Outdoor Girl Nirvana

As an outdoor apparel designer I often come up with ideal pieces in my head, my latest dream need has been the desire for a svelte softshell pant.  Not the kind we generally make in the outdoor industry.  My brain had imagined a piece made from a 4-way stretch double weave softshell fabric, something that would fit and look as good as a pair of lululemon pants meeting skinny jeans, something that I can wear a skirt over the top of, something I can backpack in, instead of those not so attractive brown pants that we are always offered.  I wanted something I can fish in, wet wade in, and put underneath my waders too. Since this dream pant would be a softshell it would naturally be resistant to brush and burrs along the rivers edge, or while bushwhacking for that matter.  This dream pant would also be equally at home on the street and on the town at the end of an active day.  I wanted to take it from the river or the trail, to the bar.

Until yesterday it only existed in my head.  I went into West End Bikes to talk about riding in the rain, as we discussed getting really hot while riding the co-owner Mark took me to the back of the store and suggested that I try on this pant from Outlier.  I love Outlier, so I was intrigued, but hadn't yet purchased anything from them.

Imagine my surprise when the pant he pulled out was...my dream pant!  In fact I was so in shock at first that I didn't even really get what he was showing me.  It took a little while to sink in, maybe because they were $180 *gasp*, so I began to think about why I would pay $180, these were the dream pant, I quickly calculated that I would likely wear them a 100x (can you tell I'm excited) in just the first year that's $1.80/use, and if you factor in that they are a durable softshell, with Nanosphere, these pants are gonna last a long time, so if you average it out over say 3 years, that's .60 each time I wear them, practically a thrift store deal when you break it down properly!

So I left West End Bikes with a silly smile on my face went home and jumped into my new Women's Daily Riding Pant, still haven't wiped the smile off my face... The photos don't really do them justice, you have to try them on.  These pants are also exactly what I have been asked for by climber girls that I have interviewed for design projects too, outdoor girl nirvana has been found, I love it when that happens.

An Excuse for New Gear

We spent this past weekend at Eight Mile Crossing up on Mt. Hood, the views are bountiful, the camping is amazing, and this area has some of the best mountain biking you'll find.  I realized just before skipping town that my most favorite biking shorts were nowhere to be found so it gave me an excellent excuse to head over to Bike Gallery to see if I could find something to replace them.  I found a pair of sweet Townie Bike Shorts from Fox that I couldn't resist.  The fixed waist fit amazingly well (I was skeptical of this) during my entire single track ride they stayed in place without me feeling like my drawers were drooping.  Serious love for the yarn dye pattern, thanks for something that looks more fun and less like another pair of black riding shorts.  So what if they get bike grease on them, it only gives them more character.  I also liked that the inner chamois short was separate because these shorts actually look good and fit well when worn alone without the diaper look of the chamois underneath (added bonus for sure)  Looking forward to giving them many rides and seeing how they hold up over time.

I couldn't think of a jersey in my closet that was going to be the perfect match up to these new shorts so I was delighted to find the Dakine Antic Short Sleeve to pair with my shorts.  This picture doesn't do it justice by the slight gathering at the chest area and the subtle graphics are a nice touch, and I appreciated the use of Aegis anti-microbial finish to cut down on the stink factor too.

 
Perfect gear for a great ride on the 8 mile loop conveniently located 2 minutes from our camp.  If you check out this ride try riding it backwards, or according to the sign the "easier" route.  I've done it both ways, and much prefer the both the climbing and the downhill when rode according to the "easier" route.  Otherwise you climb up for 900' in very low gears for about an hour straight, that part was a lot more fun to come down.

