More Gore.

Your Gore Bike Wear Ambassador™ infomercial of the week... although this won't be a weekly thing.  It will just be the only Gore-related post this week.

So, I had some input as to what they were going to send me.  Some.  Not all.  One of the things they told me that would be coming my way (and was on its way before I could say "please don't send that") was the Rescue Windstopper® Active Shell Jacket.

I didn't like it already.  You see, it would only serve to replace the orange Windstopper® jacket that I already owned and had raved about its life-saving happiness before.

Other things I did not like?

The hood.  Why would I want a hood?  Every jacket I've ever had with a hood, it's just an obnoxious flappy bit of extra cloth when I'm not using it... which is most of the time.  Trbl.

The half-zip.  I like full-zip.  On all the things.  Great for ventilation.  Easier to take on and off.  Meh.

But like other things I don't want to come (like Christmas and bills), it showed up at my house as unwelcomed as a Jehovah Witness.

Try it on, stand in front of the mirror... hood up... hood down... hood up again.  Back down.  The jacket fit me just as well my old orange go-to.  It was infinitely way more blacker (which is a good thing).

I was now tempted to keep it.  Why?

Unlike my orange coat, the seams are taped.  Since I was usually utilizing this as an emergency, very packable raincoat, it makes more sense.  Staying drier longer is never a bad thing.

The stash pocket is much bigger (big enough for my iPhone 6 in its case) and on the chest, Napoleon-style, not on my side just above the waist and tiny.  Also, the pocket is big enough to use as a stuff sack for the whole jacket (more later).

I wore it to work on Friday, and it was a fine windproof layer that fit my body parts with enough room to move about and mebbe do some vigorous jumping jacks in while not being all big and flapping about in the wind.  The hood was on the small side and generally not annoying at all... except for when I needed to sling my messenger bag around.  The very reason I don't use anything with a hood at work, because that's a big part of the job

Sunday, I woke up and headed out in the low 30° temps headed for some crosstown urban trekking and trail riding before spectating the short track race.  The hood was a non-issue (didn't even know it was there).  As things heated up, I was able to ventilate rather well... until I went into full-sprint mode because I was shooting for a window between classes, so I could get a "hot lap" in between races.

photo cred: Noelle Frederickson 

When I got home, I decided to go through my final battery or "testing."  I was starting to like this jacket, but I needed to know a few more things.

Yeth, I could get it off over my head with my helmet on.  It wasn't the easiest thing to do, but my helmet bits are a bit ragged at the back, snagging things up.  Getting it on with my helmet in place was no sweat tho.

This was a reason for some excite:

It packs down into tidy size package, which fits nicely in a Super 8 Strap on my top tube until needed.  Yeth, I was stupid and took a picture of its wider profile.  Whatever.

And that "dumb" hood.

I guess for the actual purposes that I'll be carrying this coat (threat of bad weather... like at 10,000 feet above sea level at Breck Epic), the hood is not stupid.  It's thin enough that I can get it under my helmet easily (even with a tiny hat on), and if shit hits the fan, it's better to have it than not.

Even with its added "bulk," it still packs down as small or mebbe smaller than my old coat, so...

You win this one, Gore Bike Wear people.  I guess sometimes some people know what's better for me than I do.

I'm still gonna wear my orange coat tho, for its windproofiness only tho.  This new jacket will be my new go-to when things are looking absolutely miserable.

I'll go ahead and give this my...

SEAL OF SEMI-APPROVAL.

I think I'd still dig a full-zip, but that would add some bulk to the packable size.  At least the zip does orientate to the side instead of directly under the chin, which is a dumb place for a high neck jacket (or thermal layer or whatever) to terminate its zippage.  This thing is officially a good enough thing.