u/VikApproved

Now I was carrying a windbreaker "just in" case back before I ever heard of the MEATy term ESJ - Emotional Support Jacket. But, I have to credit AM for popularizing the term such that I can't recall a time it wasn't an ESJ. Sort of like I read LOTR as a kid and I for sure had mental images of Aragorn and Galadriel, but it you ask me today all I can see in my mind is Viggo and Cate.

Maybe we could even say the ESJ isn't a piece of gear...it's the act of thinking ahead for what could help the others with you in the forest have more fun and feel the MEATy warmth of your generosity?

I was heading to the forest yesterday to play disc golf. The forecast was 70% sun and 30% rain. One of those it's probably gonna be amazing days, but has a high enough POP % to keep the weather person safe if it turns.

As we were walking to the first hole the rain starts lightly. There is already the start of some resistance building in the group and talk about skipping the frisbee tossing and going to a pub. I throw out some reassurance that the rain is light and it will pass...probably. Plus we are heading deeper into the trees.

Of course the rain gets harder. People get wetter. Morale starts to take a beating.

The lady next to me looks pretty miserable so I offer her a jacket out of my pack. She seems amazed by my offer, but declines saying I should give that to my GF.

So I offer my GF a jacket. She's surprised I have an extra one and takes it. She's kind of stoked as she puts on the ESJ. I carry this jacket in my pack 24/7/365 as you never know what's going to happen in the forest. While Frolf isn't known to be a robust adventure sport I'm playing rain or shine or snow or wind, etc... My GF even digs the light yellow colour way she thinks I chose because of my on point fashion sense. Reality is MEC sold me that unpopular colour at 50% off, which seemed ideal for a ESJ that spends 99% of its life folded up in a pack pocket.

I go back to the first lady who is even wetter by now and I offer her a jacket. She's confused. So I reach into my pack and pull out a second windbreaker I had put in there this morning when I saw the 30% POP and my spidey sense started tingling. She's stoked to be pulling it on. Aside from being warm it happens to be her favourite colour.

By this point I'm materially moving the needle on Team Morale in a positive direction. So I offer the next bedraggled lady an ESV. Not as amazing as a jacket, but a vest is great for keeping the core warm and given the lack of other options in the forest it's pretty sweet. I got lucky on that one as I had stuffed it in one day a couple weeks ago when it was windy and I threw it on for the bike ride to the disc golf course and then forgot it was in the pack.

At this point people are looking at me like I am Doctor Who giving them a tour of my Tardis. How can so many ESJs come out of one small bag? That's when I started pulling out gloves! I'll save you the story about my multiple pair of ESGs that were still in the pack from winter Frolf.

It was fun feeling like Gear Santa Claus. I think I kept people feeling positive enough to finish out the round. And maybe...just maybe I passed on the MEATy mind-worm that packing some extra gear just in case can be a beautiful thing?

Note - Normally my ES Gear loadout is just a jacket and a pair of gloves. I got a bit lucky yesterday having more than normal stuff to share.

I tried a drop bar gravel bike for a bit over a year. There were some aspects to that ride experience that were good, but there were a number of aspects that were bad. Overall I found myself riding that bike to make use of it...not because I was stoked to get it out and enjoy the ride. Life's too short for bikes you don't love so I sold it.

I'm just not a drop bar gravel person. That's okay.

I do need a bike to ride with my "gravel buddies". Yes we can all be friends even if you wrap yourself in Rapha sausage casings and shave you legs before you put on your pure white socks and shoes! Looking around at what I had on hand it felt like swapping in a rigid fork on my Daambuilt would work. I initially had 29 x 2.4" Aspens on the bike and they rolled fast, but they are so dang skinny I wasn't enjoying them so some 2.6" Rekons got put on.

I know relative to the latest and greatest carbonium gravel race bikes this machine seems...chonky and slow, but for my real world and real people riding situations it will keep up just fine. Most importantly I'll have a blast in all the places the drop bar gravel bike was unpleasant...namely steep chunky ups and downs. Previously they were survival missions and now they are grin inducing.

The Daambuilt aka Mega Krampus has been through a number of incarnations since I got it back in 2019, but this is the first time it has been a Double Hardtail. Bike Lego keeps things interesting.