The first half of my ride home from Georgia was great. I was moving along at a good clip, and the sun was bright and shining.

That is, until I got to Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Fayetteville seems to be the tipping point for bad motorcycle weather. On my trip down, my route south of Fayetteville was completely covered by rain. I guess the northern part of my return trip got jealous and wanted to get in on the “fun.”

It rained non-stop, and hard, all the way home. It wasn’t as bad as my trip down, but it was a soaking rain. Paranoid (and hopefully wiser) from my gear problems on the way down, I adjusted my waterproofing strategy slightly.
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The first half of my trip down to Georgia was fantastic. It was cool enough that I wasn’t hot in my Rev’It Cayenne Pro jacket, but not so cold my hands were freezing. It was overcast enough that I didn’t have to squint behind my Native sunglasses, but not so overcast that I had to worry about rain.

That is, until I got to Fayetteville, North Carolina. Then the sky opened up. It didn’t stop until I reached Savannah, some 280 miles later.

What followed was a near total failure of every piece of waterproof motorcycling gear that I owned. Am I being too harsh?
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I love SmartWool socks. It’s good for keeping your feet warm when it’s cold, and breathes well enough that your feet don’t roast when the temperature is hot. More importantly, wool doesn’t lose its insulation properties when wet, which can be a really Big Deal™ if you are riding in the rain.

I own some SmartWool snowboard socks, and really love them. I looked for some lighter-weight socks to wear during the summer.

I found out that the difference between light-weight and mid-weight wasn’t that appreciable, and for the purposes of motorcycling you’re probably better off getting the taller, mid-weight snowboarding socks.
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My struggle with frostbite/exposure from riding last year has been well documented on Gibberish (here, here, and here, chronologically). Despite trying to put together better cold-weather gear, such as better fitting boots, thicker Cool-max socks, and heated hand grips, once bitten, twice shy. I’ve ridden a lot less this season.

With my trip to Tybee Island, Georgia looming, I was desperate to get something to protect my feet. I had read positive things about SmartWool around the Web and was willing to give their custom Merino wool and synthetic fiber blend a try. I ordered a pair of SmartWool snowboard socks from Sierra Trading Post and hoped that they were all the same size this time. Like always, my order was processed quickly and my socks arrived within a few days of ordering. Sierra Trading Post has really good turnaround.
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