Nothing like a warm rain...nothing like a cold rain, either. Cold rain sucks.

Heck, I've ridden home in rain and had icicles hanging from various bicycle parts, and my nylon jacket looked like a glazed doughnut. Just this morning I was riding through mostly-rain but mixed with snow. I haven't read this whole thread but I'm guessing I'm not alone in either of those things.

As long as I'm warm and nothing freezes up on me mechanically, it's all good.

Like the other Seattle area posters, you just keep on going. There's lots of cold rainy days/nights and that doesn't stop me unless there's so much rain that the roads become hazardous (i.e. huge lake-like puddles that obscure the roadway) or it turns to ice. Once commute last fall I encountered cold rain, hail, snow and sunshine in 8 miles, it was in the 30s.

Layer, layer, layer. I don't use waterproof anything except for booties. My gloves claim to be waterproof, but that only lasted for 2 commutes. Now they are just nice and warm and dry quickly, with good reflectivity. I can put those thin rubber gloves, surgical, on under them if I need to. As said before, wool and thin heat-holding pieces like tights and arm-warmers are fantastic as is something to cover your scalp under the helmet (personally the feel of rain landing on my scalp through my helmet creeps me out). I also have a good water-resistant jacket (Canari) and RainLegs (how did I survive without these wonderful things!). Reflectivity is a part of every piece of gear too.

For bike - good lights front and back. Fenders, front and back. Waterproof panniers. Extra reflecties all over bike. For drying stuff I am luck to have a large locker room and nice people using it. We all have no problem hanging pieces of clothing all over the place to dry during the day.

I'm going high tech shortly. I've ordered some custom rain pants from a guy named Lou in the Northwest and a Showers Pass Elite 2.0 rain jacket. I have some short gortex style riding boots for my Look pedals.
If it's 70F or warmer I don't take any other precautions. Several of my bikes have full or rear fenders and my newly equipped cross bike will sport studded snow tires - great for icey conditions.

O.K. So I'm a wimp! At least I'm a warm and dry wimp! I rode to work this morning with very lite sprinkles... But I called the wife for a ride home this evening in steady COLD rain.

I ride if the radar shows green. Anything heavier and visibility with my glasses is zilch.

I never ride in even the lightest snow. I don't want to tangle with a plow/salt truck again.

I live near BengeBoy and CliftonGK1 and cycle through 4 towns to get to work. The temp's vary about 10F enroute. It can be raining in one town, snowing, in the next, foggy or sunny etc...

So my outfit is similar to BengeBoy:
- I wear the Showers Pass Elite rain jacket and HOOD
- Waterproof Garnae winter racing boot (below 40F, microfiber, liner, wool socks and Hotties)
- Marmot precip pants with thin PI tights underneath
- Polypro shirt, with Wool zip cardigan
- Giro ski helmet with vents that open/close

My wife takes no mercy on me: her motto-if I rode in I can ride back.....her tough love often works-once I get pedalling I feel better and am less grouchy once I get the endorphins circulating. I am usually glad I rode back.....funny how it is....I feel like Lance Armstrong at 6am and a slug at 8pm.

I voted "I ride in the rain if it's at least 40 degrees" but that's not the exact truth. This post sums it up pretty well:
The truth is, cold rain makes me look for excuses to take the day off or, if that's not an option, have my wife drive me to the station (this costs her 40 minutes sleep, so I don't like doing it). Complications:

1. I can work from home if I want to. This gives me a good excuse to stay home if the weather looks nasty. Flip side to this, however, is that when I do stay home I usually get no work done.

2. I ride 6 miles, then I sit on a train for an hour. Riding six miles in cold rain is unpleasant enough, but to do that and then sit on a train for an hour is unpleasant in the extreme.

3. Bringing a folding bike on the train is not a problem, but a folding bike with muddy water dripping off it is another story. It is no more pleasant for me than it is for the other commuters, but while I'm willing to deal with this unpleasantness I don't like inflicting it on others.

Bottom line, nasty weather tends to make me stay home.

I'd feel like a slug if I worked 7am to 7pm.

Seattle rider here too, many years.

1) well waxed leather work gloves over padded cycling gloves, with or without thin wool liners inside depending on temperature.

2) Gore tex headgear is nice. Gore came out with a gore tex cycling cap for winter 2008 that is the flash.

3)big, big front mudflap keeps drivetrain and your feet drier.

4) quick dry, softshell pants of some configuration or other unless it's really drenching. Then there are a few stretch waterproof pants that really work well.... MEC in Canada has some. I've also been testing stretch Brockwood Agility fabrics in a military spec pant that really performs well in the wet.

5) I like wool layers. I have wool t-shirts long and short sleeves that make cycling feel dryer in the rain.

6)Softshell fabrics have their place on the intermittent shower days or during light rain.

7) toe booties.

8)It doesn't snow consistently enough in Seattle to leave a bike with studded tires on it, but I've got studded tires premounted on rims the same width as I'm running on two of my bikes (LHT and northroad Crosscheck) so I can easily swap out without any adjustments to brake pads.

9) check out this new castelli raincoat!

What brand of gloves would those be?

Uhh maybe your weather is more predictable than ours is. Good luck with that.

Ha! Performance. They were affordable, but they keep my hands at least partly dry and warm all the time. It takes a real downpour to make them wet.

[QUOTE=vrkelley;7719615]Uhh maybe your weather is more predictable than ours is. Good luck with that.[/QUOTEI

Yeah as Mark Twain said about the weather in New England: "if you don't like the weather, wait a minute."

The only weather that makes me really hinkey about riding is lightening and thick snow that makes me ride too far on the left........

Sweet jacket!!!! How much and where?

just 80 bucks retail, at your local bike shop or online!

huge pitzips, biggest reflective striping I've seen...

I'll find out how I'm prepared for cold rain tomorrow morning. It'll be in the low 40s and raining.

I'm going to wear tights & some pants (not really waterproof), t-shirt, thermal shirt, windbreaker (with hood under helmet), beanie under hood, cheap rain jacket, and leather gloves. It's all I could get together in a hurry on a budget.

I'm riding the recumbent, which has fenders, and my SPD shoes. My feet will probably get cold and wet. I'll have a full change of clothes once I get to work. Luckily it's supposed to be light rain in the morning.

Leather shoes,wool underneath,rain suit on the outside.I know I'm going to get wet,so I just dress to stay warm....WOOL!

Okay, I rode in the cold rain this morning. I need to add the following:

• rain pants
• wool socks
• wool base layer
• balaclava
• better gloves

That said, it wasn't too bad. The ride was slow, visibility wasn't great, I was out for about 1:45. I did get damp pretty much everywhere, but only my lower half and face were cold.

Toward the end of the ride, the water had gotten through the leather gloves.