I’m still here and I have an idea. I just have to make time to put it through the keyboard. Thanks for you patience. I have a lot to get out about the Spring Classics, women’s racing and my buddy on his quest to ride with other veterans from West Point to the US Naval Academy. Great story. Keep checking back. See you soon.
Have fun, be safe. I’m going shoveling.
Latest
Check, check
Quality season begins
New casual clothes, new title and a new Ride the Rockies route. It’s been a great week.
I’m big into quality. I love when I buy something I really like and it lasts. I have a 30-year-old Golds Gym sweatshirt. I have a t-shirt from my senior high school track season. My Jake the Snake ‘cross bike is 15-years-old. And while I am riding only my second season on my current carbon fiber frame, I’m plotting for a custom Ericksen ti frame. It’s the last road frame I will ever need.
So I was wonderfully surprised when the gifts my wife bought for my birthday arrived. The first thing that struck me was the bag, itself.
Apres Velo’s bag was a hint to the quality of the apparel.
Even the bag was high-quality! The graphics, the construction, even a little window to see what would soon be my new favorite shirts. Then the shirts, themselves.
My wonderful wife bought the Sufferlandrian collection for me from Apres Velo: two shirt-sleeved t-shirts, one long-sleeved and a polo. All with great, durable stitching, great graphics, and all of the embellishment on the polo was embroidered.
One of three pieces from the Sufferlandrian collection.
A word of warning: when you order from Apres Velo, order your jersey size. These are fashions for cyclists. I usually wear a large t-shirt. My wife wisely ordered extra-large for these shirts. Large would have been uncomfortable.
Of course with this theme, I can announce that I have been awarded the Knighthood of Sufferlandria! I rode about 12 hours on my trainer, through 10 consecutive Sufferfest videos. All were challenging, all were entertaining.
If you are unfamiliar, the Sufferfest is a site that provides indoor training videos, at first for cycling, then triathlon and now running. The videos have structured workouts with a background of professional races. My current favorite is Local Hero, a series of intervals and sprints set against the background of the 2010 UCI Road World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. The creators add a bit of commentary token it fun. At the end of this workout, they added sprints against some of the best sprinters in World Championship history, including my favorite, the 2002 race won by Mario Cipollini. Another warning: remember the 10% rule when increasing your training volume. I ignored it while earning my knighthood. I am missing work as I write because wildly overtraining can result in a compromised immune system.
Hopefully, I will get some fitness gains out of this experience. One thing I know I will get is the Sufferfest Knights kit!
The beautiful Knights of Sufferlandria jersey.
I plan to wear this beautiful kit during this year’s Ride the Rockies! This year could be the most beautiful, certainly of the four I’ve ridden. The ride begins, this year, in Grand Junction on June 13, and will cover seven days, 465 mile and climb over 40,000 feet before ending in quaint, little Westcliffe on Saturday, June 20. The first day sets the tone as the ride tackles the Tour of the Moon, from Grand Junction, through the Colorado National Monument to Fruita and back to Grand Junction.
The Colorado National Monument, setting for the Tour of the Moon.
Day two is all beauty all the time with an epic 98-mile day through Palisade, up and over the highest flattop mountain in the world, the Grand Mesa, and on to lovely little Hotchkiss.
Funky, artsy little place.
It’s another stunning day when the route travels from Hotchkiss through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park to the town of Gunnison on Day three. The route is 78 miles but with the views of the Painted Wall and Blue Mesa Reservoir, it will fly by.
Blue Mesa Res., just east of the Black Canyon.
The ride went through this area in 2012, my first RTR, and I look forward to returning.
Day Four, Tour Director Chandler Smith and the gang give the riders a bit of a break with a 27 or 35-mile ride from Gunnison to Crested Butte. I’m especially excited about this day as I have never been to Crested Butte. With a short day on the bike, riders get lots of time to explore the legendary mountain town. The town has hosted the finish to a couple USA Pro Challenge stages and will be a great rest day.
Iconic Colorado mountain town, Crested Butte will welcome riders at the end of day four.
Day five will be the day everyone talks about for years. The route leaves Crested Butte to ascend 12,126-foot Cottonwood Pass, pass Buena Vista and the Mount Princeton Hot Springs into the Arkansas River town of Salida. As in 2013, Salida will also be hosting the FIBArk Whitewater Festival. The town shows hints of Colorado’s Spanish heritage with low adobe homes in close to a victorian downtown and the Arkansas River running right through the middle. The festival featured kayakers slaloming through the river as well as a fair and live music. Hopefully, riders will have enough energy to come out and enjoy the town.
