1st time Tourer, advice on waterproofs

[jay clock]

Question maybe Jayclock can answer - are these baggies comfortable?

VERY. I have three or four pairs but my favourites are Pearl Izumi ones. The liner shorts are quite lightweight, and sewn in with a tiny loop that I immediately cut off so they are two separate parts. Some brands (Altura) have a fully sewn in inner short which makes washing a real hassle.

If you read all my CGOAB journals in chronological order you will see how I learnt as I went along! start here if you can be stuffed http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/directory/?o=RrzKj&user=julian&v=1b

 

[billflat12]

Picked up some merino wool base layers at a local aldi today, found them amongst ski wear that had been reduced "old stock" , if your lucky enough you may grab a bargain. "there seemed to be quite a few left at my local store".

I ask because I tried on some quick drying craghopper walking trousers the other day and they were super uncomfortable –really scratchy

maybe you tried the craghopper trousers without the insect repellant coating

 

[HelenD123]

Go for comfort and get away from the saddle sores which you are going to get without dedicated cycling kit. I used to commute 45 mins each way to and from work and never really bothered with waterproofs unless it was throwing it down on the way to work, was never bothered with saddle sores etc.

But touring is something else completely (we (husband and I) did our first tour last summer), and you will really appreciate padded cycling shorts. You will also find it is best to go without underwear, the seams are just totally in the wrong place. Make sure you take some savlon - we found it cleared the sores far quicker than anything else.

I know you're not supposed to, but I always wore underwear under my cycling shorts, as did another woman I cycled with. It's just too much hassle to wash cycling shorts every day and get them dry. This way I could make them last a few days.

 

[shirokazan]

I'm a great fan of ponchos. I've ... a more expensive, heavier, but really nice Carradice one (which is black waxed cotton):
http://www.carradice...t&product_id=69
(mine was £50, btw, not the £70 advertised here.

Excellent advice there, Gotte.

I've been cycle touring for about 6 years now and I also rail-cycle commute into London with my Brompton, so I'm used to trying to deal with rain. When I started out I bought an Altura Nevis jacket and some Altura rain trousers which have served me well but I find that, when on tour, going up hills, they make me sweat buckets unless it's quite cold e.g. last year's jaunt from Carlisle to Fort William in April/May. Also the trousers are now suffering from minor leakage.

So reading your advice last week, I decided to try out the Carradice poncho (the standard size), which I picked up from a bike shop in Kentish Town for £53. Tried it this morning for its first outing and it was a success: I was wearing my suit and I was virtually untouched by the rain. I found that the touring bag clipped onto the front of the Brompton provided coverage of my legs below the knees and the poncho everything else above.

I can see this being a good solution for when I hit the road on tour later this year (Scotland is my destination). The only downside today was that I couldn't see my watch as I was going along, and when I'm touring I'll need to find out to what extent it interferes with my GPS usage, both the GPS receiving a signal and me not being able to see it as I go along. Hopefully, these will be minor niggles to which I will find easy workarounds/solutions.

Thanks again, Gotte.