Categories: Accessories and GearReverence

Reverence: DeFeet Un-D-Shurt and Un-D-Lite

As indispensable and overlooked as the gilet, the undervest is the only piece of cycling kit that comes with me on every single ride, year round, in hot, in cold, in wet, or in dry. While one could be forgiven for assuming an undervest lives out its life as an insulation layer, the undervest serves a critical, more fundamental purpose: as a wicking layer.

If you’ve ever had the misfortune of carrying a gallon jug of water, you will have noticed that water is not particularly light, nor particularly dry. If you’ve suffered the further indignation of having said gallon jug of water poured over your head after making a pithy remark, you will have noticed that the introduction of water to your clothing makes them both heavier and less warm. As cyclists, these characteristics don’t do much for us in the way of making our sport easier from the perspective that sweat is made up largely of water and thus has a tendency to make the clothing we’re wearing both wet and heavy. Enter the base layer, whose specialty is not so much in keeping us warm, but keeping us dry.

If I’ve understood physics correctly, these magical fabrics are designed to maximize the capillary action of fluids by sucking the water in our sweat away from the skin and towards the outside of the fabric where it can either evaporate or at least stop touching us. Even though the fabrics in our jerseys and bibs are heralded as being able to perform this task on their own, they are busy doing other things as well, and I find that using a layer dedicated to this purpose improves the effect greatly.

To be fair, though, the thought of wearing an undervest – or any additional thread of clothing for that matter – is far from inviting when kitting up in the middle of Summer. This is where DeFeet really shines with their multiple weights of undershirts, each targeted at a different temperature range. From the cooler months of September, through Winter and on into Spring, the Un-D-Shurt tank base layer is my go-to garment, keeping me dry but also adding a bit of warmth to stave off the cool air around Puget Sound. Once the mercury starts rising, however, I switch to the Un-D-Lite, which is much more lightweight and purpose-driven towards wicking rather than also insulating.

With both of these pieces, they are so stretchy, soft, comfortable, and good at keeping your skin dry, I never even notice I’m wearing them. I’d like to meet whomever figured out how to make this stuff; their brains must be so big, I bet you can spot it when you look in their ear.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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drsims says:

Aug 1 2012 at 10:46 am

I was just in Maui last week. Rented bike at South Maui Bikes (Madone) and did the Haleakala climb. Awesome. 5 hours up. 1.5 hours down. Would have liked to do West Maui but not enough time - had to choose one.
roger says:

Aug 1 2012 at 11:21 am

@eightzero

As the dates firm up, stand by for announcement of a Cogal. Obvs Gianni will be DS'ing the Haleakala ride, with the VMH on bidon/camera/mocking detail.

Cogal will likely be the East Maui Loop (that might not be the route exactly but its close), which I hear tell has been recently repaved so won't require special wheels. New Years Dayish.

I've caught the Cogal bug. Airline tickets go down a few hundred bucks right after NYE/D. And we all know where that extra money will go, straight to the recovery drink fund. Looks like I need to find a bicycle transport case majig.
roger says:

Aug 1 2012 at 11:22 am

I'm an obvious master of the internet, and quoting.
frank says:

Aug 1 2012 at 11:30 am

@Gianni

Frank, I think we sweat at different rates. Meaning I sweat like a huge puffy bastard and you don't. NASA is still working on a baselayer that works for me when I'm going uphill.

Do the prototypes involve a composite of helium, Spanish Beef, and diuretic?

@roger

Awesome!
Gianni says:

Aug 1 2012 at 11:52 am

@frank

@Gianni

Frank, I think we sweat at different rates. Meaning I sweat like a huge puffy bastard and you don't. NASA is still working on a baselayer that works for me when I'm going uphill.

Do the prototypes involve a composite of helium, Spanish Beef, and diuretic?

@roger

Awesome!

more like Krypton, Spam and cat adrenal gland.
mcsqueak says:

Aug 1 2012 at 11:55 am

@Gianni

@mcsqueak

Bring it, son! As long as you are ready for an O-dark:thirty departure and mass quantities of Big Swell IPA as recovery beverage. It gets hot fast out here so getting the first climb going early is a must for Mr Big.

Thanks to the magic of time zones (and science!), on previous trips I've learned that getting up early in Hawaii is no problem since I'm going back a few zones.

I'll keep you posted as, uh... 20-freakin-14 (ugh, sooo far) draws closer.
Gianni says:

Aug 1 2012 at 11:56 am

@drsims

I was just in Maui last week. Rented bike at South Maui Bikes (Madone) and did the Haleakala climb. Awesome. 5 hours up. 1.5 hours down. Would have liked to do West Maui but not enough time - had to choose one.

You chose the tough one without the brew pub enroute. Nice work though, up and down is quite a ride.
mcsqueak says:

Aug 1 2012 at 12:09 pm

@Gianni

Found their Coconut Porter on tap at a local pub a few months back. Had it from a can previously, and the coconut could hardly be tasted. But it came out very well in the draft version... very tasty.
eightzero says:

Aug 1 2012 at 5:10 pm

@drsims

I was just in Maui last week. Rented bike at South Maui Bikes (Madone) and did the Haleakala climb. Awesome. 5 hours up. 1.5 hours down. Would have liked to do West Maui but not enough time - had to choose one.

was this Maui Cycling? Can you provide a link to their website?
graham d.m. says:

Aug 1 2012 at 5:23 pm

@frank

@graham d.m.

@Frank you, sir, are psycho.

Fixed your post.

well played! But a psycho in the best way possible. This whole lot of people here are psycho's to regular folk: love climbing, love suffering.....welcome to the looney bin that is the Velominati. I love it!