gauvins

Actually, my first motive to switch to capilene (vs other synthetics) is because it is one of the more sustainable alternatives. (Sorry if I sound like a fan -- I probably am, in this case)

Did something similar a while back. I don't remember being this cold ever before. Worst thing is that salt water makes it such that your clothes will never be really dry until you can wash them in fresh water (typically rationed on passage). We now stick to the Med

bikemig 

This is almost as good as a chain lube thread. I like wool a lot but I use synthetics on my bike rides as I find they dry faster.

79pmooney

I'm now reading about Amelia Earhart. For her - weight was everything. Less weight, more fuel could be carried - greater safety margin. (She was the rare woman with a very light travel bag! A huge fan of silk next to her skin for its warmth and comfort. And strength. A knapsack of the stuff saved her life once - parachute.) For us it was a space issue. A good sailing 34 footer is a very small space to stuff 4 men, a real life raft, spare sails and enough water and fuel. (We rationed both very carefully. Did almost no cleaning with fresh water. Ran the engine only to power away from Newfundland into the tradewinds and to charge the batteries.

Much like Earhart, we had minimal electronics, no GPS, no satellite communications, no radar. We had Loran which didn't work on the Irish coast, a radio-direction finder, a sextant. If we got into difficulty it was highly unlikely we would would be able to talk to anyone except via ham radio until they were basically within eyesight so help might well be days away. (Neither the one ship nor one plane we saw could be raised on the standard frequencies.)

Those 12 days were spent in an entirely different reality.

djb

and boy, always think of how those folks set off in ye ol sailing ships with limited food and fresh water, and not really knowing what lay past X point on the map....

gauvins

Super fast passage! Are you a racer?

Took us 35 days IIRC, from Tadoussac to Brest, making headway from one depression to the next. Engine off by policy - we relied on a wind generator for electricity, saving fuel in case of emergency. Still vivid recollections of Newfoundland (icebergs; a boat laying a transat cable forcing us to zig-zag). And of the relief felt leaving the Labrador current for the Gulfstream.

Russ Roth

I've never had luck with synthetics and even prefer to just use cotton over synthetic. I've got some wool and find it works well, but often save the little I have for use in colder weather if expected and half use t-shirts. Synthetics don't show sweat as much as wool, that's true, but I can toss my wool shirt on the next day and if I left it to hang over night it will barely smell if at all. The cotton and synthetic will still stink the next day but the cotton is tolerable to toss in my bag till I can clean it, the synthetic stinks out everything.

RollingExist

Yep, I didn't mention it but I've done the same. I am blessed to have very low body odor, and I find that my capilene top can go weeks without smelling. On the other hand, merino basically never smells at all for me, no matter how long I use it without washing, so merino does still win in that regard. Not worth the degradation factor though.

I think there's a lot to be said about the specific synthetic that is being used. Cheaper stuff that doesn't have anti-smell magic happening can be awful. Ex officio boxers on the other hand, I can wear for a week straight before they start to smell.

SapInMyBlood

Merino is nice for cooler weather.

On hotter days i prefer synthetics like Patagonia or Kathmandu that have polygiene, which is a silver thread weaved into the fabric that is anti bacterial and keeps it less stinky, similar to merino

djb

It is curious how diff materials can be different for odour, although as you say, it does depend on the person also.
In general, I find the wool stuff I own and wear regularly really doesnt smell bad, although I dont go for ages before washing them, but I still am impressed overall in this regard.

Miele Man

Good quality Merino wool clothing will keep you warmer when wet than will most synthetic clothing. With any wool clothing be very careful not to use detergents or soaps that will strip out the natural oils that make the wool so good.

Cheers

pdlamb

I know the orthodox view is that wool stays warmer when wet than synthetics, but that's not my experience. The coldest I've ever been was a 200k ride when I wore a wool base layer with a heavy wool jersey on top. After sweating through mid-day, I was hypothermic in the evening. Similar rides with a polypro top? Gee, it's cooled off tonight, what's for supper?

So my personal preference is to take a Merino base layer -- after all, they're comfortable -- but good synthetics on top for warmth during and after a long ride.

cyccommute 

I don’t know what synthetic jerseys you are using but I have many jerseys that date back to the 90s. None of them have any odor now nor have they ever had an odor. I don’t wear the same clothing day after day, however. I carry 3 to 4 changes of clothes and do laundry every 3 or 4 days. I also use the laundry at a commercial campground or laundry in a hotel or even stop in a laundromat. Machine wash, machine dry, fold, and I’m out the door on down the road.

GhostRider62

Every single synthetic shirt or jersey that I have owned since the early 80's gets stinky, much more so than other materials.


https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128...rmanently=true

cyccommute 

Too many years of working with pyrolysis oil has certainly reduced my olfactory sense, however my wife has a very good nose and has never complained. Perhaps she is just being polite but that is certainly out of character for her.

