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Had my first sub twenties commute of the year. I felt much warmer than last year. “Ninjaclava”:http://www.outdoorresearch.com/home/style/home/headware/cold_hats/balaclavas/87060 from Outdoor Research was a plus, as were the “Cyclone Booties”:http://www.pearlizumi.com/product.php?mode=view&pc_id=50&product_id=527547 from Pearl Izumi.

However as I had some new gear on that seems to be working out, I thought I would point out a few losers from last year that I thought would work out well but ended up failing miserably.

h3. The Bad and the Ugly

# The “EKG Base layer from Pearl Izumi”:http://www.pearlizumi.com/product.php?mode=view&pc_id=30&product_id=396469
I bought two of these as base layers. They were comfy and next to skin good for about two days. Both of them developed holes in the armpits that grew in size. Either I have acid in my sweat like a Geiger alien, or Pearl Izumi needs some QC/QA.
# Thermafleece Tights Pearl Izumi discontinued. These started out warm, snug, and terrific. They now have developed a hole in the arse and in the crotch. Again is it acid eating sweat, or poor QC/QA? Do the people that rave about Pearl Izumi all the time actually use their gear at all? For the price, almost double HIND or Sugoi gear; they better last more than a season.
# Louis Garneau Cycling Gloves-these things suck as cycling gloves. They do not block wind in anything below 45 degrees, and they are not water resistant.
# “Lendal Paddle Kinetic XTI White Water paddle-Previously posted”:http://gokayaknow.com/article/177/bad-mojo-broken-paddle

_Editorial note, they are shipping me a new paddle that has as of yet not arrived._

h3. The Good

# “CW-X Lite-fit Top”:http://cw-x.com/ss/products/mens/m_litefit
I bought two of these to replace the Pearl Izumi tops. One year on, they are still taking the abuse of my acidic alien armpit sweat. I’ve worn them under drysuits, ski jackets, and cycling jerseys. No rips no runs, still like new.
# “NRS Toaster Mitts”:http://gokayaknow.com/article/184/nrs-toaster-mitts
Great 30 dollar investment.

# “Mega Maverick”:http://gokayaknow.com/Mega-Surf-Kayaks
Great carving machine, many many fun rides in this downwave maniac. I can’t say enough good things about Mega’s surf boats. More fun than I am legally allowed to have.

# “IR Custom Drydeck”:http://www.immersionresearch.com/products/drydecks.html
Great heavy duty rubber randed sprayskirt custom made to my kayak. No more cold water ejections.

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Snotty frozen rain and forty mile an hour winds buffeted me on my morning commute to work. The full winter commuting regalia made it’s first appearance. I think I still need some neoprene booties for my bike shoes. But the fenders and the Bianchi San Jose seem to be holding tight. Except the bloody seat post. I think the shop lubed the frame to preserve it during assembly. But unfortunately this means that the seat post will not stay put. It slides side to side and then eventually slides down about two inches. It’s driving me mad!

I made the mistake of looking out at the lake.

Today is a day where the gulls tuck close to the water’s edge. When the surge of the water climbs the beach, they take silly little steps back in near human surprise. If caught unaware when the storm rushes up the sand, the birds take flight with motionless wings. Their rigid wings tilt back and forth catching gusts. When you look out over the water, there is a jagged line of breakers that stretches as far as the eye can see, like an unending row of spilling sharks teeth. The wind whistles madly through the paddle shaft. Anything you put down blows down the beach. Launching and then breaking out is a herculean if not impossible task. Once out maybe you catch a ride, or maybe a ride catches you.

Having seen these waves first hand, I can now say this is nigh on surf-able.

Thursday is supposed to be a clean 4-7 foot day.

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Ever the man to be suckered by active apparel, I traveled to the mecca of bike commuting apparel, San Francisco. One of my many hilly runs through the city of verticality, I ran to the Chrome Messenger Bag store to take a gander at the bags, and the knickers. Before one can scoff at the idea of men wearing capri pants, these are essentially casual bike shorts. Short enough not to get stuck in the teeth of the chain ring. Handy you say? Stylish too?

The knickers are stretchy and lightweight, I tried the heavier version and they are pretty great too, but somewhat useless in my opinion for the oppressive heat of summer in Michigan. And were it colder I would wear real pants or tights. For San Fran where it doesn’t snow, but just gets windy and rainy I’m sure they do fine. The sizing is a bit weird, I have a 33 inch waist and they list the Mediums as up to a 32. Without a belt they slide off my not insubstantial arse. So watch the sizes. The chamois on the inside is actually somewhat nice, in that it is not so big it makes one feel like they are wearing a diaper, but enough to protect the jewels.

I’ve tried several messenger bags to little avail. Apparently the rest of the world assumes everyone is 6’0″ tall with an extremely long torso. I however am a runty 5’7″ with short legs and a short torso. The result is a messenger bag that slides forward onto your belly while heading up hill or pedaling hard under any conditions. Mainly because the strap on the messenger bag is too long to tighten to your torso. So Timbuk2, Patagonia, Osprey, Mountain Hardwear all failed to outfit me due to this limitation, despite their cross body stay-straps on the bags.

I tried the Chrome Metropolitan and have found that it does not slide forward due to the nature of their shoulder strap and the variable adjustability in length. The fact that the strap uses a seat belt buckle is an added cool factor sure, but a little heavy. The bag is waterproof and takes a hoarkload of gear!

It was fun to see so many people commuting by bicycle, and that a great majority of the younger crowd were on single speed cross bikes with touring tires. Funny that?….

“Check out Chrome Messenger Bags and Apparel”:http://www.chromebags.com/

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Rarely in life do you get what you pay for. I got a super deal on a brooks tuiliq. Went out yesterday on Lake Michigan. Beautiful calm day. Garment as expected was a little warm! But as my paddling buddy and I played, I managed to finesse my way through my repetoire of rolls with ease including my forward recovery handroll. Interesting how not wearing a lifejacket changes your mobility. I would never venture out in surf without it, but for a calm play day, why not. Just don’t tell the BCU…

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Ordered these today:

I’ve had the same pair of chotas for a few years now and they are beginning to look very sorry indeed. They smell terrible too. I could use some wetsuit shampoo on them. But I am lazy. I think the smell is part of the charm. The low cut chotas are pretty useless. They are not overly warm, nor overly protective when trying to haul a loaded boat up a stony beach.

The difficulty is in finding a shoe that will fit inside the Silhouette with size 10 1/2 feet. Then add in the oversize goretex booties that must fit in the wet shoe most of the year and you have a very tempestuous fit.

There aren’t really that many options for footwear. NRS seems to have the market cornered.

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Got the new mizuno shoes, the wave renegade, 10.5. Ran in downtown kzoo on wednesday. 35:00 minutes, no idea on distance. It was a run for the bathroom through a physicians entrance at the WMU medical entrance. I felt like a robert redford character in 3 days of the condor, except for my Chrohn’s disease. I waited for the doc to run his card and then I snuck, (sneaked) in right behind him to the toilet.

New shoes were too small. I have a serious problem, one might even say deficiency in being able to analyze my feet, and determine if shoes fit or not. Luckily gazelle sports lets me return shoes i’ve already run in.

So I went back today and traded in for 11′s.