What if it rains?

I get asked this so many times as I commute to the Valley for work Mon-Fri, even when it’s pissing down.

I have a Dri Rider rain jacket that is fairly long but not rain pants (yet) so tend to wear some track pants with work pants in my backpack to change into when I arrive.

Ideally I’d have proper riding pants or Kevlar jeans / tights however due to my size and budget I don’t. All the protective and/or rain pants where the waist fits are for 7’6″ tall folk and female sizes do not even go up one thigh.

I have a $10 USB desk fan at work that I dry my gloves on (Ricondi leather ones that I adooooore) while I work, seems to be fine for this purpose and means I’m dry as I head off home. I wear a mid season glove all year around because I only want one pair for summer and winter. This can be rather cool in midwinter so have a pair of white cotton gloves from Kmart for $4 if it’s what I call freezingly freezing.

There have been days where I turn up at work damp in places I shouldn’t be damp during work time – worst case was soggy pants until 11.30am when I forgot to take spares lol. In most cases though I would rather ride in the rain than take public transport or the car!

It’s important to get a decent rain jacket. I was told all rain jackets leak no matter what brand. Untrue. Everything that is covered by my jacket is bone dry when I arrive. I’ve never tried other jackets so can’t give an opinion if this is the norm but certainly in my case I couldn’t be happier with my purchase that was $40 instore and have seen loads more around that price since.