Welcome to Rain Riding

Now we're getting a good taste of what early winter has to offer in Wisconsin. Obviously today will be a day for full rain gear. If you don't have any yet hopefully this post can shed some light on what to look for.

Let's start with gloves, These are made by a company called Seal Skinz. This is the pair that I have, I found them in the kayaking section. However when I checked out their website I found out they make much more.

Check out these waterproof, insulated, winter MTB gloves. http://www.sealskinz.com/

I already spoke about what I wear for a rain jacket and pants so I'll skip over that. This is the Shower's Pass Men's Touring jacket, my girlfriend just picked this up so hopefully I can drag a review of it out of her later this week. Instead I want to talk about how to keep your feet dry and warm.

I lot of people forget about waterproofing their feet and ankles, but this is where water, and later snow, can get in most easily. A lot of good hiking shoes have gore-tex linings in them these days and they really work well as this photo testifies. I really like Merrell shoes myself but I know several other companies offer gore-tex lined shoes as well, such as Salomon, Columbia, Patagonia, North Face, etc. You don't want a high ankle hiking boot though because you still want good flexibility in the ankle for pedaling. This is why I use cross country skiing gaiters to keep water and snow from coming in over the top of my shoes. This becomes especially important in winter because I do a fair amount of jumping through snow banks to get to the road or get to a place to park my bike.

Remember riding in the rain can still be a lot of fun you just need to dress appropriately. Ride safe everyone!