Dec. 27 ride

Today was 46 F and rainy.  I am not used to rain this time of year so had to remind myself how to dress for it.  I have a "winter" helmet that is big and fits over my various hats and hoods.  It  worked well to put the helmet over my jacket hood, kept a lot of the rain off my glasses.  I took this picture in the mirror since housemate was gone.  I have a gortex cap that goes over the helmet.  I got that at a bike shop one day when it was raining.  Nothing like rain to make you buy raingear.  I leave it on all winter as it's a good windblock too. My jacket seems waterproof enough.  I wore my usual bike pants that I got at REI.  They are nice because they stretch in the knees and butt, but aren't perfectly waterproof--but usually last long enough for a 30 minute ride.  My boots are waterproof.  If it had rained harder, my ankles would have got a little wet since my boots and pants don't overlap enough. The solution to that is gators, which I have, but didn't think to wear, and didn't need to today.  I got these gloves at REI that are great for the rain:They go over your coat sleeve and then cinch up nicely to keep the rain out.  They came with liner gloves but I don't use them.  So I was pretty waterproof, which is good because it can be a little miserable when you are cold and wet.   Here's the start of the bike path, showing lots of snowmelt.

After my yoga class, I went grocery shopping.  Here are my bike bags loaded up with groceries.  These are great bags, nicely expandable.  They are Orlieb brand, and they are waterproof.  Now it was raining a little more.
There are a lot of birds behind Olbrich gardens.  I think this was a red-tailed hawk.
My gears worked today.  I wish I could bring my bike inside every day to dry and warm up, but housemate has returned so the bike is banished to the garage again where it will freeze up in the upcoming cold weather.   That's why it's good to have an old bike for winter riding.  This bike is 15 years old.  But it's in good shape.