New gear for a new year

My past experience with backpacks has not been pretty. They have been too big or too small, which becomes a huge problem when you are wearing it in a 8 or 12 hour race. My neck, shoulders and lower back would suffer due to the ill fitting pack. I have tried several in the last 3 years. And I am pleased to announce , I have finally found " THE ONE". The Osprey Talon 22, size s/m, which weighs only 1lb 12 oz. , and has a roomy 1200 cubic inches. Jim is the proud owner of the black one that weighs just 1 ounce more and has 1300 cu. in. I fit the pack to myself and realized right away that it fit. It actually fit. It even seemed to mold itself to my back. It fit my hips perfectly and did not rub my lower back or my neck. This past weekend we did a casual 35 miles, mostly through subdivisions, while wearing our packs. This pack is so light and fits me so well that I actually forgot it was on my back. As an added bonus,this pack did not pull my hair. I usually have to wear pig tails while wearing a pack , since a pony tail, down the back, interferes greatly and pulls my hair. Long haired folks know what I am talking about. I look forward to doing more bike/packing and adventure races this year.

I purchased this Osprey pack at the http://www.backwoods.com/ here in Ofallon. They were having a huge sale and these packs were 50% off the retail of $99. It gets better. If you do not http://www.groupon.com/stlouis/ , you should check it out. Jim and I each scored a $30 Groupon to Backwoods for $15. After all was rung up my total was $23. Not bad huh?

I am impressed with Ospreys All Mighty Guarantee. At any time they will repair or replace any of their products , no matter when they were purchased. At no charge. Wonderful. Sometimes we are all a little hard on our gear, but with a guarantee like this I have no worries.