4th June 2019 The £60 [one use] NASA expedition gloves.

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Tuesday 4th 58-72F, calm with a bright, milky sky and cloud. Yesterday's thunder storm warning expired without incident. It has remained dry today as I walked to the lanes before attacking the 20' prickly hedge again.

I used to ride up [and down] this hill when I first had my Higgins. 

The 1954 trike came with rather tired, sprints and tubs [tubular tyres] which proved extremely vulnerable to the local farmer's roughly clipped thorny hedges. I escaped the problem by having Trykit build me a couple of high pressure wheels and to supply his clever 2WD cassette hub and journal bearing axles A combination which allowed me to ride year-round regardless of some very wintry weather.

It took considerably more time to find suitable cycling clothing in the charity shops spread over a 30 mile radius. Eventually, I had found several cycling jackets. Between which I could pick and choose depending on temperature and conditions just before I left home. Later on i gathered a number of cycling jerseys which I would wear over very thin and inexpensive thermal [skiing] underwear. Which were bought on special offers at local supermarkets.

Thick thermal underwear is a disaster waiting to happen. Because it soaks up sweat on a climb then turns to ice on the next descent. A cyclist does not need warmth. They provide their own warmth by hard exercise. What they need is breathable but wind-proof outer shells. My now, rather old-fashioned, cycling jackets were very thick compared with the modern materials but did and still do the job within their strict temperature ranges.

Only years later did I discover GripGrab "Nordic" winter gloves [or rather split mitts.] I had tried a range of light motorcycling gloves with many limitations. Far too stiff and sweaty if used above a certain temperature but I had no real alternatives back then.

I travelled countless thousand miles on my trike in very real pain from freezing cold hands. Even trying layers of thin gloves to try and stop the wind blowing straight through. The GG "Nordic" lobster-claw mitts are thin, light, quite breathable and windproof. They have rarely failed me though they offer little real warmth in themselves. Which is exactly as it should be for cycling. Better on a trike than walking in cold weather. Simply because walking does not warm the extremities like a proper cycle ride on an undulating route.

Others only pretended to be winter gloves. Soon proving to be 180% bullshit mixed with 190% hype. One well know and expensive "name" turned inside out on my first ride when I stopped for a call of nature. Leaving me completely gloveless in cold conditions many miles from home.

It was impossible to ever turn them back the correct way again. Even using a variety of suitable tools like knitting needles they refused to budge. The considerable expense had me trying repeatedly to redeem my loss on the first expensive gloves I had ever bought!

The catastrophic failure was due to a truly vast, hand-shaped lining of a greasy, polythene-like material. Which was stuffed loosely between two layers of different cloth gloves. Had they been secured at the finger tips against inversion they might just have worked. They weren't, and I suffered very real agony on the return journey because of their lies and incompetence.

As soon as my hands became warm, the inner, fleece liners stuck like shit to a blanket. Just what you need for a claimed "expedition" glove! Perhaps they meant they could be used to pack the expedition equipment back at home? Before being discarded to the nearest refuse bin? A sort of £60, one-use glove from one of NASA's regular suppliers.

I can't bring myself to name names in case they sue me. I sent my light motorcycling [scooter] gloves to a friend of a friend. Who rode without gloves all winter because he could not afford any while working in the takeaway industry.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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