Wet Ride

Bike grease is a beautiful thing; it protects and lubricates your bicycle chain, it keeps you rolling smoothly and silently even through the harshest weather conditions, and it's extremely satisfying to apply. One thing bike grease is not, is easy to clean up.

I've spent the summer cycling; at least 4000km total. I've toured the beautiful prairies and around the Maritime provinces, I've rolled up and down the Okanagan valley and navigated our own city bike lanes. Much of the season was spent sleeping outdoors. I've truly enjoyed a slower pace this summer, all from the seat of my bicycle.

With an outdoorsy type lifestyle comes certain gear; a tent, a sleeping bag, pannier bags for my bike, tools, hiking shoes, headlamps, long johns, and of course, an immaculate, bright orange Gore-Tex rain jacket. No rainy day is complete without such a beautiful jacket, and no such jacket is as beautiful in black. Trust me. 

It was a hard thing for me to stomach when I saw what had happened; black, dirty, obnoxious bike grease had smeared all over my orange beauty. How could I have let this happen? Of course there was that part of me that kept repeating how clothing made for the outdoors is meant to get used, blah blah blah, it's only grease, blah blah blah. No. It must be cleaned. This intrinsic need for tidiness, as you'll get to know, is something that affects my life immensely. (as a side note, when my Grandma Mary took a shot at removing the grease with baking soda, she exclaimed "kid this ain't fabric, this is plastic!" She then tried to apply olive oil to the spot, at which point I hid the jacket from her entirely)

If you've scoured the internet for help in removing bike grease from Gore-Tex like I have, you've probably found yourself considering remedies like Shout, NikWax, or Kirkland Baby Wipes. Yes, it appears as though there's a whole community of us avid cyclists who prefer our grease on our chain and not on our jackets. I knew I wasn't alone.

I hung my jacket in the closet until I was armed with the perfect weapon, which finally came to me through a friend and trusted resource. Despite my apprehensions, I was assured and reassured this was the answer to my cry.

If you ever get unsightly bike grease on your expensive Gore-Tex jacket, soak the bloody thing in WD-40. It'll stink, it'll seem unnatural to apply, but my goodness will it ever lift the grease. You can only imagine the emotional rollercoaster I was on as I went through this. Apply liberally, let the WD-40 sit on the stain for a while, and then start to dab the spot clean. It works like a charm.

I washed the jacket in Granger's Performance Wash afterwards, and then dried it on high heat. Now entirely spotless, it was time to reapply the DWR layer. I hung the dry jacket and then sprayed an even layer of Granger's XT Waterproofer Spray, being careful to do a thorough job.

And now, I'm all set for Calgary's unpredictable and merciless shoulder season. Bring it on!