When Adventure Comes Calling

By Alistair Lawrence

Our new Adventure products are created for customers who take the road less travelled. Something that hasn't always been possible. In the days when our founder, Tom Pearson, was expanding from traditional ironwork into mending bicycles, there weren't that many roads. At least, not that you could cycle on, once horses, cartwheels and the English winter had done their worst.

There were still those prepared to try. Men such as Thomas Stevens, the first man to ride around the world by bicycle, in 1884, aboard his trusty penny farthing. And who, in routinely taking the road less ridden, spent most of his time walking.

Or Annie Londonderry, the first woman to achieve the same feat, a decade later.

Another who truly explored the backroads of the world was the mountaineer George Mallory. The inspiration for our new Adventure Long Sleeve Jersey, it was Mallory who, in the early 1920s, trekked across the wastes of Tibet to fulfil his dream of becoming the first man to climb Mount Everest. And who, when asked what spurred him on to realise his ambition, gave that famously enigmatic reply. Not for king, nor country, but simply: "Because it's there."

It was a perception long held that Mallory attempted to climb Everest in no more than shooting tweeds and hobnail boots. Once the altitude had roughed them up a bit, the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw waggishly noted that Mallory's team at base camp looked like "a Connemara picnic surprised by a snowstorm". In fact, the apparel of the time was better suited to conditions than you might think. Tight-knit Norfolk jackets offered decent protection from the wind, while Jaeger smocks kept the rain out. (Their canvas tents, on the other hand, froze solid.)

The Adventure Long Sleeve Jersey also wears its performance credentials lightly. Highly weatherproof, the durable, four-way stretch fabric has a rip-stop construction, which has been reinforced with Cordura®, to help the jersey meet the demands of serious off-roading. Indeed, we’ve created a jersey so tough you could ride it through a hawthorn bush and see no damage done. (To the jersey, that is.)

Perfect for both seasoned bike-packers and occasional tourers, Coolmax® technology ensures excellent moisture movement and the jersey also dries quickly. A windproof chest panel and brushed inner will keep you cosy, and there's plenty of storage too. This includes two accessible 'poaching' pockets, located on the side of the jersey, ideal for when you’re wearing a backpack.

Intended for many years of riding, the jersey has reinforced arm patches to extend its longevity. To those who might say it has the air less of a Connemara picnicker than a wayward geography teacher, we say: Check back in five years, when the jersey will look, and ride, as good as new.

It's one of the reasons Pearson make bikes. Because it's there. All of it, the great outdoors and all its myriad cycling possibilities. And because we believe that by complementing our exceptional bikes with equally exceptional clothing, our customers will get the best riding experience possible.

And you might say that, while our other ranges are designed to answer the call of the open road or the hum of city streets, the Adventure collection is a response to those soft whispers you hear as you pass an opening in the woods, or an unknown turn down some gravel track. "Psst," it says, "this way."