I tried out my cooling "kit" this week. I rode to Myrtle Beach SC - weather was in the mid-90's with high humidity and strong sunshine. I rode down without using the gear to get a baseline. The drive was not too bad until I got stuck in traffic... then it sucked. Even though I drank a fair amount of water on the way down, I arrived a bit dehydrated. On the trip back I deployed both the CycleGear cooling vest and the LDC sleeves. http://www.cyclegear.com/eng/product/Cooling_Vest/web1001053 http://ldcomfort.com/store/comfort-cool-sleeve.html The vest (on sale now $35 ) hold a LOT of water - I put it in a zip-lock bag and added almost an entire quart of water the first time I wet it and still did not need to wring it out. As the instructions say ... it does take a couple minutes for the water to be absorbed. Getting the sleeves wet is a bit trickier... I followed the advice of putting the sleeves on, holding my arm up and pouring water down my arm... but the water tends to just run off the completely dry sleeves and not be absorbed (almost like water running off a tent) ... not to mention I looked a bit goofy doing this in the convenience store parking lot... I ended up pouring water down the sleeves from the shoulder end with the hem flipped down to act as a bit of a dam.. Once the sleeves were somewhat wet the absorbed water pretty well. I was wearing a thin Underarmor "heatgear" short-sleeve shirt put the vest on over that, then my Olympia Bushwacker jacket and hit-air vest (yeah... it's all most TMGATT - Too MUCH Gear All The Time) ... anyway it worked pretty well. As long as I was moving at all there was cooling even in the high humidity, and when I stopped as long as it was not for too long there was some "cooling inertia" that kept me from breaking into a sweat. The vest felt kinda like wearing a "barely damp" swim suit in a lightly air-conditioned room, but it was not uncomfortable. Like others have commented I think if I was headed to work or other serious appointment I would take along a second shirt to switch into on arrival. The vest was good for about 1.5 hours, the sleeves - holding less water lasted maybe an hour or so... I made no attempt to restrict air-flow beyond my standard gear compliment which would have made the "water-charge" last longer. Since I was no longer sweating my required water consumption dropped considerably, and I arrived home fully hydrated. I think it will work OK. In the future I may just take the sleeves off and soak them with the vest and then put them back on rather than trying to mess around with re-wetting them while wearing them. I also bought a cyclegear heatgear skull cap - http://www.cyclegear.com/eng/product/Helmet_Liner/web1010136 it seemed to work but for some very odd reason it gave me a serious headache after wearing it for about an hour... Almost as soon as I took it off the headache was gone - it was like it was pressing on the acupuncture location for "give this guy a splitting headache". The cap is a bit short and only comes down to the middle of my ears which is not a good "termination" point IMHO, ... so I'm still looking for something to help keep my helmet padding from absorbing so much sweat - suggestions appreciated! PS: I have no affiliation with either LDC or Cyclegear.
LOL, I wouldn't want to land on that fan..! I just got back from riding the Oregon Back Country Discover Route, over 1000 miles through eastern OR, on dirt roads, in 90 deg heat, on 500 lb bikes. Needless to say we were hot! I was wearing my LDComfort shirt and shorts for the full seven days. I washed them once in a river and once in a machine. When we stopped for gas I would pour water down my sleeves, and through the arm vents and then shake my arms around to spread the water. This worked very well to keep my core cool with the evaporative effect while riding. After the river wash/swim, I was quite comfortable and did not feel the unpleasant soggy feeling once back on the bike, just the cool micro climate inside my Klim suit. I also tried to keep my thin Touratech neck gater (buff) wet, which helped to keep me cool, and keep the sun off my neck. The buff is a different material and dried out quickly, it was also handy to keep mosquitoes away. I am very happy with my LDComfort gear for 'rear end' comfort and keeping cool.
The LDComfort helmet liner covers the ears with no seams if you get the longer one. We have a shorter one but I don't wear it. Also a note on cooling: Once you wet the sleeves of the LDComfort long sleeve shirt (or the separate cooling sleeves) the inside layer next to the skin will be dry and the moisture/water moves to the outside layer of fabric. This is an important feature and designed to keep you from getting that clammy feeling. When you funnel air up the sleeves for cooling allow that cold air to fill the body of your jacket and ride in a bubble of cool air. If you open your vents you will let all that precious cold air escape; kind of like opening the back windows on your car with the air conditioner running. (ô¿~) Mario
I've worn the shorts for two 300mile days. Still have monkey butt, and the Boudreaux's Butt Paste isn't working at all.
I've worn their shorts for years and personally found the cheaper Ex-Officio boxer briefs just as comfy. But their helmet liner with the long tail (protects my neck from sunburn) and their long-sleeved shirt function remarkably well! If I wet the shirt on a hot day it feels like the temp drops 20 degrees once I get going. I think the difference in my experience with the shorts is that on the GSA the weather protection is so good that evaporative cooling of the boys is minimal, whereas the shirt has a lot of airflow that keeps things cool. It felt really good!
