Rid'n the rain

This year's rainy season kicked off with a bang yesterday. JP and I went out in the pouring rain for a 5 hr ride and man-o-man was it wet...and cold... I think John said it was 36 degrese when we started. However I got to tell you, being prepared for the weather was a learning curve for me. Most winters in Nebraska I spent a lot of time with my MTB in the snow on paths well covered by trees. So even though it is cold (let's say 10 degrees F on any given winter day) it was simple to stay dry. Last year I spent all of the rainy weekends up in Tahoe at Royal Gorge, so once again staying warm was easy with the precipitation was snow. But, fortunately I had JP there to push me along. We started the ride at NorCal Bikesport a tad under dressed. But on the way out of town, we turned back to myhouse to get warmer stuff. He headed out again, but by the time we were down the block, my toes were numb again. So we headed back and took a "rain delay." We warmed ourselves by the fireplace and I found the heavy duty cycling gear.

1: Marmot Rain pants
2: Pearl-Izumi Amfib insulated bib pants
3: Smart wool hiking socks
4: Insulated booties
5: Capo Bib Shorts
6: Capo Jersey
7: Capo Thermal Jacket
8: Merrell Soft shell Jacket
9: Craft insulated gloves

That's a lot of stuff to put into the washer after 1 ride... geesh! Oh well..

Any tips on how to train in this cold weather would be welcome. Lemmee know!

P.S. Wilow Creek is beautiful rain or shine.