I've not had opportunity to add to my pages yet this year, inspiration has both been lacking and events thin on the ground due to the wrong clothes! Do you get those Facebook messages reminding you what you were doing on this day last year? Well, I've been inundated with reminders on just how wonderful the weather was at the start of last year, which if you recall was when I was ironically grounded with a series of winter colds! These past few months it's just been wet and cold, with ice and snow thrown in for good measure. I has, therefore, been somewhat challenging when it comes to choosing the right clothes for cycling.
Before I got into cycling, I would never have imagined the array of clothing decisions to be made. To those looking in from the outside it must seem quite bazaar. Yes, lycra fabrics are a given; the last thing you want cruising at 20 mph on the flat or 40 mph down hill are your clothes flapping around wheels, chainsets and your ears. It is also important to have clothing which wicks moisture away from skin, chafing is not a good feeling! Then there's the decision of whether to invest in on tor two layers of merino, known for its natural properties, cooling in summer and warming in winter. It's the premium material for cycling clothing. Once you have your core clothing, you then add leg and arm warmers for when it's too warm for full on winter gear but not quite warm enough for short sleeves and shorts!
All this has turned me and my cycling friends into full on fashion critics. A few weeks back we had the cafe staff in stitches as we had an animated debate over the qualities of of bamboo versus merino as a jersey fabric and Rapha versus Castelli for their cut and designs!
So share a thought for the British cyclist, who before even getting in your way on the Queen's highway, has probably fought their way through the kit selection triage and will no doubt be regretting, with the darkening sky ahead, having not packed a gilet or rain cape, or then a few miles later, for not having gone for arm warmers as the clouds start to break, while the sun throws shadows across the road.
I've also discovered that the more clothes to chose from only increases the odds of getting it wrong! This is why the pros are followed by a convoy of support cars and why the rest of us just have to accept that we'll usually be in the wrong clothes, and of course it's got nothing to do with weather.
Source - Wikipedia
