Hunt down the weather man!
Sunday morning was my chance to get out on a 45 mile ride. I checked the weather the night before, laid the kit out for an 8am start, everything was ready. I got up, looked out the window, and it was not the sunny morning I had been promised, but a grey, warm, wet and windy morning! I though, "OK, weather man was a little off this morning, so I head out in Brynje Super micro mesh c-shirt, Sprint Zip polo with my trusty Altura Transfomer windproof over it all......thinking the rain would very soon clear.
An hour and a half into the ride with rain still coming down, wet feet and gloves I was really cursing whoever wrote the forecast I read the night before! However, it turned into a positive experience all said and done.
I'm sure you will not be surprised to hear that the Brynje kit kept me warm and dry because the micro mesh kept the now wet Sprint shirt away from my body, and continued to work to push the sweat from my body.
The Altura Transformer jacket stayed very much windproof, despite being pretty soaked.....I was very impressed by this, and I would have been pretty miserable if the wind started cutting through. As it was, even when the outer layer was wet, my inner layers kept working. I did have a big disappointment though. My SealSkin socks......that I have previously raved about.....got soaked! Now there are two possibilities here:
To be honest, the ride has got me thinking more about the philosophy of not wearing "waterproof" jackets. A friend in the outdoor clothing business said "even the best waterproof fabric can only move a fraction of the water you would need it to do to keep up with your bodie's rate of sweat". This pretty much means that anytime you put on a waterproof you may as well put on plastic bag! OK, that's a little extreme, but you are creating more of a moisture problem potentially, than if you had a more breathable windproof fabric which you allowed to get wet....in combination with the right base layer capable of highly effective moisture transfer.....which base layer is that I hear you ask? For me, it's Brynje mesh.
An hour and a half into the ride with rain still coming down, wet feet and gloves I was really cursing whoever wrote the forecast I read the night before! However, it turned into a positive experience all said and done.
I'm sure you will not be surprised to hear that the Brynje kit kept me warm and dry because the micro mesh kept the now wet Sprint shirt away from my body, and continued to work to push the sweat from my body.
The Altura Transformer jacket stayed very much windproof, despite being pretty soaked.....I was very impressed by this, and I would have been pretty miserable if the wind started cutting through. As it was, even when the outer layer was wet, my inner layers kept working. I did have a big disappointment though. My SealSkin socks......that I have previously raved about.....got soaked! Now there are two possibilities here:
- One, they are old and worn out (not convinced of this)
- My tights were wet, and water was running down my leg and behind the socks protective membrane thus soaking my feet
To be honest, the ride has got me thinking more about the philosophy of not wearing "waterproof" jackets. A friend in the outdoor clothing business said "even the best waterproof fabric can only move a fraction of the water you would need it to do to keep up with your bodie's rate of sweat". This pretty much means that anytime you put on a waterproof you may as well put on plastic bag! OK, that's a little extreme, but you are creating more of a moisture problem potentially, than if you had a more breathable windproof fabric which you allowed to get wet....in combination with the right base layer capable of highly effective moisture transfer.....which base layer is that I hear you ask? For me, it's Brynje mesh.
