It has been the start of our cold weather this week, and some adjustments are still being made in the layering system. I love my Patagonia Houdini that my wife bought me for my birthday this year. It is the perfect super lightweight shell for knocking the edge off of the wind chill. The whole thing zips into its own pocket and ends up about the size of my fist, it weighs next to nothing and is almost always by or on my bike. The downside, as evidenced by this panda portrait on my way up into the hills, the thing is a parachute. The drawcord system keeps it pretty tight around the face, but looking at this picture I know why it felt like I had a parachute on, not just a side effect of the 43deg chill. I have been keeping the hood rolled up into a little ball in the back, but this morning my ears were freezing. The newest version has the hood zip into the collar, but in true patagonia fashion is now being offered in shades of dirt, not the best for playing in traffic.
I will continue to love and wear this jacket, but wear something warmer around my ears on mornings like this. I am curios if others have found a better cycling specific wind jacket that is super lightweight as well?