My Bike Is My Car

I’ve had two good opportunities to try out my rain gear this week.

My “all wool” strategy worked very well on a commute where I spent a good thirty minutes or more in rain. I wore medium thickness wool socks (with biking sandals), wool underwear, wool tights, Icebreaker wool beanie, and an REI wool long sleeve crew neck shirt. For gloves I had the Descente Cold Front to keep me warm and dry. Still in experimentation mode, I brought along my Pearl Izumi water-resistant vest, my North Face rain shell, and a fleece jacket. After about 10 minutes in the rain I put on the fleece jacket. That lasted one or two long blocks before I felt way too warm. Took that off and decided to go with just the wool shirt and the Pearl Izumi vest to keep my torso a little more protected. I said to myself: let the rain soak my shirt and we’ll see how well this wool strategy works.  And it does work.

Here’s why it works to go with only wool in the rain. The shirt does become wet, yes. But since I notice no change in temperature and continue to feel warm, there is no discomfort in letting the wool get wet. Of course I can feel the wetness, but only as a wet sensation on the skin, not as coldness or (worse) clammy. And my skin continues to breathe and feel just as if it were dry.

When I arrived at my destination it did not take long at all for the wool to dry out. Again, there was no discomfort wearing the same clothes for more than four hours before my return ride home. 

Since it was very windy coming home I decided to try a different approach. Same wool shirt, but now with the waterproof North Face shell. When I arrived home ten miles later the inside of the shell and the shirt were completely soaked with sweat and although I was never cold, the sensation when I got off the bike was not pleasant. I was very relieved to strip the shell and shirt off and take a shower immediately.

Today I rode for about six hours continuously in the rain. I wore the thickest wool socks I could find (REI’s “expedition” weight), a polyester base layer shirt, light wool sweater over that, North Face rain shell, polyester wicking underwear, my Ibex wool + poly tights, Icebreaker beanie, Descente gloves. The gloves were fantastic. Although by the end of the ride they were completely soaked they miraculously maintained their warmth. The only time they revealed how disgustingly wet they were was in the act of taking them off or putting them on. Once in them again, however, they were fine. The socks with the sandals worked very well, too. I went through long puddles that completely soaked them but never once felt any discomfort. The tights were soaked but also held up pretty well considering the amount of water. The poly-wool blend in the front got a little cold and uncomfortable by the end, but the my backside stayed comfy. Again, the Icebreaker beanie was absolutely perfect. Stayed warm even through the wetness. Where I continued to have trouble is with my torso. The supposedly rain-proof shell got soaked and the poly baselayer shirt became less and less comfortable. I think that if I had had a light or mid-weight wool shirt on instead I would have been perfectly fine all the way to the end.