Jesse Carnes is a RErun Ambassador for 2017/2018. He is a prolific racer and recently finished up a season that saw him complete the Butte 100 Mountain Bike Race, pace the Missoula Marathon, finish the Portland Marathon, and finish all three days of racing at the Rut Mountain Runs among a slew of other races. Jesse has been in the endurance world for years and continues to run outside no matter the weather. Here is one of Jesse’s tricks for battling the cold. You can read more about Jesse’s adventures here.
Hi everyone! It’s New Years Day, and this time of year, it’s cold outside. I don’t know if you have all realized that. Sometimes you can pretend it’s not, but it still is. The last couple days, the sun came out and warmed everything up to a nice, toasty 30 degrees. It might as well have been summer. I saw people out shoveling their sidewalks in shorts. No joke.
But really, we need to all accept that for the next couple months, everyone except the UPS delivery drivers will be layering up pretty much every day. For outdoor physical activity, that makes things quite complicated. You’re always looking for something that will keep the water and melting snow out, but will let sweat pass through so you don’t get drenched from the inside. Something that will keep the wind from chilling you to the bone, but won’t make you feel like your whole body is suffocating. That perfect amount of insulation that keeps you from wasting all your energy shivering, but at the same time allows you to move freely.
I cannot recommend these underwear for making snow angels. Not enough insulation.
The quest to achieve these things is one that never ends. Some days, by stroke of luck or careful planning, you get it just right. Those days are great. Other days fall short in one way or another, and you aim to fix that on your next outing. The good thing is, there are certain clothing items that offer a degree of versatility that can greatly increase your chances of the former. Be it a favorite wind jacket, pair of gloves, or a simple buff, everyone has those items that they reach for more days than not once the weather turns chilly.
For me, the newest addition to that list is the Active Windstopper Gunde short from Craft. I have put this wind-proof underwear to the test in temperatures ranging from 0F to 32F, both skiing and running, under shorts, tights, and ski pants, and have been extremely impressed with the variety of situations in which they are comfortable.
Under-dressing in the nether regions is definitely not something you ever want to do, and if you’re like me, your legs don’t generally have a problem warming up quickly. Therefore, I would recommend that everyone go out and get themselves a pair (or several) of Windstopper underwear. Most years, there isn’t a day from November through February where you would regret wearing them. Will you absolutely need them all of those days? Probably not, but I will be reaching for them anytime there are borderline conditions from here on out.In all seriousness, I did my best to find something negative to say about these things. I thought maybe when temperatures got above 25 or 30, they might get too hot, or that they wouldn’t wick sweat that well, or that the support wouldn’t be that great. One by one, though, they ticked off all the boxes.
