Wool: take the plunge

“New Wool” has been cool for a few years now. So what’s the big deal with Icebreaker? And why am I posting this with mercury rising in the Northern hemisphere?

Because if you're into natural fibers against your skin, the time to switch to wool is in the spring, when it will truly amaze you. Unless you’re heading to the tropics, you’ll get more wear out of your wool t-shirts this summer than you ever dreamed of. This wool performs great as a base layer when you need it, and offers insulation when you need that. Great for travel too: the stuff always looks fresh.

Overpriced merino wool base layers and insulation from New Zealand? At twice the cost of Smartwool? Am I kidding?

Super thin, great fit, quick-dry:
totally worth the sticker shock

Nope. It really is the bomb. I am no wool specialist. But I can say from experience that whatever they’re doing out there down under, this is now my underwear of choice. By far. 

I’ve never had better-wearing, faster-wicking, sweeter-smelling or warmer socks for their thickness (VERY thin) than these. And I've done head-to-head tests against Patagonia and Smartwool. The feel of this specific wool against my skin is much softer than comparable garments. So I’ve replaced all my silkweight Capilene t-shirts with Icebreaker ultralights.

Here's a sneak peak of the new
styling for the GT series

There’s no stink. No itch. The temperature range far exceeds competitors. I work out in my ultralite GT on all but the hottest days. It's even got mesh side panels for breathability, 3M reflectors and a GU pocket. Very simply the coolest technical shirt ever made. On cold mornings, pulling on one of these is like adding a radiator to your core. The ¾ length tights go with me everywhere. Yep, I much prefer wool to silk now.

Stick with weights in the 150 range. The midlayers (240-weight and up) take on too much water when you sweat. They’re warm when wet and handsome but slow-drying. My backcountry skiing pal did a parallel test and he agrees.

The big bonus is how easy it is to launder this stuff. On the road, hand wash with Woolite, roll it up in a towel then lay it out to dry. At home, throw it in your front-loading washer and set it on wool or delicates. Don’t put in in the dryer. At room temperature, the thinnest layers will be ready to go in a matter of hours. You’re done. Now get out there.

When in doubt, Woolite

My Favorite Riding Suit

Hi viz where you need it

Dead sexy it’s not. But I’m closing in on my third decade wearing the all-weather Roadcrafter by Duluth-based Aerostich.

The new lightweight suit is a big improvement over my old standby of more than 15 years. The redesigned zipper finally means it’s closing in on waterproof. And the built-in galoshes are the bomb in a sudden downpour.

BMW manuals list rider equipment as mandatory gear. That means you shouldn’t be on one of their Guggenheim-worthy moving artworks without a helmet, boots, gloves and a protective suit.

In my family, with its four-generation motorcycling heritage, we’re dead serious about this rule. No matter what you ride.

I’m the sort of person who likes taking my moto to the Guggenhiem, so two-piece suits have never really worked for me. Who wants to sit through a film, stroll the grounds or meet friends for dinner wearing knee pads and day-glo ballistic nylon trousers?

I like to ride to the destination, take off the gear, swipe the lipstick, run a comb through my hair and enjoy the evening. To me, that’s civilized motorcycling. The Roadcrafter is designed to be worn over street clothing. It slips on over boots. Both my suits, sizes 36 and 38, can be stored in my system case after removing the hip and spine protectors. That makes it the best choice I know for bobo commuting.

(Bobo commuting: motorcycling’s glamping equivalent. It’s a cultural allusion to Bobos in Paradise, the entertaining book by David Brooks.)

Details like the snap-back, magnetized collar
 make all the difference in hot weather.

But I’ve also ridden this gear across the country and through its share of wild weather. This suit works.

Riders I meet on the road are having equally good luck with the Lombard suit by Teiz. I like the softer hand on the Teiz suit. And it’s priced considerably lower.

If your heart’s really set on looking dead sexy on a motorcycle, you’ll want leather. Of course you will. Which means you won't be needing a one-piece. As shown below.

Leather is bulky, heavy and much too hot in the summer.

The issue with leather is four-season comfort. You'll arrive in leathers for the movie in a sweat with your hair plastered to your head. It's definitely a look.

You'll also want custom leathers for the track. As you can see from the vintage photo above, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Leather's still the best rider protection available, outperforming synthetics in wrecks by a wide margin. 

Whatever works for you, get kitted up and get rolling.

Most Liveable Tent

I used to be the only mum I knew who’d spend a month living out of a tent. Times’ a changin’.

More of my friends are shipping out to foreign ports (domestic ones too) to recharge and restore themselves in retreat. And more of them are being asked to bring a tent.

So which one works?

The Kingdom 4 by REI. 

I’ve logged 50 nights or so in this one, and it has been the most liveable tent I’ve ever owned.

They make a larger version that “sleeps six.” That’s code for a tad more room for you and your companion. It sounded appealing until I realized that the four-person footprint maxes out the space for most NPS tent platforms.

 What makes this one so liveable, above and beyond all the others?

• Medium-sized people can stand up and walk around inside this tent 
• Bright and spacious with great air circulation 
• Bedroom and sitting room are divided by a curtain 
• Nice décor and ample, well designed storage 
• Numerous “ceiling hooks” for hanging lanterns or clothes 
• Roll-up panels on the rainfly reveal floor-to-ceiling mesh windows and front door; roll them down for privacy and warmth 
• Two big doors, front and back, each accessible from left or right, with covered storage outside the back door 
• Cook and eat on rainy days inside the front door, in the foyer-size vestibule 

Very civilized setup.

Even though it isn’t cut or made to the bomber specs of alpine tents, the Kingdom 4 holds up well in heavy gusts. Battens down dry in rainstorms. The fabric quality is good, if not great; the mosquito netting is even better. With two huge windows, one in each room, you definitely feel the cold. But on hot buggy days you couldn’t wish for a breezier hideout.

And it even has that luxury feature every base camp needs: 3M reflectors on the fly, so you can find it when you’re returning home at night with your headlamp on.

Fully deployed at a summer campsite

To get all this functionality, you need to pay attention to details. Buy the vestibule. Buy the footprint. Stake it out at every point, and add guy-lines. It sets up easily, even for one person. Turning it into a home will take the better part of a morning or afternoon on arrival in camp. I block out two hours to strike this camp, too.

If you long for a flush toilet and running water on your getaway, and if your approach allows for driving, you’ll prefer glamping.

The whole scene has come so far in the US over the past few years that we’re nearly European. Check out these four-star trailer interiors on Pinterest.

A railway sleeper car converted into a house. A schoolbus converted into a mobile home. Teak paneled Airstream travel trailers with cozy twin bedrooms handsomer than a ship’s cabin. Tonke campers for flatbed trucks. Eggs, teardrops and Serro-Scottys with beds, galleys and built-in storage. It’s endless. Talk about liveability.

But I can see why people need to spend a month chanting in an Ashram after paying these glamping bills.

Oh, James, behave!

Next you’ll be towing your travel trailer with your Porsche two-seater, the way they do in the Tyrol near Ehrwald, at the foot of the Zugspitze.

And you’ll be catching my eye, of course. But that’s another story.