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Monday, March 22, 2010

How I dress for biking




Layers.

It's all about layers.





No matter how cold you are when you start you are going to get warmer.

And then you want to strip.



So on a cold day I typically wear 4 layers.

Heavy jacket.
Light jacket.
Bike jersey.
Under armour.








What I can't understand is long sleeved bike jerseys.

Then if you get hot you can't strip down to a plain short-sleeved jersey.

You won't find any long sleeved jerseys in my bike wardrobe.











Same deal with padded long pants - silly things.

Sure I wear long pants to bike.
Any time it's 65 degrees or colder.

But I want my padding in my shorts so I have the option to strip off the long pants and cool my spinning leg muscles.







Colors

The brighter, the better.

Our biggest risk out on the road is getting hit by a car.
So I do everything in my power to be sure they can see me.

Orange and yellow.
My safest, favorite shirt is my flaming RAIN jersey.





Why does anyone make black rain jackets for biking?
Do they hate bikers?
The last thing we need when the day gets gloomy, when windshield wipers are blasting away, when roads are slick - is to be hidden in the cloud cover with a black gortex rain jacket!

Give me bright yellow!

Layers.
And colors.

That's all you need to remember.

6 comments:

KC SW said...

problem is you and Al tend to like to use the same jacket =P and you should get one of the water jerseys! and kitty only needs a layer of fat then fluff and he is good =D

Katie said...

Sigh. I have a black Pearl Izumi barrier jacket. It goes well with my black New Yorker wardrobe.

But I'll be getting cycling jerseys with colors - working on my Ellen World Domination cycling jersey now! ;)

As for the long-sleeve jerseys and padded pants, I completely agree. Aren't their leg and arm warmers to throw on with the short sleeve stuff? And the pants go over the padded cycling shorts.

I'm learning!

Katie said...

Question: Where do you put the layers when they start to come off?

My cycling coach and R&A Cycles will skin me alive if I try to put any racks on my Trek Madone. The biggest pack I have on it right now is a saddle bag under the seat that is about the same size as a piece of thick Angus steak that Terrence would consider half a serving.

Unknown said...

Yeah. Frank objected to putting a rack on my Serotta. But I insisted. Besides my bag carries my diet coke and a book for those treasured rest stops.And my camera!

I used a backpack for years (and still do on my commute). But they get very hot in the summer.

If you think about the trip across America I see long distances between SAGs and towns; I'd like to carry some of my own supplies.

Katie said...

Maybe I can find a mini-cycling backpack somewhere. Something small enough to hold my lighter layers.

Or, will my cycling jacket fit in the back pocket of my jersey?

Anonymous said...

My cycling jacket is a tight fit in my jersey pocket. Arm and leg warmers fit in nicely though! I put those on if its sub-50 and under-gear or light jacket if its closer to 40. I can't imagine using a heavy jacket except in maybe sub-40 or sub - 50 and raining, but then again, in sunny SD, when you start out in the morning, its always going to get warmer!
Not riding tomorrow because we have to get ready to fly to Indy!