On Having to Completely Rethink How I Dress for Winter Cycling Because of Funkier… Who has the Best Jacket I’ve Ever Worn

My wife emailed me message with a link to let me know Funkier was having a sale so I gave it a look. They had some jackets on sale for $19 that actually looked pretty decent. I bought one and a Jersey for my wife. She wanted a jacket, too so I put in a second order… they showed up a few days later.

Friends, I’ll just get straight to the good stuff: I kid you not, this jacket changed how I view cycling in the cold.

I’m out with Chuck and Diane the other day and we’re right at freezing, into a 16-mph headwind with just a light base layer and a light long sleeved running shirt and that jacket and I had to open the vents on the sides because I’d already started sweating. On the way back, as the temp dropped to the mid 20’s, I said to Chuck, “You know, I’m supposed to hate [cycling in the cold] a lot more than this”.

Yesterday, it was 30 but felt like 23… into a 10-mph headwind with just a summer jersey and a light long-sleeved jersey under the jacket and I was warm and comfortable the entire ride. It’s amazing how much I struggled riding in the cold over the years, to finally be able to enjoy myself a little bit.

Chuck got the same jacket and is far crazier than I about what the weather he’ll ride in, and he’s reporting the same thing.

This is the best jacket I’ve ever owned. It’s a bargain at the retail price of $100. It’s on sale for less than $20. All sizes are available, so snap one up while you can.

The conclusion I’ve come to is that the jacket is windproof. A thermal jacket or jersey isn’t much use when it gets really cold if the wind can get through. On the other hand, stop too much wind and you’ll sweat to death. Whoever made this fantastic piece of kit obviously knew this so they installed zippered vents down the sides that extend from the middle of the front pockets to the underarm – and they’re easy to unzip on the fly with pulls.

If you ride in the cold, I can’t recommend one of these jackets highly enough. Mine has completely changed how I look at riding in the cold.

Two notes before you order:

1. The jackets run a little big. I bought a large thinking I would want a little room for layers… this was entirely unnecessary. I normally wear a medium in Specialized kit, a large in race kit, and XL in Mt Borah race kit. If, however, you don’t like to feel bunched up in the winter (and I don’t), the upping it a size isn’t all that bad, either.
2. Watch the order page. It may seem like your order isn’t going through, like the website is not kicking your order through due to an error you made in filling your information out. Don’t hit the Place Order button again. Give it a few minutes to see if you get your confirmation before you hit the button again.