The Gear

Choosing the gear I would take on this trip probably took the most time of any of the planning that I did, probably because of the number of choices that are available. I am definitely one of the ATGATT (All The Gear, All The Time) people. I won’t get on my soapbox about it here, but it is a no-brainer for me. Full face helmet, armored jacket, armored pants, riding boots and riding gloves. The way I look at it is that your gear is the only thing between you and the outside world. On a good day of riding, that could be just sun, wind and rain. On a bad day of riding it could be the pavement, dirt, trees, other vehicles, and a myriad of other things.

I was all set with a helmet, gloves and boots. I have been riding long enough that I have favorites of each of those. When one wears out, I just get the exact same thing to replace it. Body covering was what I needed.

I already had a whole closet full of jackets and pants, but nothing that would be ideal for being on the bike day in and day out for 33 days in all kinds of weather. At this time of year, I will probably hit temperatures from 90-100 degrees F (32 - 37C) across the South and Southwest and possibly down to 30 degrees F (-1 C) across the mountain ranges in the West. Late summer thunderstorms and Pacific Northwest rain would be an issue as well.

I did not want to have to take rain gear in addition to the regular gear, so I needed to find something that would work across a wide range of temperatures as well as be waterproof. I did a lot of reading and talked to a lot of people who used a lot of different kinds of gear. I started looking very closely at the 1-piece suits made by Aerostich. They are made with Gore-Tex and very thick Cordura  as well as ballistic reinforcement in the knees, elbows, shoulder, etc. They are constructed such that they have a full length zipper from the neck to the left ankle, and are relatively easy to get in and out of, and are completely waterproof.

Ordering an Aerostich is a long process. You first call them and give them your height, weight, coat size and the standard measurements - waist, inseam, etc. They then send you an off-the-shelf suit that would be the closest fit for you. Once you get it, you try it on, and note what alterations need to be made - sleeves and legs shortened/lengthened, gussets added, etc.  You then pack up the suit, send it back to them and they custom-cut and make your suit.

My suit arrived about mid June of 2016 - it arrived pretty close to my birthday so Kate referred to it as my “Birthday Suit”

I sent it back with the custom cut requests, and got the final suit back around the beginning of September. Quite a wait, but they had told me when I ordered it that they were running about 3-4 months out. I received it right when they said I would. First impressions after actually riding with it: wow - this thing is STIFF! I had expected it would be, but it was a bit stiffer than I had expected. Everything I had read and everyone had talked to assured me that it took several thousand miles to break in properly - considering I had several thousand miles to ride before the first major service on the bike, all was good.

I took several day rides and overnight trips to the mountains, putting about 5,000 miles in the Aerostich, but never really fell in love with the suit. I wasn’t sure it would be the ideal gear for the trip. It was bulky, very stiff, and it didn’t move much air. This was fine during the winter, but as it got warmer, it got uncomfortable on 300 plus mile rides. I also didn’t like that I couldn’t just take off my jacket at stops like I was used to doing. While the Aerostich would be great for commuting, I wouldn’t be happy with it on the trip. I’ll hang on to it for winter riding, but after mid-spring, It’ll get hung up for the season. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great piece of gear, but it wasn’t ideal for what I needed. Time to look at 2-piece options.

The major problem with this is there aren’t too many places that you can actually go try on a bunch of different kinds of gear. More reading, more talking to people, more video reviews, ordering, trying on, returning, sizing charts, and finally!  Gear that fits, is pretty comfortable, waterproof, and….. HIGH VIZ!!!!!

When this gear arrived, Kate said that it looked like it fit better, so it must be my Leisure Suit.

11 days to Launch.