Wooly Nelson
Ok, I normally don’t like to provoke Casey on topics that are pretty much opinion, but here it goes.
When we were at the 24 hours of Seven Springs Casey had a nice wool jacket. I think it was Filson, either way it looked like it was high quality. He also had an Arc’teryx jacket with gore-tex.
Casey always spouts the virtues of wool and complains about gore-tex when his jacket can’t wick fast enough.
But I do remember that the wool jacket was soaked and wasn’t going to dry out any time soon in the conditions we were in.
So I guess my question is what is the solution? Or do basically all materials suck when it comes to really we cold conditions?
Sheep may be warm in the rain as they regulate their body temperature with the wool coats but they are wet and probably not happy about that.
James
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arc’teryx is made out of dinosaur fossil’s right?! So it’s natural and totally kosher. I’m down with it!
ok, hows this for a point? gore tex says it does something, in fact it guarentees something, that it doesnt do. its guarenteed to keep you dry. well it doesnt. not only does it wet out under excessive, or even just insitent rain, but it also wicks so slowly that you get wet from the inside out. either way you get wet. now, here is fact, not conjecture or opinion. when goretex gets wet it stops providing warmth, because the inner layer of whatever you are wearing gets wet, and its sythetic, so your fleece is next to worthless thermally. you’d be better off stuffing your fleece with leaves or cat tail down, than to sit around in a wet fleece.
wool on the other hand, stays naturally water resistant for quite a long time. case in point, my pendleton jacket stayed dry for a day and a half of constant rain, while my gore jacket lasted under 2 hours. when you put on wet wool, its uncomfortable at first, but no more so than wet fleece, but it soon warms you up and it doesnt feel wet, just warm. when it pours for days in england, i think the sheep eventually wet out, but at least they are warm. i think we should look more towards rainy climates like england for wet weather gear knowledge. they dont wear goretex there. i was in london for a week, it never stopped raining, and all people wore was waxed cotton overcoats, rain shoes, and umbrellas. there was no no no sythetics. dont you think they know something we dont, seeing that rain is a perpetual part of thier everyday exsistance? i think we need to seriously reexamine the virtues of so called technology and techno based solutions to age old problems. starmer said it himself, when he rode garys bike, that the high quality steel fork was more than comfortable for his lap, this just after he had ridden the same lap on his bike with a supposedly top shelf albeit slightly old race fork.
oh and casey’s a crotchedy dork. ha.
Wool is good. Especially on sale at target. What I’ve found works best for me is a wool jersey/sweater under a nylon shell. You’ll be warm and wet instead of cols and wet, even when you stop. Of course, its raining this morning and I bailed on the commute and drove to work, so what the heck do I know.