Not too long ago a friend taped the Strength card from her tarot deck onto my bike using packing tape. Granted she got the cards from Goodwill but this was quite a gesture to split up her deck and power-tape it to my bicycle!

Since that day I took that card on a hundred rides.  The card was still taped to the bicycle when my daughter took it to college, I just now remember the card has been gone for over a year when the bike was stolen her freshman year at U of O.  I wonder if the power-tape is still holding the Strength card in place and protecting it from the rain.

I like tape, it’s always around the house and sewing studio.  Tape, what a great invention– I use tape all the time!  When I fractured my wrist in December I couldn’t take a shower without it!

As much as I use tape it’s no surprise that as a technical outdoor repair expert I also use a special tape to repair down jacket and sleeping bag rips, water-proof ski and snowboard pants, tents and backpacks.  But I don’t use packing tape, NO to duct tape and NO to other funky sticky tape as it will leave a mess that is impossible to remove.  You want to get a roll of McNett’s Tenacious Tape for $5, cut off what you need from the 3″x18″ resealable tube that can be tossed in a pack for repairs in the field.

My favorite repair using Tenacious Tape is down jackets.  For best results, apply the tape to clean fabric but if you’re loosing down and your coat is dirty you’ll want to patch it twice, once before launder to keep the down in then again after the wash since it may partially fall off in the process.  The best color to tape is always black, because black matches black and that’s a fact.  Tenacious tape comes in more than eight colors including clear for those hard to match bright Patagonia puffy coats and now in happy tattoo shapes, check it out!