My major find this winter has been a pair of Ibex Knitty-Gritty gloves. Alone or over my summer riding gloves, be they full finger or half, the Knitty-Gritties have kept my digits dancing from 55F (running solo) down to 30F (with summer half-fingers beneath) with ease. The upside? They’re $20. The downside? They wear more quickly than my cheap-ass would like…I’ll probably have to replace them within four or five seasons. But at least they’ve got some horny-deer printed all about the gripping area of the palm and fingers….

The second major find was one I’ve been putting-off for over a year: a nice wool jersey. It was on the Internet-BOBlist (aka, the curmudgeonly-bastards-haven) that I first heard of Wabi-Woolens when the owner started posting about his product testing. Made in Portland, OR, Wabi-Woolens jerseys are knit of dense and extremely shrinkable merino wool. Due to the shrinkable nature of the garments, they’re sized accordingly; the fact that the wool shrinks helps to make the already tight knit more dense, aiding in it’s wind resistance and insulation. I’ve been riding in my WW jersey for over three months now and after each wash it gets a little tighter and warmer. The washing instructions specifically state that wringing the fabric makes it shrink more, so I tried it on the sleeves, where wind was cutting through, and it worked quite well! One of the shining points of the jersey is the fact that the pockets are situated quite high in comparison to most; a large waterbottle doesn’t add sag to the pockets, which is something I can’t say about most other wool jerseys I’ve purchased (*cough* Swobo*cough*). The price tag may be high, but it’s so damn comfortable I don’t care.