Club Ride Go Long Shirt: Double Duty

Time was if you’re weren’t into lycra or neon, you were stuck with cotton if you wanted to ride your bike around town. It’s no big deal if you’re a hard-core roadie, but if you just want to get to the Alehouse Pub without spending gas money, you’d either be sporting day-glow lycra or a sweat-soaked t-shirt. Luckily, that's no longer the case.

My favorite trend in outdoor gear is the way bicycling companies are working towards making tech gear that doesn’t look like tech gear - clothes that perform on a ride, but also look good once the riding’s done.

The hard part about making gear that looks good is making feel good on a ride. Usually, long sleeve collared shirts are far too hot to ride, or they soak up and retain sweat like a sponge, and any shirt that fits well doesn’t easily accommodate a cyclist’s hunched posture.

After a few near-misses in trying out commuter wear, it looks like I’ve found a winner. I’ve been testing the small Idaho-based company Club Ride’s Go Long shirt ($95), and it hits the mark both on and off the bike.

The styling of this shirt is sweet - a neo-western vibe, right down to the pearl snap buttons - and the slim cut is extremely stretchy, thanks to its polyester fabric. I took it to barbecues and ran errands without garnering the attention that a traditional cycling jersey would. The only comments I heard were compliments on how sharp it looked, followed by surprise that it was a cycling shirt.

Of course, a performance piece is only as good as its performance. 

I was worried about wearing a full-sleeve shirt during rides in a Redding summer, but the polyester is lightweight and breathable, and the full-length vents along both sides of the shirt kept things cool on a 20-mile test ride. When I’d sweat during a commute, the fabric would wick it up and dry it out within minutes. No more looking like I was chased by a dog to work. It was a bit chilly during colder rides, but the Go Long has a zipper underneath the snap buttons to help stave off wind chill.

The only thing that betrays the shirt’s true nature as a cycling jersey is its gear pocket in the back. It’s big enough to hold plenty of food and it’s got a headphone port. I had my iPhone, two Honey Stinger Waffles, and a Brubar in the back with room to spare.

The Go Long is a rare combination of beauty and brawn; it kicks butt and it looks good doing it.

Take a closer look at ClubRideApparel.com.

Enjoy Magazine: Chasing Waterfalls

An article I wrote for a local magazine just published: 

Read the web version at EnjoyMagazine.net...

Wired.com: Mizuno Prophecy Review

While most shoe companies are chasing the minimalist craze and removing the bottoms of their shoes, Mizuno is going against the trend by doing away with the middle.

There’s a big hole right where the cushioning should be on Mizuno’s Wave Prophecy road shoe. In lieu of the usual EVA foam midsole — usually the first part of running shoes to break down — Mizuno has substituted the Wave Infinity Plate, a system of the company’s own design that consists of two TPU plates connected at ten points along the shoe by rubber baffles. In addition to potentially lasting longer than traditional soles, the plate is meant to provide better cushioning and a more responsive stride for a variety of different running styles. And for $200 a pair, these shoes had certainly better knock one’s socks off.

Read the rest of the article at Wired.com....

Columbia Spring2012 Event

Last Tuesday I attended Columbia Sportswear's Spring 2012 Gear Preview event at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. The press event consisted of a presentation in the museum's planetarium, followed by a tour of the museum that was interspersed with mini-labs in which Columbia employees wearing white lab coats demonstrated the company's new technology.

The idea that was emphasized most during the event was Columbia's aversion to slow, incremental progress in gear. Instead, they're advocating that the outdoor gear industry grow in leaps and bounds, in immediately quantifiable ways. It's an ambitious thought, but certainly a welcome one.

To prove this point, the folks at Columbia rolled out some unique gear on their quest to bring about what they called "The End of Wet" and "The End of Sweat."

On the apparel side, Omni-Wick EVAP jackets feature an interior lining designed to pick up sweat and spread it over a wide surface area that dissipates sweat and allows it to evaporate quickly. They also featured bug repellent mesh jackets, as well as my favorite - the Omni-Freeze ICE fabric. It's treated with a powder coating that cools down when it gets wet (essentially the polar opposite version of Mizuno's Breath Thermo fabric). I asked one of Columbia's executives during dinner what the secret powder was, and he mentioned that it's something that we eat every day. Guess that rules out freon.

 

We were given an arm sleeve of the fabric and had it sprayed with water, and the drop in temperature was noticeable. This could be great news for Redding athletes, where temps average in the triple digits during the summer months.

Columbia also unveiled a fleet of footwear that they'll be rolling out next year. These shoes are embracing the popular minimalist movement with lightweight, waterproof/breathable materials, including Columbia's Techlite midsole foam.

Speaking of their TechLite foam, one of the biggest reveals of the evening was Columbia's new line of backpacks. The packs range from 10- to 65- liters, and one of their most striking features is the Techlite foam straps with breathable mesh venting. Haven't seen shoe foam in a backpack before.

Columbia is also adding sleeping bags in Spring 2012. The sleeping bags continue the "leaps and bounds" theme by lining the interior with metallic Omni-Heat lining, which is designed to reflect body heat back to the wearer. The bags will be available with down or synthetic insulation, and could be a boon to anybody who tends to sleep cold.

If the Spring 2012 line is any indication, it looks like Columbia isn't averse to taking some chances in pushing outdoor gear to new heights. It's nothing if not ambitious, and other companies should consider the gauntlet thrown. Good for Columbia.

 Good for us, too.