Don't use pastes and powders with LDComfort Riding Shorts. Those products defeat the purpose of the riding shorts. Your skin stays dry with the dual layer fabric. Keeping skin dry is the job of the riding shorts. Pastes and powders just add garbage to your skin. Enjoy every mile.
You should not be putting anything on under the LDComfort shorts. Just clean dry skin, you don't want anything plugging up your pores. In my experience, removing dead skin with a luffa sponge helps too. I've never heard of that paste, but after a quick look at the web site it looks like it is designed to help AFTER you have a rash.
I have been riding with clean dry skin. The paste went on at the end of the ride and was left on while I slept. Washed it off and started with a fresh pair of comfort shorts on day two. Still no joy. Switched to under armor for today and have about 100 miles on them so far. Working as well as the others so far.
On my ride home from The MOA Rally in Sedalia I wore my LD Comfort tights under my riding pants. I had an Alaska Sheepskin on top of my Corbin saddle, and by the end of day 1, some 450 miles, I had a nightmarish, itchy, hive-like rash on my seat and the tops of my thighs. Thank goodness we carry diaper rash cream when we travel! I've washed my riding pants, my LD shorts and my sheepskin, and we head out again next week for a week long trip to the southern US. I hope washing everything has been the answer, and not to have a repeat of the monkey butt... On the PLUS side, I picked up one of the ladies' combo tops, and I can honestly say I've never worn anything more comfortable. As a 'full figured' gal, I was concerned about coverage, but I needn't have been. I told my hubby this top was so comfy I never wanted to take it off!
Thanks Mario! I'm back from 2000 miles in the "sub-tropics" of the USA Great trip - the vest from CycleGear and LDC-sleeves and shorts from you made all the difference! Shipping costs are a bit of a burden for me with your products -- do you have any retailers in the mid-Atlantic states?
Get a beadrider. Sheepskin doesn't work well in the heat and humidity. I was at Sedalia too and took a detour to Denver after the rally before coming home. Crossed Kansas twice in three days wearing my LDComfort shorts and a pair of FirstGear solid pants with a beadrider on my seat. Didn't have any problems. The temps were consistently above 104.
I have actually had better luck with the tights, as the shorts have that elastic band at the bottom of each leg. The tights seem to move and stretch better and they are just as cool under my Motorsport stretch Kevlar overpants.
LDComfort long pant and long sleeve shirt works very well in all type of weather?:eek1 Even if it is friggin cold, it will keep you warm (assuming you are wearing textile jacket/pant with thermal linear?? That is what I wanted to know.. Am hoping to avoid having to layer up..
It might help if you define friggin cold in Carolina. Up here in Vermont that's minus 10F or lower. Wicked cold is between ten below and ten above. Cold is ten to twenty above. Chilly is twenty to thirty. It's nippy from there to forty. Above forty is tee-shirt weather.
Love your description, Boondox. Another feature of LDComfort gear: Everyone talks about its merits in hot weather, but it's great in cold and wet weather too! I went for a single track trail ride with some buddies last Friday after work at our local spot, Walker Valley. We had planned this ride long in advance. As we got closer to the day, the weather looked horrible, but nobody wanted to back out.. We knew what we were in for, I wore my LD shorts and LD long sleeve shirt under my regular jersey and pants, with a light rain coat. Sure we got wet, but due to the wicking nature of the LDComfort gear, I didn't feel as wet next to my skin. I think this goes a long way to extending body comfort and therefore extending my rides! .
I bought a pair of underwear and the long sleeve shirt. It's comfortable enough for sure. I used it the other day when it was about 93. I wet the sleeves and opened my cuff vents with all others closed. Not much happened, other than my forearms were a little cool. I finally realized that my upper sleeves might be velcroed too tight. Even after loosening the sleeves, and zipping my arm vents 3/4 of the way open, 90% of the cooling was on the arms. The rest of my body felt like it would be as cool or cooler with the vents open. I suppose a better test would be to start out with dry arms and wet them later to get a feel for the difference. What confuses me is the claim that your skin won't be wet. I kind of expected a Gore liner between the inner and outer layer of the shirtsleeves. Heck, they even tell you to pour the water INSIDE the sleeve. On their site, there was a demo showing a soaked sleeve and blotting the inside with a paper towel and not getting any water on a paper towel. That was not my experience. My arms were wet until the sleeves were dry - which was only about an hour - not four as claimed. Did I misunderstand their claims? I'm not sure that this performed better than any normal tech shirt with wet sleeves - or even some soaked sweat bands on your wrists. Thoughts?
