Good Woolies

This past winter, I have finally started in on wool. After reading about it for so long, and having used modern technical fabrics, and come to realize their short-falls, I've been quite interested to give wool a try.

For Christmas, my sweet wife bought me 2 wool garments. First being the Kucharik long-sleeve jersey from Rivendell, second was a wool T-shirt from some on-line retailer. I've worn the Kucharik jersey for cycling, and skiing, and I have to say that this is a great, tough garment. 3 back pockets for tubes, tools and food. I can wear the jersey several rides before it needs washing (not the case at all with synthetic technical fabrics). A little caveat to this statement. I'm not saying they are perfectly clean, but I'm riding solo, and I don't sweat much when I ride. I used to only use modern synthetic technical clothing, and still do use the synthetics. When I ride once in the modern stuff, it's time for a cleaning. A second ride isn't even optional.

A few months ago, my parents gave me $100 birthday money (yeah, I still get birthday money from my folks, but hey, I'm not even 30 yet!?) and I've been saving it fiercely. I have virtually spent it hundreds of times, on many different products. I started tracking what I was virtually spending this on, and it kept coming down to 2 things. Wool cycling clothing, and brooks saddles. I figured I'd keep squeezing those dollars until I came across some good deals. After all, I don't actually need any additional bicycle equipment or related accoutrement's.

A few weeks ago, I saw Russ Roca posting about the Swobo Sunday Bobby, and that he already had a few of them. What's more, they were on sale. So I jumped over to the site to check it out myself.

Sure enough, a great deal on a great product. I also ended up picking up a 100% merino wool T-shirt. I've yet to use these for cycling, but I have worn them each a few times to work, and for several ping pong matches. I will say, the T-shirt is of incredibly fine merino. The bobby is not quite so soft, but still doesn't itch against bare skin.

If you're one who hasn't given fine wool a try, I highly recommend you do. It feels great in a wide range of temperatures, and looks good too. Swobo kicks up the bobby and the T-shirt up a bit by sewing on a bicycle chain link to the left sleeve. Styling all the way.