Rain-out consolation ride

Well, since the road trip was a wash out, Ed the Tall and I headed out on a Sat morning to a trail a hour or so away that should bear the wet weather pretty well.  We ended up getting 3 hours or so of single track riding on our single speeds, Ed on his beloved Selma, and I on the SS Stumpy with the new SID World Cup fork on there.

Ed had never been there and so it was a treat to show off the trail and it's joys.  We seldom get the chance to ride as much singletrack as you can handle in a day.  Typically the trails in SO Cal are pretty short in length, but this one goes for miles and miles.  The soil is mostly decomposed granite so it bears up well in wet weather.  We were dressed for some soup but it never really was too bad at all.  I am sure glad that we had a rack for the bikes though instead of shoehorning two sloppy 29ers into the back of my trusty 3.  I was using the Kuat NV Core rack and that was solid and stable for the trip.  I did have to take off my tool bag from the saddle to eliminate some handlebar interference.  Super easy to get bikes on and off...very nice.

Ed had geared down for the cancelled trip and I never did, so I was jealous of his 32x21 gearing and 180mm cranks.  I need to regear when I come here again.  34x21 is not enough for this trail and my old legs.  And I think I am moving back to 180mm cranks to see what that feels like after being on 175s for a while now.  We shall see.

We both had on those Gore Phantom II jackets we bought on sale and those have been just great for this season's use.  I peeled the sleeves off to see how it was as a vest and sleeves or not, the jacket is a great balance of water shedding, warmth, breathability, and, most especially, wind-proof-ness.  Love it.

The carbon Stumpy is a very competent bike and although it is not a 'trailbike' SS by nature, it never held me back.  The SID fork with the RCT3 damper was stunningly good for SS use.  I ran it in the middle platform position with the low speed compression dial two clicks 'in'.  Fabulous for the way single speeds are ridden.  I had a stable fork with basically no bob out of the saddle but it would move when I needed it to with only a feeling of 'firmness' to the travel.  Super, super, super and the open setting was so much better than the old Fox it replaced.

Sweet bike for sure.

I think that trail requires more riding and soon.  You can make this into a dawn to dusk trail day if you have the moxie.

Clean bikes...for now.

Gore Phantom jacket with sleeves removed.

Red version of that Phantom soft-shell jacket.

Brothers of the knicker.

Clothing makes the man.

This is a great jacket.  Really.  And it may have not made this man anything other than warmer and happier, but I will take that in spades!  I found a great deal on what I think is last year's version of the Gore Phantom 2.0 jacket pictured here and bought it as a Christmas present from the wifey to me.  Mine is just as obnoxiously yellow but I will not be overlooked on the trail!

I was looking for that much coveted single winter overgarment that will allow me to climb without being a human sauna and still not be a popsicle on the descents.  In So Cal we have a typical 'binge and purge' riding experience where we get right out of the gate and climb, climb, climb, then drop like a stone.  That makes for a difficult scenario to dress for.  It also gets windy here, very windy and typically that is a cold wind.  Maybe not Minot, ND, cold and windy, but still it will do to make you miserable on a longer ride.

And I tend to suffer consequences when my core temps drop or even are made to feel chilly.  I have a mild case of Raynaud's, a malady that affects circulation in the extremities.  It is triggered when the body thinks it is going to be getting cold, like when cold air moves across a sweat soaked chest on a bike ride.  So my little piggies will go dead numb like right now even when I am not that cold anywhere else.  It sucks.

So this Gore jacket has been flat out amazing and may well be the single best piece of Fall/Winter gear I have in my closet.  I have four rides on it now in temps in the low 40s to the mid 50s, all in the wind.  I have worn it so far each time with only a thin long sleeve base layer under it and above wool knickers but that has been it for upper body layers...the base and the Gore Phantom II.  The first ride was a revelation.  No wind got through the jacket from the front at all and I was not overheated but it was an easy ride.  Still, I had hopes.

The next ride was on a mid to low 50s temp day with strong winds and we climbed for 45 minutes or so pretty much on a constant grade.  I was on the SS, so I was putting out some wattage.  I never felt like I was over heating and when we flipped the ride around and dropped at 25mph back to the cars, I added warmer gloves and a warmer head cover but kept the jacket on as the only top coat.  I never was uncomfortable and even at the bottom, where I could feel the cold creeping through the jacket, I was quite comfortable.  Simply amazing.

Today the ride began on a mid to upper 40s day with strong winds.  During the ride it rained and hailed as a cell moved over us.  I did a one hour loop that climbs then drops as usual and the Gore jacket was a sweet deal, I tell ya.  I was just beginning to feel that I needed another layer under the jacket as the temps dropped into the 30s, but I bet a light fleece or merino light-to-mid weight jersey over the base layer and I would have been good well into the 30s.  As it was, the light rain/sleet and hail beaded up and the wind never penetrated the jacket.  It rocked.

Now why do I write all this?  Well I guess that, if you are thinking about spending $180.00 on a single piece of technical clothing, you may like to know it works.   I got this on sale for less than half that, but honestly, after having this for a while now, I would pay full boat for it.  I like it that much.

As for the Raynauds, today was a day that would normally have me with white and frozen digits by the end of the ride and it really seems to have helped by not having the wind be a factor in dropping my core body temp.

Every so often I get a product that meets and then exceeds my expectations and this jacket has done that in spades.

Thanks Gore Wear.