Surly Bikes
People think I’m crazy cuz I ride in long sleeves all summer long. It’s amazing how many comments I get on a daily basis. Seriously, it’s bonkers. Total strangers who would never think to say anything to another total stranger, see an opportunity to be a smart-ass and just can’t resist.
They go like this:
“You cold out there today?”
“Getting ready for winter?”
“What’s with your shirt?”
“Didn’t you notice the sun?”
And there are many others that are equally as “clever”. I would love to report that I say things like, “I get cold when I’m around morons,” or “Mind your own business dipshit, mines getting taken care of by someone with a brain.” However I usually go the mid-western passive aggressive route and mention that skin cancer runs in the family. Which totally works. It shuts the “clever” people up, and makes them feel like shit in the process. If I really didn’t care, I wouldn’t say anything at all, but I guess I’m just not there yet.
So long story short, too late, I ride in long sleeves year round. I used to ride in a base layer, but I sweat it up too quick and once it’s waterlogged it stops wicking so it’s hot. Then I added a cotton t-shirt to the top, which took longer to get waterlogged over the wool, but once it did, it had the same problem.
Enter the Surly long sleeve jersey. Of all the long sleave options I have tried this summer, this one is by far the coolest (in terms of temperature, the other "cool" arena I gave up in the 9th grade). The fabric is just a bit thicker than our short sleeve jersey, but it wicks and wicks and wicks and wicks. It dries very quickly too, because it doesn’t get overly thick (or logged) with my liquid musk. (I call it Thruskt, which is pronounced "William")
The only thing I hated about the long sleeve jersey in the hot hot sun, was the thumb loopy pieces at the ends. They bunch up, and double and triple layer over the wrists, which is bad, cuz wrists help you keep cool. In the winter this is a great thing, but in the summer, fuck that.
So I cut them off (not my wrists, the thumb loopy things) which has turned out to be awesome. Here is a picture of me in the jersey.
Actually I took that picture, but I was in the jersey at the time. Trust me. I'm in marketing, what's not to trust?
So all that’s left is the question "why would I cut apart an expensive jersey?" Answer, cuz no one is really making a long sleeve summer weight jersey to protect you skin from the sun.
But you can make one yourself. In a few easy steps
- Turn jersey inside out
- Find sleeves and thumbholes
- Cut along outside line of orange seam (on the thumb-hole piece side)
- Repeat the phrase “Thumb-Hole” over and over and over and over and over again.