Passes & Canyons Blog

This is the ad that caught my eye.

There is very little I desire that I don’t have. I’m a past master at the idea that happiness is wanting what you have, not what you don’t have. Plus, at this point in my life, if there is something I really want I generally go buy it. But generally, there isn’t much I want so there is very little I buy.

This is frustrating for my wife because she likes to get me things for Christmas and my birthday, so when some rare thing comes along that I want, she gets annoyed when I just go buy it rather than wait for one of those two occasions so she can buy it for me.

Which brings us to here. I’ve gotten a little envious in the last few years when I see guys who have riding jackets that are waterproof and for whom rain is unimportant. As long as I’ve been riding and up until this very moment, when it starts to rain I have had to assess whether I thought it was going to rain enough that I ought to stop and put on my rain suit. A waterproof jacket is appealing.

Of course, I have a jacket with a waterproof liner, but that’s altogether different. Either you still have to stop to zip that liner in or else you have to have been wearing it all along, and those things get hot and sweaty in hot weather. A ventilated jacket that stays cool when desired, stays warm when desired, and sheds water is a very different animal.

So it caught my eye recently when I saw an ad in Rider magazine for the Tourmaster Transition Series 4 jacket. First off, it looks good, plus it has a lot of nice features. And it’s waterproof. Then going way beyond that, it is listed for only $270. OK, I’m interested.

I checked the local bike shops and found that both Performance Cycle and Fay Myers carry Tourmaster so I hopped on the Honda and cruised on down. I wanted to see this thing for real and try it on. Maybe come home with a new jacket, or at least come home and tell Judy if she wants to buy me an early birthday gift I know what that gift might be.

No dice. In both cases, the shops had a great many jackets but each had only one Tourmaster and it was not the one I’m interested in.

I looked at the jackets they do have. And they have some very nice waterproof (which basically means Gore-Tex) jackets. And they will only set you back, oh, $500 to $900. OK.

I do like to shop locally. I like to patronize the businesses in my area. But if they don’t carry the product I want I don’t have a lot of choice. I hate ordering something online, receiving it, and then finding it is not something I want to keep and having to package and return it. But I guess maybe I’ll start that ball rolling. Hopefully I won’t want to return it.

Biker Quote for Today

Teach your child the love of motorcycles and they will never have money for drugs.