I went on a bike tour in Japan in September. The last 5 days were the edge of a typhoon (hurricane). It rained so hard and I was so wet that when a truck went by and splashed me, it made no difference at all. It was so hot out that you really could not wear rain gear because you overheated from sweating. The one saving grace was that the rain was warm. And we learned about the newspaper in the shoe trick.

Previously, I had avoided riding in the rain (and I still do when possible). In central California, it does not rain in the summer, so when it rains in the winter, it is cold rain. However, I had thought that it would feel more dangerous than it actually did. You do have to watch for slippery things like grates, and leave more time to stop. I tried to keep more distance between me and the other cyclists, and did not ride as fast. Sometimes it just seemed like such a crazy thing to do. But nobody got hurt and everyone survived. It was a really amazing trip despite the rain. I had to get some rust off my chain when I got home.