Bicycle Fixation Weblog
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05/14/2014: "The Few. The Proud. The Woolly."
So here it was, predicted to be a ninety-seven degrees Fahrenheit, and hotter in South Pasadena, where I was headed. Even though I chose to cut the four most boring miles out with a stint on the subway, that left me thirty-two miles of bicycling, with a number of hills involved, and two appointments. (Which became three during the course of the day.)However to keep myself fresh and presentable for those appointments?
The short answer: wool. Yes, wool. Sheep hair. Supposedly for winter only. (Just don't tell that to the Bedouin, with their woolen robes....)
Oaky, I have to make this into a sales pitch. because the wool clothes we sell keep this site going, but they really are wonderful in warmer weather. After all, I designed them myself, right here, with rigorous road testing of prototypes for months, sometimes.
Everyone knows that wool keeps you warm in the fall and winter, and that it dries quickly if it gets wet in a rainstorm. But wool in heat seems counterintuitive to most folks.
But, as we know from the tired arguments NIMBY's present when they argue against bike lanes, "gut feelings" are generally nothing more than gas. Just as slowing traffic reduces congestion in real life, and trading parking for bikeways improves business, wool can be perfect in blast-furnace temperatures. Nothing wicks moisture better, turning you into a big evaporative cooler.
Today I wore wool gabardine pants, a wool gab hat, and a stretch merino wool T-shirt…and arrived at each destination dry and comfortable.
By contrast, my wife, whom a family obligation cornered into driving eighty miles yesterday, came home drenched and frazzled in her cotton duds, despite her little car's air conditioning.
Be brave, be bold. Be comfortable: try some of our wool cycling clothes today, even though summer's approaching. You will, as our tag line puts it, Look Good, Feel Good, and Ride Happy.
