HandUp Gloves (now HandUp Gloves, Apparel, and Beyond) just celebrated its tenth anniversary at the end of last week. They sent me a wonderful gift that choked me up a bit.
*sigh*
The gloves are one of those things that I wanna mount in a frame (the gold H is kinda dope in an '80s way), but knowing that things are meant to be used, I'll wear them instead.
It's been so long, I had to do a deep dive into when our love fest began.
This is the first picture I could find from January 20(fucking)15. I bought my first pair when I was getting super disappointed in all the current options of zero padding, full fingered gloves. I think HandUp had a few options as far as colorways go, but obvs I went for yellow.
I have close to zero recollection how this purchase ended up in a relationship. I don't remember the exact moment when I met Cody... or Jamie... or Troy. I can remember (thanks to the fact that I wrote about it) driving to Tennessee the week after a tree fell on my house to do the Lula Lake Land Trust 50 in 2016 and staying up well past my bed time the night after the race making lots of great and not so great decisions while acorns rained down on our heads. I don't remember when they started doing apparel, but my wardrobe slowly started to change... I mean "evolve." Other things moved to the back of the closet or the bottoms of drawers. Sorry, slim-fit Dickies.
Anyhoo, it's been (almost) ten fucking years for me. I'd say I can't believe it, but when I take a shit and see the upside down tag in my jorts that says "since 2014" as I lay into the throttle of my bidet, I member. Whilst one takes a shit, time flies.
I rarely leave the house not wearing something from HandUp. My favorite gloves, shorts, jorts, socks... okay, they don't make tiny hats... yet. I'll stay on them.
When I got the notice that they were sending something special to me through the USPS, I was reminded that some time ago, they had sent me some prototype AT+ shorts that would see to a phasing out of the OG AT and previous generation AT+ shorts. I've been smitten with my one pair and straddling an awkward fence. They had become favorite shorts, so I wanted to wear them all the time, but I also wanted to only wear them for special occasions.
So, yeah. I needed to pick up a few pairs to keep them in a more constant rotation.
And while I was bugging them anyways...
Almost a month ago, they launched the Trail Rambler shorts to the world. For what it's worth, I had close to zero interest in them. I've never been 100% happy with any MTB specific baggies. I always had any one or two of the following issues:
* Too baggy. My skinny meat sticks flop around inside the short pant legs like bell clappers.
* Too many features.
* Too long, even for my 31" inseam legs in a size that fit me tiny old man waist.
* Too heavy/warm.
* Too Enduro™.
* Too loose no matter what, and without belt loops, they end up falling down and snagging on even a fully drooped saddle.
The closest thing I had were some lighter GORE Wear shorts that were so close to perfect... except for the fact that they suffered from the last problem, but they were as good as it was gonna get. I just took extra care when I was drooping not to get caught behind the saddle.
I didn't wanna get the Trail Ramblers and set myself up for yet another disappoint, but since I was getting some stuff, why not try them?
So, I did.
I honestly have no complaints. The length is where I want them to be (hides my base layer cargo chamois, doesn't bang around at my knee), the fit is on point, they are well-ventilated, and the adjustable waist makes sense (comfy wide, stays put, and can be undone with gloved fingers for convenient wiener access). You can click the link if you want more deets or to see some closeup shots that don't have a semi-fit septuagenarian in them.
It's been so long, I had to do a deep dive into when our love fest began.
Anyhoo, it's been (almost) ten fucking years for me. I'd say I can't believe it, but when I take a shit and see the upside down tag in my jorts that says "since 2014" as I lay into the throttle of my bidet, I member. Whilst one takes a shit, time flies.
I rarely leave the house not wearing something from HandUp. My favorite gloves, shorts, jorts, socks... okay, they don't make tiny hats... yet. I'll stay on them.
When I got the notice that they were sending something special to me through the USPS, I was reminded that some time ago, they had sent me some prototype AT+ shorts that would see to a phasing out of the OG AT and previous generation AT+ shorts. I've been smitten with my one pair and straddling an awkward fence. They had become favorite shorts, so I wanted to wear them all the time, but I also wanted to only wear them for special occasions.
So, yeah. I needed to pick up a few pairs to keep them in a more constant rotation.
And while I was bugging them anyways...
Almost a month ago, they launched the Trail Rambler shorts to the world. For what it's worth, I had close to zero interest in them. I've never been 100% happy with any MTB specific baggies. I always had any one or two of the following issues:
* Too baggy. My skinny meat sticks flop around inside the short pant legs like bell clappers.
* Too long, even for my 31" inseam legs in a size that fit me tiny old man waist.
* Too heavy/warm.
* Too Enduro™.
* Too loose no matter what, and without belt loops, they end up falling down and snagging on even a fully drooped saddle.
The closest thing I had were some lighter GORE Wear shorts that were so close to perfect... except for the fact that they suffered from the last problem, but they were as good as it was gonna get. I just took extra care when I was drooping not to get caught behind the saddle.
I didn't wanna get the Trail Ramblers and set myself up for yet another disappoint, but since I was getting some stuff, why not try them?
So, I did.
Hats off to HandUp (not tiny hats off tho obvs). It's been a great ten years! I'd lets do ten more, but at my age, I feel like I should be going in five year increments between celebratory moments.
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3 comments:
“as I lay into the throttle of my bidet” That’s comedy gold.
Love their gloves as well. Actually was turned on to them from reading your blog probably 8+ years ago, so there's that.....Have you had the Vertigo 10yrs at this point or am I just confusing myself looking at your photos??
Yup, the Vertigo is now ten years. Still up, running, ridden, and maintained.
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