Welcoming committee
Day six retraces what was to be the penultimate day of RTR 2013, Salida east to the Royal Gorge, over the bridge, over Skyline Drive and into Cañon City. In 2013, a fire engulfed the park around the Royal Gorge, burning several buildings and forcing some quick rerouting, the long way through Westcliffe, Silver Cliff, Wetmore and Florence. The positive of all of that was that the organizers got an idea. Let’s visit that area again.
The funny little town pulls out the stops for RTR
The final day of RTR 2015 will take riders south out of Cañon City, through Florence and over Hardscrabble Pass and descending, finally, through Silver Cliff to the town of Westcliffe. The town is wedged between the Sangre de Cristo mountains to the west and the Wet Mountains to the east.
Finishing up in Westcliffe
I am just beside myself with anticipation for this year’s ride. This is the year I bit the bullet and purchase a GoPro, and what more reason would I need than the sites along this route?
Before we get any further let me acknowledge that the scenic shots in this post were lifted from the RTR web site. I look forward to getting my own this year. I will also get plenty of interviews and touristy pieces, thanks to these wonderful ladies.
Liz and Renee, RTR Staff
In the mean time, I have to drive this cold out so I can SLOWLY ramp my training back up. June is coming and it will be great.
Between now and then, have fun, be safe. I’m going riding.
Timing
Well into the quest for Knighthood, plenty of suffering.
I’m at my day job and I can just barely contain myself. I’m thinking back on a really good week; completed the Tour of Sufferlandria while earning a Knighthood of Sufferlandria. It’s a fitting start to the slow build up to the riding season. Although, for me, the real kickoff event for the 2015 season is Saturday night in Denver. This will be fun.
Saturday night is the Ride the Rockies Route Premier Party at the Seawell Grand Ballroom at the Denver Center for Performing Arts. Yah, it’s kind of a big deal. This year marks the 30th RTR and the party features food by Maggiano’s Little Italy, adult beverages by O’Dell Brewing. Live music by Minor Note Orchestra. All proceeds from the event benefit the Denver Post Community Foundation.
There are usually fun and games, including a chance to win free entry into this year’s RTR; Guess the Route! If someone can guess which town’s this year’s rout will include, that lucky person will get to ride for free. There will be gifts and other surprises, as well.
You still have a few days to order tickets on line at this site for $40. At the door on Saturday, tickets will be $50. I will be there talking with organizers and riders, shooting video and having a great time.
So you haven’t heard of The Sufferfest or the Knights of Sufferlandria? Well, you are missing out! If you live north of New Mexico or higher than about 5,000 feet, you probably have a real winter, as I do. That requires some time on the indoor trainer, rollers or spinning bike. Even if you own TdF videos, “Breaking Away” and “American Flyers” you won’t be training long before you have had enough. The Sufferfest offers a variety of workouts with footage of major pro cycling races. The instructions on the screen are easy to follow, as well as being humorous to break up the suffering. They offer short time trial videos, long climbing videos and everything in between. I own three of the videos, including two that feature the 2013 Giro d’Italia. You can purchase individual videos or, now, download their mobile app which allows users to pay for a month of unlimited use of unlimited videos. If you have a tablet of iPad, or can tolerate the tiny screen of your smart phone, this is likely the best deal.
The Knighthood of Sufferlandria is a daunting challenge involving riding to 10 consecutive Sufferfest videos while taking no more than 10 minutes in between. While you don’t have to, The Sufferfest encourages those questing for the knighthood to use the event to raise money for a favorite charity. I chose the Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation for my ride. I raised a little money, but did this on a whim, so didn’t publicize very well. The Sufferfest offers resources to help get the word out for you, and to help keep track of your quest so it can be verified.
This is not for the faint of heart. Plan your quest well. Use plenty of electrolyte drinks, lots of food and a good fan. The Sufferfest points out that you don’t have to go all out on every video, but make yourself proud.
It’s time to plan and train. Have fun with it and your summer season will be the best!
Have fun, be safe. I’m going riding!
Excitement Begins
After almost 500 miles through wind, snow and heat, we still smile!
