rainy days and chain lubes

yeah yeah, a week of cold rain. Not a big deal, though I did get the long johns out of the drawer (all but two pair of the winter wear had been boxed off but last week or so we got snow and this week its just in the 40s for the morning ride) for the last couple days. Nonetheless the plant life has exploded - grass is green, every weed ever planned is growing the Lilies of the valley are coming up between the bricks of our back porch. The peonies grow about 3 inches a day, its a shock - you don't want to think about plants moving that fast (what was that lame movie about the attack of the plants triffids?no, Dr Terrors house of horror) but they do. If you ever talk to Northern folk and they say they don't bother about the weather, what they mean is: long johns. A pair of them, from the flimsy, one layer Jockeys to fuzzy, polyprop mega-fiber Patagonia Cadillacs under your jeans will change the way you deal w/ cold. Er, chain lubes. Don't know much about them, my bike guy says "buy the cheap 3n1 stuff and wipe the chain off, now and then" which works pretty well. The whole cleaning/fancy lub stuff seems unlikely - cheap is a buck an ounce. How fast *can* you ride? Did want to bring up the 60-80 cents
cost of driving per mile recently - SUVs are up to 80 cents and that's at 2.25/gallon (ever slow boil a lobster?). So, this makes the 3.60 latte and 2.75 piece of Sofia's Raspberry chocolate cream cheese a bargain compared to 10 miles (RT) of driving and parking and health issues (my own and the rest of you'all) leaving aside the fact that I'd have the latte and cake even if I drove. Hmm, maybe, smug and all, I should get, er, maybe I *deserve* two pieces of cake ...