what was that? is that all there is? who is this? this is it.

my “rain gear” has always been a mishmash of thriftstore deals layered in with a few memorable Christmas gifts and ground scores. It’s a compromise just like everything else you can’t win ‘em all (unless you’re a catholic high school football team) if it keeps the water out it keeps the water in aka keeps the rain out but you soak in your own sweat

my first Seattle bike commuter rain jacket was a full-on rubber hooded Helly Hansen yellow fisherman classic from Chubby & Tubby and the words technical breathable even cycling apparel were not in lexicon of this grocery store deli worker recent liberal arts graduate bike commuter.

trying too hard to look like you’re not trying too hard is comical and it’s ok to laugh at them when you were once one of them it’s not ridicule it’s recognition sizing them up they wouldn’t last one winter in the mildest of cities in winter as a bike messenger one doesn’t want to look like an REI catalog one wants some degree of authenticity and there will be no rain legs and no swishy pants   no  no              no

in my present state as a crusty old bike commuter I was recently looking at rain jackets and stumbled upon the Assos jacket in the photo above available through Colorado Cyclist for $578.99 and I cannot keep from coming back to it stumbling over the digits in the price re-reading the description and visualizing actually wearing this thing getting grease on it ripping it on a frayed brake cable or my cat’s claws snagging it wondering if insurance will cover it in the index of leading economic indicators this is fucking horseshit

I respect Assos products in a second hand thriftstore just a tiny fraction of MSRP kind of way but I have huge respect for their print catalogs arriving in the mail even though they were addressed to Jeff Nachtigal their top notch high quality visual presentation is packaged well            very well       tactile     even the smell

3 Comments

Just because the jacket is good enough for assos to put their name on it doesn't mean that I am good enough to wear it. Which at that price I am ok with not being good enough.

and even if it was good enough for Assos, it wouldn't keep me any comfier than the procession of long sleeve black polypro shirts that I have been wearing since EBMCO and a messenger bag and once in a blue moon a louis garneau clear plastic rain jacket with a defunct dot com emblazoned on the back that I picked up one time for free from a friend who had two. word.

word. if you put a purple jersey over anything you're good in any and all weather conditions. I had a black long sleeve polypro at EBMCO that I wore every single day until it fell apart and then I wore it for a couple more months.

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