weeeeeee.

The overlap in the current world of industry insider (past and present) douchbagginess is massive as of late.  No sooner than I make plans to procure something for which I have great desire, I see that others have obtained them before me.

photo cred: Stevil

So not only did Stevil fill my hole at Dirt Rag, he also managed to use his industry insider douchbagginess to get the bibs of my dreams for FREE, but then he also-also titles his most recent post (of substance) "Here comes the corn™," totally disregarding the fact that I trademarked TM'ing things for no reason at all.*

I have been wanting bibs with multiple rear pockets for quite some time.  Remember my excite when Specialized (which is currently being lambasted on the internet for loading a moving truck full of baby seals using a pitchfork) came out with their SWAT concept?

As of the moment, buying anything from Specialized is akin to placing the baby seals on the tines of the baby seal loading pitchfork, so these bibs I no can haz, lest I be pelted in red paint the second I leave the premises.  Fortunately, Giro came out with an alternative... that I had to actually buy if I wanted to own.  No amount of cajoling or douchebaggy handshakes was gonna work for me.

Despite the fact that we both lay our items on a similar looking hardwood floor, we are not "shacked up."  You may also notice that my bibs have an unfashionable white piping while his sports a more distinguished black... certainly an industry insider douchebag standard issue special order.
I was a fan of Giro helmets for more than a decade of mountain biking and unprofessional cycling... but then there was the whole Roc Loc 5 debacle.  The "we'll warranty things for awhile if we know it's a failure until said point in time when we decide we don't feel like it anymore" thing.

I also love(d) their gloves... right up until the point where I bought a pair of Giro DND Black/Rad Star gloves that got a hole in them, were warrantied, and then that pair of gloves got a hole in them as well.

All that aside, I once again spent hard earned money on a product with hopes and aspirations of making great bike ride.  Bib undershorts with pockets means baggy shorts and baggy shirts, but with the ability to carry all my wares.  This means I can finally buy that carefree flannel riding shirt I had my eye on and that the industry so enthusiastically endorses.

Riding in flannel is the new riding without tools... except I still wanna carry mine because shit happens.

Look away from the Specialized helmet (that hasn't broken) and look at the Giro glove that hasn't fallen apart.

Lee flatted on last week's ride and after stopping to pump it up twice, I remembered that I had a preloaded Genuine Innovations Tubeless Tire Repair Tool in my Tülbag.  We stuck it in, pumped it up, dramatically re-enacted the insertion, Joey took a photo to document the moment (which was as real as the immortalized image of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima and people seemed to like that), and finished the ride with no air loss... so, win.

I just won't ride without tools, even though I might forget that I have them with me.

So how well did the shorts work?

I made it out Saturday for a ride in the Pisgah (Wilson Creek, y'all), but I've run outta time...

so check back tomorrow.

*The original Enduro™ stickers are still available at great nonprofit to me.  Hit me at teamdicky at hotmail dot com for details.