Been back from vacation for nearly two weeks. My weight is coming down and I’ve received invitations to two of my three big rides for the season. I’m so excited, I just want to get out and hammer!! But I shouldn’t.
After a season dogged by knee pain, I’ve realized a few more easy rides would not be that bad for me. For the last 18 months or so, it’s been all hammer all the time! While that’s great for the cardio system and a great deal of fun, it can lead to over-use problems. I’m in good shape and have at least three months to my first organized event. Now might be a good time to back off the intensity, just a bit, until the knees feel better.
If you are having these issues, I suggest the same. Also, spend some quality time with a foam roller, massage ball or if you can afford it, massage therapist. Sometimes the problem has to do with the sliding tissues in the front of the legs adhering to each other, creating uncomfortable conditions, including the pulling of the knee cap into the joint.
Also, this is the best time of year to have that bike fit re-assessed. Find a reputable dealer and fitter and spend the money. It will result in long-term savings as you won’t have to spend as much on doctors, PT’s and pharmacists. Those long, ambitious rides will be more comfortable. I was grinding up from State Bridge, Colorado, last season, during day four of Ride the Rockies and was considering the sag wagon. Luckily, my fitter from Boulder’s SportsGarage happened to be on course and made a small but pain-relieving adjustment that allowed me to finish the day, as well as the next two. Get it done ahead of time and it won’t throw doubt and pain into your favorite rides and tours.
For more ideas, go to Mobility WOD for more instruction as to keeping the knees happy and healthy. You can also pick up Dr. Kelly Starrett’s “Becoming a Supple Leopard” to have a reference on hand. The book helps athletes take care of a wide range of movement issues, making for happy muscles and joints.
The Santos Tour Down Under begins next week, kicking off the Pro Cycling season. The best news out of this may by all about the women. Many of the big World Tour events are adding women’s events to the line up. The Amgen Tour of California, The USA Pro Cycling Challenge and the biggie, The Tour de France will add women’s events this year. Last year’s women’s event on the final day of the men’s race proved so popular that more stages have been added. This is the best thing to happen to women’s cycling in a long time, and hopefully will continue.
On the personal side, friends of mine invited me to ride the Triple Bypass with them. If you don’t already know, the Triple Bypass is a bucket-list sort of ride. It is 120 miles over three big mountain passes from Evergreen, Colo. to Avon. For the truly hard-core, the organizers, Team Evergreen, added a second day: the same route, only backward! I will save that for another year.
The wonderful Liz Brown of Ride the Rockies contacted me this week, so I will once again, be riding this week-long tour of the Colorado high country. RTR is not the toughest, but is the oldest and most popular of the Colorado tours. RTR celebrates its 30th ride through the mountains and will announce the route at a party in Downtown Denver on Saturday, February 7. If you want to find out early, go to http://ridetherockies.com/.
The route announcement party runs $40 dollars on line, $50 at the door. It’s a great time and I plan to record a good bit of it for a future post.
So get out and ride. Bundle up or spend some quality time with your trainer. The season will be upon us before you know it.
Have fun, be safe. I’m going riding.
Anew
The beauty of a new year is the ability to reset. Reset goals. Reset attitudes. Reset our bodies and minds. The last year was as crazy as the one before and I see no sign of it letting up. So I’m buckling up for another great ride.
Fun little segway, I just received my invitation to the 2015 Ride the Rockies Route Announcement Party. This year the kickoff to the training season is Saturday, February 7, at the Denver Center for Performing Arts. Last year, the route was a bit of a loupe, beginning in Boulder and heading west and eventually north through Steamboat Springs, before returning to the I-70 Corridor and Golden. The year before was a swing through the Southwest, ending in Colorado Springs. With the major roads of Northern Colorado repaired, for the most part, and awaiting the return of the Pro Cycling Challenge, perhaps RTR will follow suite.
One of the great things about the route announcement is that it creates a tangible path to a goal. I have hit the peak of my winter weight and look forward to the return of longer evenings and longer rides. The route announcement is a solid demarcation between the preseason and preparatory phase and the active, sport specific training phase.
I plan to focus a bit more this year, as I have several big goals in mind. I want to Ride the Rockies again, run the Estes Park Half-Marathon with my wife, enter the Mount Evans Hill Climb and possibly the Double Triple Bipass. This is all on top of the Courage Classic, my favorite annual ride. I hope to train for it using the CrossFit Endurance template, as well.
