riding in the rain is fine, as long as you have good tyres and proper gear
if you've never ridden before apart from your license test, and you just got your bike, i reckon you should practise a bit during early morning or night when its dry and less traffic just to get used to your bike
after that start riding wherever and whenever
oh before you ride in the rain, make sure you dont have arrowmaxes as tyres
also as people above suggested, stay a good distance behind other cars during wet weather
i've had way too many narrow misses coz the driver in front of me suddenly decided to stop and wait for the left lane to clear or whatever