I got a couple of the cooling vests from TiMountain... and used one during all three laps of my TTTT run.
The vest, again, is made of a lightweight blue spandex-type fabric, that has "bands" of black felt-like material sewn into it in strips, that contain water-absorbing gel particles. The concept is that you soak it for a few minutes to allow the gel to absorb water, wring the excess out, and wear it under your jersey, against your skin. The black fabric stays moist, against your skin, helping to cool you through evaporative cooling effects, for several hours.
Here is how the vest fits the torso, snugged by four straps, two on each side:
I soaked one of the vests, and went out for a test ride last week -- and discovered that there was apparently a significant amount of the gel "dust" that hadn't been removed after sewing it into the strips... and now it was all at the edges of the seams, and on my torso as well...
Guess you're supposed to hand wash it, first, to help remove this... DUUUhhhhhhhhh...
(but this should be something that THEY do, prior to shipment, IMHO!!!) SOOOO, I hand washed it, and even put it in the washer on gentle for a couple of cycles, and that took care of most of the residual gel.
Riding around the neighborhood, it seemed to do a bit of cooling, as advertised, but I didn't give it an extended test, and it wasn't very hot out at the time. The vest weighed about a pound and a half, wet. It felt a bit heavy against my chest, and clammy, but it didn't itch, and didn't seem to irritate the skin against my back, so it wasn't disturbing enough to prevent me from wanting to try it out during my TTTT race, since it would potentially be during the heat of Saturday afternoon...
Saturday of TTTT came, and sure enough, it was full sunshine, and about 90 degrees... so I soaked the vest, and prepared for battle!!!
I wore the vest the entire time of my 6-hour race. It still felt a BIT heavy, but I could tell during my riding that the gel strips were, indeed, doing their thing -- I could feel the difference in coolness, especially when I would press with my hand against my torso, just as an additional test.
At the completion of each lap, I would douse the front of the vest with water, to "recharge" the gel... I was also wearing my white "arm coolers", which I would douse as well, but these dried out within a few minutes of riding. The vest held its coolness nicely, all through the hour-plus laps.
RESULT: I can honestly say that at no time during my ride did I feel that I was overheating... my legs were bonking for OTHER reasons, but severe fatigue from heat did not come into play, as far as I could tell. The strips against my back were not irritating or uncomfortable at any time in my 4+ hours of riding time. The cooling of the front strips was probably less than optimum, due to the reclined riding position on the Xstream, but I think they did their job.
It felt a little confining, but this is somewhat to be expected, wearing it under a semi-tight jersey. I think this vest might be very nice for those 100 degree full-sun days that we encounter down here in Texas, especially for extended Rando 200K rides... It might even be worth NOT wearing a jersey over it, to increase airflow... (Well, maybe Peggy wouldn't...
)
Overall, I would consider it a successful test!!!!
Speaking of Peggy, she wore the other sample vest for a lap or two, starting at noon on Saturday as well... (GREAT pose, Peggy!)
However, just anecdotally, she didn't feel that it did much for her, and simply felt heavy... I think she removed it after one or two laps. I've asked her to write up a short report, with a bit more detail.
I'll bring the vest with me on Sunday, to the RBENT picnic.
Paul