If you haven’t read my ranting a about CFE, yet, let me quickly sum up: CrossFit Endurance takes the basics of CrossFit, varied high intensity movements, as well as emphasizing skill and form work, to get the most out of a short workout. I should get as much training as I need in about 10 hours a week. I will probably log more time than that as the weather warms simply because I love riding. You get the idea. Right now, however, I’m still trying to take it easy.
Along those lines, I am reading “Trizophrenia: Inside the Minds of a Triathlete” by Jef Mallett. Mallett is a cartoonist with a daily strip called “Frazz” and a contributor to Velo and Inside Triathlon magazines. He is humorous and spot-on I his depiction of triathletes, how we think, how we eat, how we live. It is just the right read while waiting for the snow to melt.
I have a lot of projects in mind, so my head is going a lot faster than my typing. Look forward to the coming season. Make plans. Stash a little bit of money for travel and dream fast, lite dreams.
Have fun, be safe. I’m going riding . . . Soon.
Holiday Blahs
I’m busy doing one of the worst things I can; working in bed. This is when I’m inspired (insert joke here) and when I have time. While bringing my laptop into the bedroom is not good, right now, I don’t feel like it’s the worst thing I’ve done today. It’s Chanukah and I feel like I ate a well-oiled brick.
My wife is Jewish and we agreed a long time ago that we would raise our child, now a 13-year-old, in a Jewish home. Most of the time, I’m okay with that. This time of year, however, is a challenge. Most Chanukah recipes take on an oily sheen. While it tastes good, it’s something my body is not used to, and reacts in anger. Hence, I’m up writing instead of sleeping or even snuggling my wonderful wife.
It’s a double whammy for us age-grouper athletes. Most of our co-workers don’t care what we eat, in fact, often harass us for what they see as odd and tasteless diets. I wish I had a dollar for every time I hear “you don’t need to worry about food . . .”, because they don’t realize by worrying about what I put into my mouth, I look this way. I can’t out ride a bad diet. But there is hope, and a new day.
A fe years back, I had the opportunity to take a “Goal Setting and Positive Self-Talk” seminar with CrossFit Firebreather and DEA agent Greg Amundson. He taught how to catch old bad self talk and turn it around to work for us. He also taught about mantras, short little positive, reinforcing words and phrases to help reenforce the positive self talk. It takes practice, but it works.
I’ve been writing out goals for the coming day and a few affirmations to get me started and keep me going. At night, I review the goals to see how I did. I also write out five things for which I am grateful. I try not to repeat from day to day, but my wife and daughter usually sneak on to the list. The point is to be positive.
Keep working. Keep positive. Keep passing up the frosted sugar cookies. I’m going riding.
CrossFit Goal Setting. I’m the bald guy in the back. Amundson is the smiling baldly in the front.
Longevity
I am a huge fan of things that last. I have a 15-year-old ‘cross bike. I have a 30-year-old t-shirt that I still wear to the gym. I have the first-generation Shimano SPD/flat pedals on which I raced a couple seasons of downhill. This tends to be an indicator of the future performance of newer products by the same brand.
I put a lot of older cold-weather stuff to the test last week. On Sunday, November 30, the temperature at 7,522 above sea level, where I live, was about 45 degrees. At around 5,400 feet in Boulder, the mercury only claimed to about 23. I was underdressed, if numb toes are any indication. My head, arms and chest were fine, however.
I wore my three-year-old Rapha winter cap. This was not the wool version. This was mostly polyester, black, with the traditional short bill and earflaps. It kept me comfortable as could be expected, managed to wick sweat and did not freeze. Around and on top of this, I wore the Castelli Thermal Head Thingy. If you are not familiar, the piece is a multi-functioning tube of fabric with a fleecy inside. While it can function as a bandana, a skullcap or neck gator, I used it like a balaclava, around my neck, under my chin and over the back of my head, about a third of the way. It sealed out cold air around the edges of the Rapha hat’s earflaps and added an extra layer of protection over my ears. I love it.
Proving money isn’t everything and not all of the most expensive stuff is necessarily the best, my relatively inexpensive Performance brand long sleeve jersey was one of many layers. A 13-year-old Craft wind-blocking shirt was my base layer. The outer-most layer was my six-year-old Specialized winter jacket.
