Rain Jacket Blind Spot
A maximal gain hiding in plain sight
Rain, hail, and high winds at the Giro means riders have to change in and out of rain jackets frequently.
In the quest for marginal gains and maximum speed, World Tour teams and their apparel sponsors spend millions to equip riders with the most aerodynamic clothing possible including $2,000 socks and $20,000 custom speed suits.
The obsession with aerodynamics extends to rain jackets.
If you’ve worn one of these jackets, you know that as you sweat, the material forms what feels like a vacuum seal with your skin.
Taking them off is so hard that at the Giro we’ve seen a team leader riding no-handed at speed while two teammates yank on the sleeves of his rain jacket to try to remove it.
Putting these rain jackets on isn’t much easier and we also saw a rider pulled over with two team staffers working together to pull on his rain jacket.
Nothing is slower than crashing and being injured, especially when it’s preventable.
When a rider has to spend more than a minute riding with no hands yanking on a stuck rain jacket to remove it, or completely stop on the side of the road to put on or remove a rain jacket, you have a serious safety problem.
Forget marginal gains, this is a maximal gain opportunity hiding in plain sight.
A smart kit provider should design a low friction rain jacket interior fabric to make the process of putting on and removing a rain jacket safer and faster.
That keeps riders in the race and off the ground.
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or, advance tech breakaway jackets w a sealed closure?