WoolWeenies Club

[Triskeliongirl]

Today I finally got to ride covered in tons of Ibex! It was 42 for the commute in, but supposed to be in the 70s for the ride home, so my usual '40 degree outfit' (i.e. tights, long sleeve jersey and gavia jacket) weren't gonna cut it for the commute home. So, I donned shorts, a short sleeved jersey, and short fingered gloves for the ride home, but layered up with my Ibex knee warmers and smartwool socks (mid calf length that cover bottom of knee warmers) that gave complete coverage on the bottom, my ibex shak and PI vagabound II on top (never rode in my shak........), and my ibex glove liners and an earband for the ride in. It was perfect. I did start to get a little hot towards the end of the ride in and zipped the sleeves off the jacket, so maybe next time I can start out that way (or maybe it just warmed up quickly and it was the best way to do it?). If I had it to do over, I would just replace my long sleeve jersey/gavia jacket with the short sleeve jersey/shak/vagabound II combo, very versatile (in other words, ditch the long sleeve jerseys and tights, so while I will wear what I own until it wears out, they are not getting replaced....). I was toasty warm at the beginning, but could also feel the shak ventilating as it warmed up (and I did do some zipper adjustments as I rode).

I did get some great customer service from TE today as well. The stitching that holds the sleeve zipper onto the sleeve of my PI vagabound II jacket started to tear. At first I wasn't gonna do anything, cuz I love the jacket so much I didn't want to be without it for even a day, and then have to pay shipping costs etc. on a return, so I planned to just stitch it up myself. But I never got around to it and saw it was worse today when I took it off after getting to work. I checked to see that TE still had them in stock, so thought I'd phone to see if they would do an advance exchange. They were great!!! Apparently this is their routine policy if they still have the item. They shipped me out a brand new one today, which will contain a prepaid shipping label for the return. So, I never have to be without the jacket and I don't have to pay any shipping or even advance any $. MAKES ME REALLY GLAD I BOUGHT THE JACKET FROM TE!!!! Even my LBS would have given me a hard time about it, and probably made me deal with PI directly.

The PI vagabound II is an amazing jacket, so anyone that doesn’t own one yet, consider getting one from TE! I did have to size up though, the M jacket layers beautifully over my S full zip shak, but they have a reputation for running snug, especially for those of us that are ‘busty.’ I think the outfit I rode in with today will make the perfect touring outfit, minimum pieces to adjust to the widest range of temp variations, and the shak even looks good off the bike!