It isn’t cheap, it doesn’t look all that impressive, it is pretty simple BUT it really works! It’s practical and it keeps you warm. Duncan Gough layers up…
Coming off the ferry in Spain, the evening mid-June, I had come up over the high Puerto de Escudo (3,300’) and spent a comfortable night at Jesus Obrego’s Hostal and Bar by the Embalse de Ebro. The next morning there was a very light drizzle from the clouds that cloaked the Cantabrians. I debated what to wear, I normally ride in a cotton t-shirt and my Bikers Paradise denim (with protection) jacket and Lindstrands jeans (with protection).
Duncan Gough, writer, traveller and motorcycle touring fanatic, sporting Exotogg you wear under your jacket
I totally believe that comfort has as much to do with safety as the gear you wear. It is all very well having thousands of pounds of tailored leather and the kind of armour racers use to survive high speed crashes, but if you are overheating or chilled then your abilities are affected and the chances of a miscalculation leading to an accident increase. As you know, it can get a little warm in Spain and Portugal and over the last twenty years, I have found that denim, which will wick away the heated sweat from your skin, is by far the coolest gear to wear.
“It’s the best bit of kit I have bought in 15 years!”
Do I put on my light rainproof or not? Not. So often the cloud stops at the Puerto de Escudo or within a few miles that I thought I’d just get going and probably be in the sunshine shortly.
It was not to be! Hmmm…. The bike is telling me it is actually only 10 degrees and within a couple of miles I could feel the cold creeping into me, on came the heated grips. Cabanas de Virtus is just under 3,000’ but heading south after crossing a high valley one goes over the Puerto de Carrales which is back over 3,300’. Now I ride all winter and I know full well that once you let your temperature fall it takes a lot to get it back. I pulled over at the pass and got out the neat little package of the Exotogg. Off with the jacket, on with the Exotogg vest, a few puffs of air and miraculously I started feeling warm.
And that is what is so brilliant, as soon as you put the warmth of your own breath into the vest it starts radiating your body heat back to you. If you want more insulation then blow it up a bit more. Jacket back on and off I went comfortable, alert and happy!
I used it again when over in the Catalan Pyrenees near Vielha. Two years ago going over the Puerto de la Bonaigua it was down to five degrees (July). The Exotogg is ideal for the Iberian Peninsular where one can frequently gain two thousand feet of altitude and lose 15 degrees of temperature within ten or twenty miles. Easy to put on and off, packs up small enough to go in a pocket AND it has other qualities.
Sleeping in the UK in the back of my car, my blow-up mattress had a slow leak; blew up the Exotogg and slept on top of it, need a pillow for your siesta under a tree – Exotogg!
#exotogg #duncangough #warmrider #motogusto
