Geri said:
You can get excellent cycling clothing that doesn't involve cruelty to animals. I've been cycling for 35 years and I've never felt the need to wear Merino. In fact. I've never heard of it before.
That you've never heard of it is pretty shocking, because merino has been rapidly gaining popularity over the last few years due to it excellent wicking and anti-odour properties (anti-odour being pretty important for cyclists who spend time around other people). I could almost guarantee that if you open any cycling magazine you will see merino base layers and jerseys for sale; start a conversation with any clued-up cyclist or bike shop worker about cycle clothing and merino is sure to get mentioned. Howies has certainly contributed to merino's popularity; their base layers have recieved excellent reviews in the cycling press.
Before all this synthetic plastic shite they use to make jerseys nowadays, all the professional cyclists used to wear wool jerseys, although I don't know if they were merino wool.
Polyester base layers are crap. Yes, they hug your skin tightly and keep you warm, but once they're wet with sweat, they take ages to dry. Not as long as cotton, but still a long time. It feels horrible. And they fucking stink - bacteria loves it, sticks to it like, er, I dunno, superglue? After about 2 hours out on the bike the base layer will stink despite my armpits being totally clean and deodorized. You can't kill teh bacteria by washing them cos the maximum wash temperature is 40 degrees... antiseptic disinfectant would work though, I suppose.
I have met a cyclist who owns just one merino jersey. He says he sometimes wears it all week (commuting to and from work) without washing it, and it didn't smell bad at the end of the week.
