My Poison Oak Force Field: Terry’s Gravel Pant

This review is part of the “Bottoms Up” series of reviews of Terry biking bottoms.

How do you say you’re a Santa Cruz mountain biker without saying you’re a Santa Cruz mountain biker? Give me your poison oak prevention routine. Here’s mine:

• I use IvyX pre-contact wipes (brown packets) on my arms and legs before leaving the car. I leave a huge container of IvyX behind the passenger seat.
• If I’m in short sleeves, I wear something over my bare arms, arm sleeves or elbow pads depending on what I’m riding and crash likelihood. I really like the minimal Troy Lee Speed elbow sleeves with light padding.
• I almost always wear knee pads if only for poison oak prevention. Also for bravery.
• I wear the tallest socks I can stand. If it’s summer and hot, that might be 6″. In the fall/winter, I wear ski socks that go up to my knees.
• Back at the car, I immediately wipe down arms and legs with IvyX post-contact wipes (the yellow packets).
• At home, I take a long Tecnu shower.
• I put clothes that I rode in immediately in the washing machine.

With their full coverage, Terry’s Gravel Pant defeats most of my constant poison oak anxiety. In fact, imagine: ripping down your favorite Santa Cruz trail and using the whole trail unafraid of anything leafy on the sides reaching out to get you from the waist down. Then, turn around at the bottom and climb back out without a single poison oak care. Did you momentarily look down and swerve into a branch? Did you overshoot a berm and wind up standing in green things? Don’t worry, you’re wearing PANTS! Repeat the drop and climb out as many times as desired.

These pants are advertised for gravel riding and they do not have a built in chamois. However, I find that they are perfect for California “winter” mountain biking. They have articulated knees that accommodate knee pads well, and they seem sturdy enough for some trail wear and tear (but not wild and frequent crashing). I have also used these pants for commuting on roads to work (4 miles to/from my house), sadly no knee pads or suspension needed for that. So, they fit within both review categories of performance biking bottoms and bike commuting bottoms. I have even worn them on shorter road rides around town when I’m not doing a workout.

It’s worth noting that I don’t think I would ever use them for gravel riding, and I do gravel ride and race. On the coldest gravel riding days I have worn a chamois over my longest fleece-lined leg warmers, while layering my upper body as needed. (It’s possible that more hard-core New Englanders ride winter gravel in pants! My friends in NH/VT can weigh in here.) Nevertheless, they are awesome pants that I use in several biking and non-biking contexts, like gardening. I would even use them as a sport climbing pant – they’re stretchy, comfy, and multipurpose.

Sizing and look: I’ll start with sizing first because it relates to function. I’m 5’6”(ish), 130lbs (ish), not a super curvy person but not petite, and I ordered a size medium. The Terry sizing chart says I could be a small, but because I envisioned wearing the pants to mountain bike with knee pads underneath, I sized up. I think a small would fit me better than the medium, but the medium is the right length, albeit with some extra material around the waist/hips and in the thigh. Next time, I would order a small. Right now, there is only one color available called “ebony,” which looks like gravel gray (maybe this is where the pant name comes from?). I would kill for these in more colors, like blue or purple, or the ever-classy black. Pretty please …

Function: I was able to cinch in the waist to fit using hooks on each side, which I appreciated. There are ankle zippers that go up high enough to let in some airflow if needed, and I like the elastic cinched cuffs. There are three pockets: two thigh pockets (one on each side) that are quite deep — they can fit a phone and/or snacks — and one back pocket that is smaller. I was able with gloves on to unzip a thigh pocket while pedaling, get out a gel, and zip it up again, but it was a bit tricky to do with one hand. If the pants had a tighter fit on me (i.e., if I had ordered a small), the zippers might be easier to work with one-handed. When looking at the pant, it appears as though there are vents behind the thigh pockets, but these are actually an extension of the pocket pouch. They could look weird, but they don’t. The back pocket has a velcro closure. It is deep enough to drop in my iPhone, but the phone peeks out over the velcro. This isn’t really a big deal because if you’re on your bike, your phone isn’t going to be in your back pocket anyway.

Feel: These pants work for me because they are breathable and light and very stretchy. They also feel soft and inviting and they pack down well in a bag. The specs on the product page say: “86% recycled nylon/14% spandex in a unique stretch twill weave (100% of nylon fibers are recycled).” I actually dread the feeling of my legs overheating while trapped under fabric during exercise, so in colder temps I have previously worn leg warmers under a chamois (for more aero) or for mtb, knee socks and capris pants over a chamois (with or without knee pads depending on terrain). Pants: never before, until these, and I really enjoy wearing them. They keep my legs warm but do not feel suffocating. The waist band is very comfortable and is higher in the rear for more coverage on the bike. They also have a stretchy gusset in the crotch, which I think every pair of performance pants needs. Most of all, when I ride in them I’m not afraid of the official Santa Cruz flower: poison oak.