Gore Bike Wear Power 2.0 Shorts
October 18, 2011
Bike shorts are a piece of gear that you should not skimp on. Your most delicate flesh is at stake – treat it well! I generally believe that when it comes to bike shorts, you get what you pay for and the cheap ones are just not worth it. Gore is not cheap but not extremely spendy either, so it’s a great option considering the shorts are super high quality, on par with Rapha if you ask my delicate bits. I really like the chamois; it seems to have more padding than most and doesn’t chafe as much as other chamois. I tend to have problems with chafing so I have promoted these shorts to the top of the pile, as much because of the fit and material as the chamois.
The material is super awesome, matte-ish spandex without the ugly shine and without the squeeze factor. It’s very soft and silky feeling without being slippery. I live in fear of snags in beautiful fabric like this, so if you want to keep these shorts looking nice, keep velcro well away from them! I have to hand it to Cynthia from Gore who sized these shorts for me – I usually wear a small so at first I was a tad affronted when I saw the L on the label…but Cynthia assured me that the sizing was a little off and she was right; they fit perfectly. I’d recommend sizing up at least one size in these shorts.
I really love that I can’t feel the silicone grippers. I usually dislike grippers but these are really unobtrusive. The waistband is wide and comfortable with no drawstring, which I really like as well. Comfort is the deciding factor in making these shorts a real winner – you can hardly tell you’re wearing weird diaper-like bike shorts. All in all, a super comfortable short at a reasonable price.
Gore Active Shell
October 17, 2011
Gore is rad. That is one organized company, there. Last month their crack PR team arranged a press trip for 8-10 writers, journalists, and bloggers to introduce the new Active Shell technology. We assembled in Seattle amidst a beautiful bonus summer to partake of the activites including a bike ride, a hike, and a climbing session.
I arrived just in time to catch the shuttle to the team dinner, at which we were fed more food than we thought possible to prepare. Some of the guys didn’t save room for dessert, but I’m proud to say that all of the women powered up to partake of all the courses. We were joined at dinner by the Gore PR team who are so well-traveled and interesting that just meeting them felt like dining with some sort of celebrity. Tom Boyle of Gore watched me try wine after wine without finding what I liked, and graciously took charge of the wine list, putting his French wine training to work and ordering our table a bottle that we all loved. Now this is my kind of press trip!
The awesome thing about press trips with outdoor journalists is that we are not fussy about transportation. Too Type-A to wait for taxis, we energetically hoofed it a few blocks to the Gore Active Shell launch party. My recap of this party is going to be limited because I’m not a young gun anymore and the blaring music and rowdy crowd had me cowering in the vestibule corner. I was relieved that there were others for whom an early night was desirable. The spunky young ones stayed on to dance the night away as us more matured folk headed back to our downtown hotel, but not without gaining a few more grey hairs as our taxi driver sped us through the downtown core at warp speeds.
The next morning we learned about the history of Gore-Tex which, as a friend put it, is awesome because the brand was formed out of rage and frustration. If you don’t know the story, Bob Gore was working to stretch a new material into a weavable fabric, had trouble with it, and in annoyance yanked on it, stretching it into its waterproof, breathable current form. Every time I kick my snowblower I hope to make a similarly lucrative discovery, but it has not happened yet. Gore is such an inspiration because I don’t have to let go of my inner rage in order to succeed; or at least that’s the lesson I took from the story.
After the presentation we were issued our Gore garments and bussed off to enjoy a bike ride “through a variety of environments.” In case you’ve never worked with PR, that wording is a clue that something unusual is about to happen. Sure enough, we were shunted through a very long, dark, and COLD tunnel that was formerly a train tunnel. I had dressed for a warm day so I was happy to have my Gore-Tex Active Shell for the few miles through the tunnel! After eleven miles of riding, we came across our climbing guides who had set up several top ropes on routes of varying difficulty. We all had a blast climbing, then were stuffed with pizza and beer, and chauffered back to the city where we prepared to catch our flights home. What a whirlwind!
I was issued a Gore-Tex Active Shell jacket called the Firefox (see, USA manufacturers? THAT’S how you name a women’s jacket) made by Mountain Equipment out of the UK. Since our outing with Gore was in nice weather, I got to take it home and put it through its paces in the drizzly and cold Alaska fall. It has quickly become my favorite wet weather jacket. The Active Shell material is super light and thin, and so far has indeed been utterly waterproof. It’s pretty darn breathable, too, though I’m a terrible tester of that aspect. I run or climb as hard as I can and then expect to be wicked perfectly dry by my base layer and breathable shell. It doesn’t work that way, so, yes, I sweated. But I love the fabric and I think it has huge applicability for pants, too. It’s so light that it’s easy to take along in even the smallest pack. Bonus – the super bright colors are really great! No more dull earth tones and smarmy “girly” pastels. These are bold and bright – love it! I won’t go on too much about the Firefox other than to say I’m sorry that it can’t be had in the US. For my readers in the UK, let me say that this jacket is totally worth the money – the fit is great and the Gore-Tex Active Shell is a really awesome fabric.
Thanks to Gore for the wonderful introduction to this new fabric. I am anxious to see the manufacturers put it to use.
