Holiday Gift Idea: Wildskins Arm Warmers

[Yes, I am doing a product review...]

If you've been a club rider as long as I have, chances are you have built up a nice collection of arm warmers from current and/or former, possibly defunct, teams. I've got some red ones from DC, the orange and black from my first Seattle team, which then became red and black before going to blue and yellow. Got each of those colors covered too. And of course the Podium Cafe blacks. Very classy.

Only in the last case am I glad I still have the arm warmers. So, here's maybe a better idea... arm warmers with no old team names on them. In more than just Performance Bike off-the-rack black or in the design of some pro team.

That's what Wildskins does. Colorful arm warmers. Very colorful.

I flipped mine to my wife, who proceeded to run in the tiger-striped one for a few weeks in spring til things warmed up, and has pulled them back out again in fall. Are they high-performing? Not really. The seams looked like they weren't long for the world in a few places, and I don't think I'd take them on any five hour rides. But they seem aimed to do one thing -- be cute -- and they do that pretty well.

One useful thing that wouldn't occur to a roadie is the presence of a small hole in the seam at around the mid-wrist, whose function is for a thumb exit, which then turns the top of the arm warmer into a short-finger glove that runs past your elbow. For the world of lycra, be it cycling, running, yoga, etc., this kind of comfort and function is useful. If, you know, it looks cute too. At $19.50 they would work as fun stocking stuffers. As I said, they may not be high-performance technical gear but they work fine and look... you know... cute.