The Performance jersey, the newest of all of my clothing for this ride, has wind resisting fabric in the front and sleeves with warm fleece on the inside. It has a full-length front zipper, three traditional rear pockets, though one pocket had a headphone port and an extra zipper pocket for keys. It also has some reflective accents, but those were not a factor on this ride.
The Craft shirt has a wind-blocking chest section with wicking material throughout. It also has a very long tail which is great when bent over handlebars.
The old Specialized jacket has two huge, zippered back pockets, two front hand pockets and one upper chest zippered pocket, perfect for a phone or music player. Wind and water resistant with vents and more reflective accents.
I have some off-brand lobster gloves, SPA-brand, that I picked up at VeloSwap a few years ago. The first SPA product I baught, shoe covers, did not last long, but then my brand new Castelli neoprene shoe covers are also showing distressing ware less than a year after purchase. The lobster gloves have been great, with synthetic leather palm, long, elasticated gauntlet and fleece fabric on the back of the thumb and first finger, perfect for the inevitable cold-weather runny nose.
Again, I’m only pointing all this out because when the day comes that I have to replace any of this, I would happily shop the same brand to replace the ones I have. If you are in the market for new winter riding clothing, or have a cyclist on your holiday shopping list, check these brands and these clothing pieces out.
Have fun, be safe. I’m bundling up and going riding.
I’m still here
Yes, the name of the post was on purpose. Remind those who follow me, and remind myself, that I’m still writing. It’s also being grateful that I’ve lived to this point.
Spent the evening sobbing on the couch with my daughter and my wife. We watched the movie version of our daughter’s current favorite book, “The Fault in Our Stars.” It’s all about teenagers dying of cancer, how they deal with it and how the people they love deal. I’ve only dealt with glancing blows, as far as cancer is concerned. I suppose I am very lucky in that respect. I still get to make new adventures, write new chapters.
It’s been more than 20 years since a casual friend and coworker died of cancer. He was exceptionally cheery in the short time that we worked together. The cancer originated in his lungs, but traveled pretty quickly. We all found out something was up when he didn’t come to work because he woke up partially blind and paralyzed. The tumor was in his brain. When he came back to work, he wore a Denver Broncos hat to cover the dent in his head from the operation. We asked why the doctors didn’t replace the bit of skull, to which Brian replied it had been infected. He told us he was waiting for a titanium replacement. Already a bike geek at that time, I explained to him that titanium parts counted as cool. I was still amazed, however, how he managed to be so cheery. He had a distinct walk after the brain operation and a divot. He explained that, at that point, he was just happy to wake up and hear birds in the morning. Wow. He died the fall of 1993.
My main job these days, is working with another sort of terminal disease. I work in an addiction rehab. A friend asked me recently, “Do you have a background in counseling?” No, I replied, I have an extensive background in addiction. I laughed, hoping he would not feel awkward about the exchange. I can laugh at that disease, now. The Big Book of AA says, “Why shouldn’t we laugh? We have recovered and been given the power to help others.” That is what I try to press upon guys. We survived and now have a chance to truly live.
For me, that’s where the bike comes in. I received my first bicycle when I was eight or nine. It was purple with the big banana seat. I jumped off of curbs. I jumped off of ramps. I jumped off of dirt mounds. I stood and climbed up the steeps and raced down the other side. It was my escape. My folks were divorcing and I was mad as hell. The bike gave me relief.
After spending several years chasing other, less productive escapes, I found the bike again. I had very little money, couldn’t afford a car or insurance. I bought a Schwinn High Sierra mountain bike for $800. At the time, it was middle of the road. Steel, rigid and gun-metal gray. Indexed bar shifters on flat bars. Nothing fancy, but the rebirth of freedom, for me. I rode it to work and eventually back to school.
Years later, American Express moved me to Denver from Omaha. I spent most of 18 months staring out my office window at the mountains, counting down the minutes until I could hop on that old Schwinn and hit the trails. It did not take AmEx long to realize that I was fantasizing a lot more than working. They gave me a big check and escorted me out of the building. I used the check to buy a couple more bikes and race a couple seasons. Oh, and I returned to pursuing a BA in Journalism, as well.
I bought a ‘cross bike in 1999. I didn’t plan to race it so much as commute. I lived about 10 miles from downtown Denver where I worked and went to school. I had spent some time driving to downtown Denver but parking was expensive and I became an angry, angry being when stuck in traffic. The bike gave me freedom from that anger. I liked myself a lot more without the vein popping out of my forehead.
