Dress for Cycling Success |
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SEACOAST BY BIKE
For anything more than a ride around the block – David Balkin says -- bicycle
clothing is as important to overall performance as wet suits are to scuba divers.
Full summer regalia include: shoes, socks, shorts, jersey, helmet, glasses and
gloves. Read on.
About the Great Balkini
Padded Lycra shorts stretch in all the right ways while offering much needed
thigh support. Extra padding is always welcome and this does double duty with
layers of technical fabric that work amazingly well in keeping the rider’s nether
region cool and dry.
Cycling specific jerseys are brightly colored by design. Being seen is paramount.
The rear pockets are so placed as to not disturb pedaling action and they hold
stuff that riders don’t want to leave home without. Today’s jerseys have amazing
wicking properties that keep riders comfortable under a wide range of conditions.
Indeed, from head to toe the technically garbed cyclist can maintain comfortable
body temperature except under the most extreme winter conditions. Few venture
out in that climate except extreme personalities and DWI’s neither of which need
my help.
Cycling shoes and pedals are the same as ski boots and bindings and just as essential
in the 21st century. The disclaimer honors the versatility of the bike that can be ridden
everywhere wearing anything. Those choices aren’t available in most other recreational
venues. Scuba divers don’t have a choice; at Nubble Light you wear a wet suit
or stay out of the ocean.
If not exactly as life threatening as freezing to death in the frigid Atlantic,
shoes and cleats are just as critical to performance. It’s a two piston power
plant from the hips down and how securely each piston is connected to the pedal
is crucial. Proper foot positioning makes pedaling automatic and the light weight
of the boot conserves energy while ventilation keeps feet comfortable.
There is no need to worry about emergency exiting as pedal release is automatic
in an incident and second nature otherwise. Only an idiot doesn’t find empty pavement
and practice the entry and release until it is truly second nature. Golfers hit
thousands of practice balls to get better and this is no different. If it takes
100 or 1000 times what’s the difference? That’s a minor investment for a lifetime
of real riding. In a perfect world where falling on one’s head is outlawed, cycling
shoes and shorts are the two true essentials a rider must wear.
The formative years of my cycling life were spent not wearing a helmet except
some flimsy hair net thing required in competition. That was then… and now I won’t
leave home without one. Rarely I’ll forget but realize a minute or two into a
ride and always turn back. Common perception equates them with seat belts, but
that is false security as the rest of the body is unprotected.
Here is the not-so-good news. As well as bike clothing works on the bike, is
about as badly as it performs off. The shoes can’t be walked in for any distance,
waddling is more like it. The gaudy jerseys with unrecognizable Euro commerce
logos are a fashion disaster. They’re also cut as if fabric was spun gold and
all riders were as streamlined as Lance Armstrong. Even marginally overweight
riders look as if they are carrying live pigs in a silk-screened gunnysack.
The shorts are even worse. The fact that males actually wear these duds in public
is proof positive they work brilliantly. Men in black spandex look really weird
away from the bike. Even worse, if possible, men don’t seem to have a clue when
their skintight suits are worn out.
Women and form-fitting stretch fabrics are made for each other, in my view. It’s
entrenched in their wardrobe, they’re comfortable in it and it shows. They can
be seen anywhere and look normal. Meanwhile, a guy at the supermarket in skin
tight Lycra doesn’t merely raise eyebrows, he turns heads -- Exorcist style. My
advice to men – avoid being seen off the bike in public for one nanosecond longer
than necessary.
Copyright (c) 2005 by David Balkin. All rights reserved.
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