Per my last post I am still into adventure, the arctic and seeing places around where I live, which is now Akron/Cleveland area in Northeast Ohio.
I'm single again, so I'm sad, but I think it was the right choice for me and for her, because after all a relationship is only good if its a two way street. There's someone else I'm interested in now, but doesn't look like that will go anywhere...that said I feel like I just had two breakups! ugh!
Bah! On to what I want to talk about, which is gear. As in "hi my name is Dilley and I have a problem. I love gear. I love gear maybe more than the actual adventures. Sometimes I go on the adventures just because I think the gear needs it more than I do."
In order to talk more about gear, rather than just buying gear I'll tell you about
Yesterday's Adventures!
I rode my bike up the towpath to Penninsula and then rode over to the ledges and hiked the loop trail, saw the lookout and then rode all the way home.
It was cold and it was windy. Wind was exacerbated by the hills, especially leaving the ledges when I was NOT warmed up at all and there was a big long downhill.
Well, for starters it was a patagonia day up top.
Patagonia classic retro x cardigan. This is basically a super furry (gray in my case) fleece jacket, more like fur really with a (red) polyester windproof liner material, a chest pocket and two big hand pockets. Mens version comes without a hood so my good friend was nice enough to work with me on finding materials and sewing one on...
Here is pre and post hood:
Underneath that was more than just some beads and chest hair. I had a "vintage" (at this point since it was from Freshman year in high school 1990) capilene midweight long sleeve top.
Patagonia expedition weight capilene hat rounded out the top part.
On the bottom I had some bib shorts and my vintage "Lana Vergine" Italian tights that are basically never too warm.
So the temperature was in the mid to high 20's with some wind (especially on the downhills) and I took off around 2pm. Sunny beautiful day too :-)
Let's start with the capilene hat.
For cycling it is nearly perfect. It's a little light in terms of blocking any wind, but when you're up and at a good clip it means it's not too hot, which most hats usually are. Of course above a certain temperature a headband is more than enough, but for many things below about 35 deg F the Patagonia hat is ideal.
On top the patagonia midweight capilene is perfect for movement in the less than about 35 deg range as the first layer or baselayer. It's just a long sleeve crewneck and doesn't fit super tight, but I actually just had it taken in to be more form fitting, but it doesn't fit like bike shorts or anything that's for sure. That makes a difference for sure. For example if you have a midweight capilene and it fits super tight it will be far warmer than if just fitted/tailored fit.
Onto the classic super duper furry patagonia jacket with a polyester (like nylon) liner. It's an extremely breathable almost fur like fleece with a very thin slick lining. So the cold is kept at bay pretty well, but I don't think it's designed for winds encountered while cycling...more like for cross country skiing and mountain climbing. That said it did really well until trying to go downhill towards dusk...I should have had a shell on towards the end...all I had was a really thin cheesy vest from adidas. So at the end of the day I was fine, but it just takes a few miles of riding to warm up that jacket if you didn't have a shell. Still its not ideal.
Lately the ideal setup has been a midweight baselayer, hardfaced and somewhat thin fleece and a vest that has arms that zip on to it that is also 100% windproof...
On to footwear: Toes were fine with some thick, tightly woven very old smartwool brand socks. They were inside the Shimano winter cycling shoes. Normally I wear some breathable neoprene with a fleece pile lining (socks) with a thin liner type sock (no cotton)!
Next up - The Ultimate Hoody!!!
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