why rain shell becomes a necessity in certain conditions which are all too common here in both the autumn and spring periods, ie. under cooled rain (not sure what it's really called. It means water that's basically sub zero but not yet frozen), heavy winds and temps near freezing so the actual wind chill is below freezing. Also add to that the very humid ocean air which just pushes through layers and you've got something you don't want to be caught in without proper gear.
I'm not sure what you mean by, even in the summer rain gear is unnecessary, since then it's only a case of whether you want to be wet or damp, not damp or hypothermic.
There wasn't water dripping from my trousers, so I guess damp would be a more suitable verdict. My clothes were more wet than what you would get out of a washing machine, though, and the weather was below freezing.
What I meant to imply is that on the lower half of the body, rain-proof clothing does not seem necessary. Obviously, the cold feeling is higher on the top half, especially when cycling because you just do nothing with the top - only the legs are moving/warming themselves. I wouldn't have been able to cycle 20 km -and still be healthy- without the rain-proof jacket I wore, so I deem that necessary.