A few bike/winter random thoughts.......
12-10-12 | 03:13 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 686
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From: Central Illinois
A few bike/winter random thoughts.......
I've found a good way to be comfortable in cold weather. Wish I'd thought of it 25 years ago.
For a good part of the year, the cooler parts, I wear a bib overall. It's actually rain pants. It has a main layer of woven nylon, like a thick windbreaker. Wear spots, the seat and knees for instance, have a second thick polyester layer. There's also a fine-mesh inner polyester lining.
It's getting pretty old and it's served me well. I've known for years now that it's a versatile outer shell. Down around zero deg F, I naturally wear quite a bit underneath. From the upper 30s to mid40s I just wear a pair of shorts underneath. Quite comfy.
Still almost no matter what you wear, dry and chafed legs can be a problem. It hit me just a few weeks ago: sweat pants. I've never been a big fan of them. But I stopped and bought a couple pair to try it out and I'm impressed. Now on my commute it's sweat pants and shirt plus outer shell for the weather. Last week it was the rain pants with a cotton jacket. With my lightweight, but ankle covering, winter boots the feeling against my body is something like being in bed wrapped up in a comforter. I'm more than willing to change clothes at work for this. And I haven't lost much anyway; unless the weather was just right I didn't wear my work clothes on the bike anyway. The added clothes-changing is minimal.
Imagine that you are an automobile commuter. At the end of a long day you get in your car. But you're wearing your pajamas and warm slippers. It would make the commute a bit more enjoyable, wouldn't it? Of course the cagers could do this. But they'd feel silly making that change at work. But we can have it without it seeming all that un-natural.
One more benefit to bicycling.
Something else a bit more random: Imagine a man who decided to carry a purse around. It wouldn't even matter if he did it for purely practical reasons. [I]Everyone[I] would consider him peculiar. Half of his friends, relatives and co-workers would be embarrassed and would keep just a bit of distance. And he'd meet with hostility from random strangers.
Isn't it awful? We're in the position of the man with the purse. The general public views us in pretty similar terms.
Not that it gets me down all that much. I pretty-secretly kinda enjoy my reputation for being eccentric. And those of us who will face any weather get a reputation for being tough. No harm in that.
At least once a year, often in December, someone will ask me, "What?!!!...Are you crazy?!!"
I look down my nose at them and say, "Don't be crude......I'm just abnormal..."
We get a laugh out of it. But they don't know that this sort of 'abnormal' is a good thing and that they're the ones who are crazy.
For a good part of the year, the cooler parts, I wear a bib overall. It's actually rain pants. It has a main layer of woven nylon, like a thick windbreaker. Wear spots, the seat and knees for instance, have a second thick polyester layer. There's also a fine-mesh inner polyester lining.
It's getting pretty old and it's served me well. I've known for years now that it's a versatile outer shell. Down around zero deg F, I naturally wear quite a bit underneath. From the upper 30s to mid40s I just wear a pair of shorts underneath. Quite comfy.
Still almost no matter what you wear, dry and chafed legs can be a problem. It hit me just a few weeks ago: sweat pants. I've never been a big fan of them. But I stopped and bought a couple pair to try it out and I'm impressed. Now on my commute it's sweat pants and shirt plus outer shell for the weather. Last week it was the rain pants with a cotton jacket. With my lightweight, but ankle covering, winter boots the feeling against my body is something like being in bed wrapped up in a comforter. I'm more than willing to change clothes at work for this. And I haven't lost much anyway; unless the weather was just right I didn't wear my work clothes on the bike anyway. The added clothes-changing is minimal.
Imagine that you are an automobile commuter. At the end of a long day you get in your car. But you're wearing your pajamas and warm slippers. It would make the commute a bit more enjoyable, wouldn't it? Of course the cagers could do this. But they'd feel silly making that change at work. But we can have it without it seeming all that un-natural.
One more benefit to bicycling.
Something else a bit more random: Imagine a man who decided to carry a purse around. It wouldn't even matter if he did it for purely practical reasons. [I]Everyone[I] would consider him peculiar. Half of his friends, relatives and co-workers would be embarrassed and would keep just a bit of distance. And he'd meet with hostility from random strangers.
Isn't it awful? We're in the position of the man with the purse. The general public views us in pretty similar terms.
Not that it gets me down all that much. I pretty-secretly kinda enjoy my reputation for being eccentric. And those of us who will face any weather get a reputation for being tough. No harm in that.
At least once a year, often in December, someone will ask me, "What?!!!...Are you crazy?!!"
I look down my nose at them and say, "Don't be crude......I'm just abnormal..."
We get a laugh out of it. But they don't know that this sort of 'abnormal' is a good thing and that they're the ones who are crazy.
12-10-12 | 04:34 PM
#2
Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: Mesa, AZ
Bikes: Trek Alpha 4300
LOL
+1 for a good idea and good laugh. I wonder if you are talking about what I used to wear working in my dads car shop in winter. A pair of insulated coveralls. They were basiclaly a full body suit that zippered up the front, and insulated. We would wear them over our normal work pants/shirt, with a nit hat on. That's a decent idea, for a single solution that covers everything but the extremedies.
+1 for a good idea and good laugh. I wonder if you are talking about what I used to wear working in my dads car shop in winter. A pair of insulated coveralls. They were basiclaly a full body suit that zippered up the front, and insulated. We would wear them over our normal work pants/shirt, with a nit hat on. That's a decent idea, for a single solution that covers everything but the extremedies.
