I got a little creative this year with my winter gear, trading synthetic (lycra, fleece and Gore Tex) for some traditional wool and cotton Army gear, and boy am I glad I did. We've had some fabulous winter conditions for snowshoeing and mountain biking here in NJ and I got to put my new gear to the test. For the past week the snow has been too deep and powdery (a rarity for NJ), which is great for showshoeing, and thanks to steady foot traffic the trails have become semi-packed, adequate for 2.3 in knobbies to climb and descend even the steep trails...
I've recently acquired 2 pieces of Swedish Army surplus gear; a 100% wool zipper sweater with extra long sleeves (with thumb holes), and a heavy cotton snow smock, both awesome and inexpensive. For warmth on yesterday's ride I wore 2 layers of wool (a thin Merino base layer and the Swedish sweater). For my outer shell I wore the snow smock. Typically I had been used to shedding layers at the top of a major climb (from over-heating)... With this wool-cotton setup the heat buildup was more gradual, and seemed to dissipate MUCH faster (due to the high breathability of the fabric). I posted a few weeks ago that I had also picked up a wool "Boreal" shirt (made from wool army blankets), which is SO ridiculously warm I left that at home. But for super cold days the wool Boreal and the cotton snow smock make an outstanding combo for active wear where you expect to be perspiring. And although it's not Army surplus, I added a Ventile cotton jacket (which WAS developed by the British military) as my everyday winter jacket that I wear to the office.. it just FEELS amazing. I do get some odd looks and smiles from people, *(especially my brother, who refers to me as "Luke Skywalker")* when I'm wearing the snow smock, I REALLY love this gear, and am now on the lookout for other similar gear from military establishments around the world... *(hey, this stuff is field-tested, right?)* Anyone else a fan of *(peacetime use)* of army gear?? Peace, BB -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