How are you laundering your bicycle clothes? I machine wash always. I have for decades with regular laundry detergent. I don’t use fabric softener, however. I also machine dry.

While interesting, I see a very large problem with this “study”. The selection of “assessors” selects only for sensitive people. That makes the study subjective. A more random assessment should have been done either in place of the study or in tandem with the study. Looking at the data generated, there is also a whole lot of overlap in the responses. If the variance extends past the average (or in this case the median) response, the results are less than conclusive.

GhostRider62

Ok. You win. As usual.

staehpj1

I didn't thoroughly study the link, but at a glance it appears to miss a few things that would be relevent to our interests. First, most tech garments are not 100% polyester and may not be polyester at all. And second, tech garments often have various inhibiters to stop microbial growth, These may include silver, possibly in the form of nano particles. Another ingredient sometimes used is volcanic ash.

The very worst smelling tech garments were the first polypro ones. Things have improved since then.

Btw, the shirts and sweaters I tend to use on tours these days tend to not be cycling specific. Most are running or sometimes hiking stuff, but some warmer layers are kayaking gear. I think a lot of it is nylon or a nylon blend. I have worn bike jerseys on tour in the past but have mostly stopped.

Carbonfiberboy 

Yes, early synthetic gear did get stinky. I've long since sent all that to Goodwill. I don't notice that with any quality synthetic gear now. I don't buy cheap stuff, it's not worth it. Any new brand name gear you buy now will be fine. I got rid of all my cotton gear after my wife and I had a close call on a backpack 40 years ago. I got rid of all my wool gear after a cold and rainy sailing trip. The only wool thing I have is socks - I still wear wool socks, but if I could find anything that dried faster and kept me warm, I'd sure try it. That's the problem with wool - it absorbs water like crazy and takes forever to dry. Not as bad as cotton, but not as good as modern synthetic.

I don't need some silly study to tell me what to do. I do what I've learned from 70 years of outdoor activity, which seems to be what the pros are doing, too. I started out delivering papers in Alaska on foot. Coldest I went out in was -65°F. Now the coldest I get is riding long distances in below 40° pouring rain. Any cold in the dry is so much easier to deal with. I have a few garments which work and have given away a lot which didn't.

GhostRider62

I took a Patagonia Capilene tee on a backpacking trip and it stunk to high hell in a day whereas my LS yak fiber shirt was fine after a full week in it, day and night. All of my synthetic cycling jerseys need washes after every ride and they stink. Not all wool absorbs. I rarely wash my merino wool cycling jerseys, perhaps every 10-15 rides. I almost never wash the alpaca or yak.

Pratt

Riding from Buffalo to PGH, then the GAP/C&O to DC in Sept. I wore a Carhart tee shirt, 100% cotton. I washed it when I showered, and dried it in the afternoons. At night, I wore a 100% Arcterix (?sp) long sleeved shirt, as pajamas. It is impregnated with something to inhibit bacterial growth, it dried really fast. For chilly mornings, I had a nice wool shirt, and a very light, thin wind shirt from Patagonia that probably cost about a buck a gram, but it makes the shirt warmer, and is great for the first hour in the morning to stop the wind of passage until the day and rider warm up.

Miele Man

I found that cotton is okay in hot dry climates but where it's humid it takes forever for cotton to dry and it feels cold in t he meantime if it's a all cool out.

Cheers

staehpj1

I have never taken any cotton on tour. I used to use a cotton tee for ww kayaking (pretty much wet all the time, never dry) in hot weather. The drill went like this. When it was really hot wear the cotton tee for cooling. If you got chilly take it off and go bare skin. If chilly with bare skin, put on a light wind shell. If chilly with the shell put on a thin insulation layer under the shell and adjust with opening and closing zippers as needed. Cooler/cold weather was a different challenge.

Pratt

Has anyone compared the weight of wool vs synthetics for equivalent insulating effect? Weight weenies want to know.

Tourist in MSN

I know a guy that when it is really hot dry weather, he wears a white cotton long sleeve shirt, the type of shirt you would usually see someone wearing with a tie. I recall thinking that it was a pretty good idea when I was following him when I took the photo. The white did not absorb much heat from the sun.

But the only cotton I bring is bandanas.

djb

Tmsn, I love that photo. Gotta get psyched up for that 15%climb, it's only 50kms away!

I once bought a white dress shirt like that at a second hand store, to wear at the beach, way back in the summer camping days with the kids.
Kept it thinking I might use it riding in conditions like this guy, but never got around to trying it riding. I should one of these days.

gauvins

Probably impossible to answer definitively as the fiber is but one aspect. How it is woven is probably more important.

According to this entry, polyester beats merino on all metrics, as a mid layer.