braking in the rain?

Handling (cornering, braking) technique is pretty much the same as on dry road, taking into account that the lower friction will magnify any mistakes.

Here's a short piece on riding it the rain (though basically what it says is just what I said above).

you miss all the fun if you are braking down hills! 

but seriously, next time it rains, get out and practice, maybe on a trail or bike path somewhere so you don't have to think about traffic, get comfortable riding on the wet roads.  they've been asking for evening showers all week and i've been kind of excited to practice riding in the rain, and i've been cursed with 80 and sunny instead

Very carefully.  Squeeze to hard and you lock up and fish tail.  Don't squeeze enough and you just might not make the turn.  Basically I treat it like brakeing in dry weather, but I just start to brake earlier.

Two good points I read in another post:

1.  It's raining on everyone else, too, so don't worry if you have to slow down more than usual to make a corner because the rest of the pack does to.

2.  Stay off the paint!  Those little strips cost me a pair of shorts once.

You know, out of context, this response could get the thread pulled!

Ooo - that sounded a little dirty, too!

Hehe. 

Thanks for the info on the gear, it's what I expected but I figured I'd ask to see if there was a secret method for dealing with it.