I’ve been waiting all week for my Klim Altitude jacket to show up. It finally arrived on Thursday after what felt like an eternity.
First impressions of it have left me with stars in my eyes. The fit and finish is wonderful but I think it takes weeks and months to know whether or not you love a riding garment.
Does this jacket make me look waterproof?
It is at this point in our program where everyone can thank me for buying waterproof gear. We will be experiencing a drought from here on 😀
On Thursday morning while being completely useless at work before the long 4th of July weekend, I decided to check out the ladies Klim gear on Revzilla.com. You know, “just looking.”
I don’t NEED new gear. I’ve got more jackets than I can possibly use. Just last spring I bought myself 2 new REV’IT jackets. What all of the gear – I’m apparently hoarding – has in common though, is that is isn’t waterproof. Yes, it all has rain liners and they work – to a point. But I absolutely would not trust that I could make it from my house on a multi-hundred mile trip on the slab in the pouring rain and be happy about it without the use of rain gear over top. That isn’t a knock against the gear – it doesn’t guarantee that it is waterproof. You know what you’re getting in to up front.
For the record – I don’t like interior rain liners. The outer garment becomes completely saturated and weighs a million pounds while you stand dripping on line at a 7-11 getting coffee.
Frankly, I don’t know why I bother with the whole “maybe I should…” charade. Once a thought enters my mind I’m pretty much all in. When I say something like “What do you think of this Klim jacket?” to Kenny, it can be taken as a clear indicator that I am about to buy it. And the pants.
And so I did.
Box numero uno containing my pants arrived bright and early on Saturday morning.
Now I play the waiting game with UPS to deliver my jacket. It is officially half-passed eternity, in case you were wondering.
Will this setup be the thing that makes me finally say goodbye to needing raingear? GORE-TEX guarantees waterproofness.
This spring while riding with two dudes in Klim gear, in the rain all the way to WV, they stayed dry. Not that I’m excited to find out – but, I’m excited to find out 😀
It was just about dinner time and we’d been out riding all day. Kenny and I were just finishing up our last pitstop, taking a picture of a Mail Pouch barn at the edge of the town of Romney, West Virginia. As I pulled out onto the roadway after Kenny I noticed his rear tire looked soft. I buzzed in on the Sena and said the dreaded words – ‘looks like you’re going flat.’
We pulled over on the side of the road near the mouth of someone’s driveway. Kenny put his Tiger up on the center stand and spun the rear wheel ’round. A nail. Damn.
Out came the Tire Plugger and the Slime compressor. Those 2 items are worth their weight in gold. They’re quick and easy and can get you back on your way in 10 minutes. When I think about all of the years I rode around without them, I realize just how lucky I was to not have needed them. Really lucky.
I’m not shilling for anyone, just passing along what we keep on hand in our sidebags. They’ve served us well:
As an aside – if there is someone obviously doing repairs on the side of the road and there is no oncoming traffic, it’s okay to give them a little space and move your car towards the center line. :-p
New Gerbing Jacket and a Pitstop to the Revzilla Showroom
For Christmas this year, much to my surprise I received a new Gerbing heated jacket. There was nothing wrong with my old one. Except maybe that it was slightly baggy and there was a heating element that ran across the boniest part of my elbow if it was bunched jussssst so. I’ll have to tip my daughter off to that since she will be inheriting the old one as a hand-me-down.
Now with their fancy-pants microwire you don’t feel any of the elements at all. How did I end up getting so spoiled?
Sometimes Santa has a little trouble with selecting the correct sizing. Totally understandable when you consider all of the good little girls and boys he visits each year. So – I opted to head to Philly to exchange my jacket an the Revzilla showroom.
