The recent rain has made me aware of how going car free is going to require some tough rides and a lot better bad weather gear than I currently have. In the past two weeks I've twice ridden downtown in the afternoon in a steady rain. Once I arrived my shoes and socks were completely soaked, which made sitting for a couple of hours rather unpleasant. My windbreaker jacket also doesn't cut it when there is a heavy rain, which I discovered during yesterday's ride.
The goal is to be able to ride somewhere and get there in relative comfort and not require a complete change of clothes and a towel to be dry. I know I need to get some better outer layers but then I'm afraid of getting the under layers all sweaty.
If anyone has any recommendations for personally tested cycling gear to help me achieve the above goals, I am all ears.
-- Oliver
P.S. The Volpe, my full fendered geared bike is operational again, thanks to the awesome set of guys (you too, Nate) at MWC. This should be a big help in preventing soaked feet.
Tour Divide 2016
9 years ago
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4 comments:
Any gore-tex or any other branded water proof jacket will keep you dry as long as you can keep the micro climate inside the jacket from building up too much moisture. Some of the additional features that a jacket might have would be pit-zips to help to relieve the micro climate of the moisture build-up...(There are a lot of fabrics that will keep out the moisture. How well they manage the moisture inside is another story. Gore-tex is by far the best. It has guarantees on it's performance for the lifetime of the material. Gore-tex also lasts the longest, butits downfall of course is that it costs the most. (If you can appreciate Phil Hubs and King Headsets this might be a good choice.)
Make sure the jacket fits in a cycling position and that you can run the zippers with winter gloves on.:) An articulated hood is nice or a hood that fits under the helmet works too. Just don't get anything that cuts into your peripheral vision.
I have been using a Patagonia lightweight waterproof jacket for the last 4 years and have found it to be cost affective and to perform up to the tasks at hand.
Something like the rainshadow jacket or the jet stream should fit you fine. Or you could go the gore route and find something too.
Most outdoor companies have a lightweight jacket that would suite your needs. The tooth stocks patagonia and cw has some pearl waterproof jackets that are pretty nice too.
No jacket is going to work that well in the summer rainy season. It's too hot and the inside of the jacket is as wet as the outside. This is when a wool light weight works well or just something that dries fast that you can change out of.
It's also important to work out your layering systems and note how warm you are with the blends of sweaters or shirts you are wearing. Stay away from cotton because onces it's wet it's cold and will not dry. Wool unders or synthetics work well as do burly wool sweaters...NO COTTON!!
Good Luck.
So to better answer your question:
Patagonia Light weight water proof jacket.
Three Layer Gore-Tex Bibs with side zips
These are my proven water wear.
Waterproof shoe covers!
I thought I saw a CompuTrainer in the basement. Maybe you could use that? ;)
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