Earlier today I ordered three (front, rear, and spare) Schwalbe Marathon Racers (40-622 / 700 x 38c) from Peter White Cycles on the east coast. They were the only place I could find them at the size I needed and it cost me a pretty penny as well at $44 each.
What I really need though are some clothes, wool mostly. A couple or so weeks ago I picked up a Smartwool zip T off of eBay and almost haven’t taken it off since I came in the mail. I love it! The problem though is that all the stuff I want for comfortable cycling costs so much money.
I don’t have the proper bike clothing to regulate my temp and feel the need to get some standard clothes which keep me mostly comfortable. I think even Sheldon would agree with me on this. But my problem is that I run pretty hot when raising my heart rate a handful of beats per minute and even though I don’t mind sweating a bit, I HATE getting soaked and I get soaked. What’s worse is then racing down a hill and freeze your ass off. That kind of riding does not make me want to jump back on my bike again and I really need to enjoy cycling if I’m going to bike at all.
What I currently have for riding though are some old leg warmers and one pair of biking shorts with a flat diaper which is falling apart and not giving padding my prostate at all. To my benefit though, I do have a good Burly GTex rain jacket that I got two summers ago but it’s heavy and I sweat like a pig on the first small hill.
Here’s what is on my list of things to work on and maybe by the time I get all this stuff, it’ll be summer and I’ll then have to get summer clothing by which time I get those it’ll be winter again…. What did I get myself into!
First is a few things from Rivendell:
Musa: I’m unsure which I will like more the shorts, the knickers, or the pants. I can see myself wearing all of them at some point but the knickers and pants I think would be worn more often. I also want some good wool semi tights although I did just get some Smartwool boot height thermal bottoms but they are thin and I worry they’ll be enough.
Rivendell has a really nice mid-weight wool zip T that I’m very interested in but it’s around $90 and things that I really like but which cost a lot of money confused me and I don’t know where to start. If I spend the money on this one item, that would be it for a month (maybe two) for getting anything else and I don’t want to blow my budget. I will have to add at this point that this is one of the draw back to living on and island, when trying to keep a low budget, it doesn’t allow you to go bargain hunting at thrift stores and just drive across town to check out that item on Craigslist. It’s a planned event which usually takes an over night stay on the mainland to really be productive and you can tack on $20+ (almost $40 in the summer) for the ferry fees. and forget about biking it… Nothing here to see folks! Just a another roadkill cyclist!
But to get off my rant – Another thing I’d like to get before the end of winter are some lobster gloves as my hands really get cold. I have some old WindStop gloves from TNF but they don’t have padded palms which I REALLY need to help aggravating my carpal tunnel (both hands). I like the Pearl Izumi Inferno lobsters gloves but they are hard to find.
One last think I’m interested in, and this time I’m a little a head of the game, are a pair of the Keen Commuter Bike sandals. I have a set of the Keen sandals which look just like these and have taken them on trips many times and love them. I can see me wearing only these on a trip eliminating the need to bring a second set of shoes. And no, I’ve done clip pedals and do not want to go back from my beloved clipless.