Faves of an Outdoor Girl

Being an outdoor apparel designer sometimes makes things a little tricky when buying performance clothing and gear, each time I venture into "outdoor" stores more often than not I'm a little disappointed in the end.  First of all, if my street wear would perform the way I needed I probably wouldn't even buy outdoor gear, because for the most part I find it terribly conservative, unflattering, and not playful enough.  But alas that whole performance thing is important so..... I go with the goal of getting a bunch of gear all at once, but there is never enough stuff that looks good, functions, and fits good too.  If all of those things are in magically in alignment I try not to worry about the price because I know I'll wear it to death.  Here are just a few of my fave's that have been living in my closet and getting tons of use.

Lululemon may not be an outdoor brand by design, but these Wunder Under Crop pants rock, I wear them to the gym, for yoga, hiking because I love how smoothly they rest under my hip belt, for short bike commutes, camping, and under my fishing waders too.  They are hard enough wearing to hold up well to outdoor living, and it doesn't hurt that they fit amazing too.  The $68 spent on these is worth every penny.

  

                          

I'm a huge fan of merino wool because it's natural and it's the only base layer that I can wear and sweat in heavily for multiple days without it stinking.  I recently started wearing the Women's Balance Bralette from Ibex and....I LOVE it.  In fact I have it on right now.  This piece fits great, is super comfy with straps that aren't binding or painful, and they adjust (very important).  Looking forward to wearing this on my long backpacking trip in August and seeing how it holds up.  At $42.00 it's not cheap, but it's merino and will last forever.

                                         

Keeping with the wool theme, my Tech Top from Icebreaker is one of the best fitting and most comfortable cool weather layering pieces that I have ever owned.  I find myself wearing it for shoulder season hiking and biking, underneath my shells on the mountain in the winter and everything in between.  I picked it up in NYC at Paragon Sports at just over $100, but I've had it for I think 4 winters now and it's still going strong in the love line of my outdoor gear, though I'm craving a new color.  I love that they are one of the few outdoor brands who has the whole length thing right on tops.  (We like them long now, hint hint to all the other brands.)  I have a lonely hearts club in my closet of tops that are too short, I often wonder how they got there, and because the collection has grown it's something that I really pay attention to now.  I have tops from Mountain Hardwear, Columbia, Patagonia, Arcteryx, Ibex, Carve, Cloudveil all too short and never get worn, and there are countless ones that I put back on the rack instantly because they look short and boxy.

                                        

In the category of non traditional, during one of my many visits to Target I happened on their Women's Seamless Fashion Cami by Champion, the rule for me when buying something besides the household items from Target is that it has to work without trying it on.  For $12.00 it was a pretty low risk to pick up a size small and take it for a test drive.  I was surprised at how well they fit, and how comfy they were, I have about 6 of them now.  I even wore one of them when I climbed Mt. Shasta last summer as my underlayer that I wore for 3 days straight while climbing.  They come in loads of colors and a couple of other styles as well.  They don't offer heavy support but good for lighter active tasks that aren't high impact.

                        

I'm also doing some wear testing for Cocona's Xcelerator technology, this spring they shipped out a new 2.5 layer lightweight shell for me to test.  I loved the design of the jacket, simple, nice fit, and details that worked without being too tricky.  Since we had the longest ever winter+spring that never ended in the northwest I was able to test this jacket much more than usual.  I wore it mountain biking, trail running, and trekking in the snow at 8,000 ft. on Mt. Shasta.  In one of my notes to them I wrote, "Thought I would test this piece aerobically in a different way than my prior test, weather is very damp and cool, underneath the jacket I wore a mid-weight merino base layer and hiked vigorously for about 1 hour 15 minutes with a 20 pound pack, and....never had to take off my Xcelerator layer.  My wool layer was pretty damp underneath, but it would have been even without the jacket on, I was working pretty hard aerobically.  I was impressed with the comfort level and my lack of feeling clammy too." This piece has been my go to outerlayer all spring.

I crave more risk taking from outdoor brands, better fit, and more current looks that could be worn as both street wear and for outdoor use without looking instantly like "I'm from Oregon" or hearing the words, "you look so granola today."  Because in the end, "girls just want to have fun."