I now live in Estes Park where I still have the ‘cross bike, but have long since sold the mountain bikes. I have a regular road bike and a tri/TT bike, as well. New passions. New freedoms.
All of this is possible because I survived. A lot of people, not the least of which were my parents, helped me along the way. I get to feel the cold air on my face. I get to spend 10 minutes rubbing the zinc oxide over my face, head, neck and arms. I get to spend money on bike repairs, occasional body repairs, odd food and clothing. I say I get to because many don’t. They never have the chance.
I don’t write this to guilt anyone into doing anything. I write to remind myself, and anyone who wishes to read this, that this precious life is pretty short and less predictable. No one knows how many days he or she will be allotted. We don’t know what’s next. I don’t know how I managed to get to this age, with his beautiful family in this beautiful town. I feel I’m living a life beyond regulation time. I want to make the most of it.
This is the most important part I like to pass on to the seemingly ship-wrecked souls I meet at the rehab – We have found solid ground. We have a second chance. What do you want to do with it?
I don’t really believe in either heaven nor hell. I have seen hell in many forms and don’t believe in a loving God who would send the tortured to such a place, only to be tortured more. You could try to send me examples of those you feel need to be tortured forever, but I won’t be convinced that there is a place for that.
I believe that when we are done, we are done. Nothing more. I believe that both heaven and hell are places right here. It is up to us to both see this and to make it. My bit of heaven, my salvation, began when I rediscovered the bike. Now I try to use this simple, efficient, elegant machine to bring a bit of paradise to the fellow sufferers who come to this salvation after me.
I hope all who read this are finding their Paradise, their salvation. In this time of Thanksgiving, I hope your hearts, as well as bellies and bike stands, are full.
Have fun, be safe. I’m going riding.
Zoe and I lounge on the couch.
Voter Lookup
If it matters to you, and it should, get out and vote.
A few cool things
While summer is great in the Rockies, cold comes quickly at 7,522 ft., or higher!
The air is getting cooler. I’m enjoying my oatmeal with fruit, almond butter and protein powder. Occasionally, motivating to get out and ride can be challenge. I have to really psych up to get out when it’s 40 degrees and raining. Sometimes, a cool new gadget or clothing will do it.
Last July, I swung by an Apple Store in one of the sprawling suburbs between Denver and Boulder and bought a Wahoo Fitness RFLKT, a sort of monitor for my fitness apps on my iPhone.Initially, it was kind of a pain. It has a wonderful display, large at 2.4″x1.6″. It takes a bit to get threw the setup and you need the Wahoo Utility and Wahoo Fitness apps. Even then, you have to be careful to make sure your Bluetooth is on before you turn your RFLKT on or, at least with the original firmware, the device can lock up. I had to have an extra power booster as the Bluetooth and GPS connection sucked down my iPhone battery pretty quickly. When it works, however, it does so beautifully.
The readout seems a bit slower than the old magnet-on-wheel bike computer, as the device depends on the GPS connection on your iPhone. The big numbers and custom screens are very easy to read. I had a gripe about their mounting brackets, but that has been remedied, as well, as Wahoo’s customer service is fantastic.
The first mounting devices required a small metal tool to get the RFLKT out if I wanted to switch from, for example, the handle bar mount on my road bike to the stem mount on my tri bike. I contacted Wahoo fitness to request another little metal tool, as I lost the first one, and to ask about an error message and Megan Powers of Wahoo Fitness Support got back to me via e-mail the same day. After analyzing my issue, Megan sent me the re-designed mounts, which only require that you have thumbs, as well as a new battery, as the error message thought I needed a new one. I can’t say enough about the great customer service of Wahoo. At $99, the reflect is competitive with the more traditional bike computers and a lot less expensive than the Garmin offerings.
Wide screen, big numbers and multiple, thumb-tab mounts makes the Wahoo RFLKT a great product.
I have become enamored by the Castelli Gaba convertible jacket. I saw several during our chilly Ride the Rockies this year. I purchased the NanoFlex knee warmers, made of essentially the same fabric, and they have been pretty great. Well, it seems a lot of people, including several other bike clothing manufacturers, like the Gaba jacket. It is designed to be wind-proof, water-proof and yet breathable, as well as having removable long sleeves. Pactimo, a Colorado company, has their own jacket that I hope to get my hands on at some point this winter. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Have fun, be safe. I’m going riding.
Walt Out West 