With our recent wet-ish and cool weather I’ve been wearing the G-Shield Thermal Jersey from Giordana. This is a short-sleeve jersey with longer-than-usual sleeves—they extend to my elbows.
The fabric is a 260gm/sq m breathable fleece in which the fibers receive Giordana’s Acqua Zero Eco treatment, which is a water-repellant treatment much like Castelli’s Nano, Sportful’s NoRain and Pearl Izumi’s PI Dry, which is a fabric treatment that won’t wash away like a DWR. And when I say the material is breathable, this stuff is great for mountain biking and gravel riding where speeds are lower, but I wouldn’t choose it for a breezy road ride unless I had a jacket or vest over it.
One of my favorite features of this piece is that it’s very stretchy, a handy thing for winter cargo. They say it has a temperature range of high 60s to low 50s and I’d say that’s true if the rider isn’t wearing a warm base layer. With a warm base layer and arm warmers I’ve worn this into the upper 40s.
It has reflective hits on the left sleeve and on the drop tail in back. The drop tail deserves some extra mention: I’ve got a trunk with junk and most drop tails in cycling apparel aren’t big enough to accommodate it and end up riding up; this one is cut more, uh, generously, a feature worth remembering for those of us who don’t look starved.
It comes in four colors and a whopping seven sizes, from XS to 3XL. It goes for $210, which seems a more than fair price given the quality of the piece. It’s got some reflective hits, but honestly, I’ve been wearing this when mountain biking and gravel riding where my speed is lower and I don’t have to think about wind protection.
And while I usually steer clear of black for cycling apparel tops, I don’t have to worry about drivers if I’m not on the road and that pays a special dividend: It’s pretty hard to stain black.