Cheapest hair dryer at WalMart. Bike shoes dry fast if you can get the air warm and moving.

As for weather, sometimes I use it as an excuse on the weekends when I only have low priority errands to run, but I've commuted in weather where I was having to go around cars stuck in flood waters, and when it was 17F and drizzling with a moderate crosswind. Sometimes it's just for the "yeah, I rode in this" bragging rights when coworkers show up whining about having to wait for the heater to warm up or the A/C to cool down.