The reward for laziness

As I left the Eastern Suburbs in Sydney about 1.5hr ago, I decided that
I would not bother to tog up in my wet weather gear. After all it was
not really raining and my prediction was that the few drops of rain I
was seeing were just gonna peter out.

I learnt tonite that weather prediction at 0130 on a dark nite without
the benefit of the BOM website and it's radar is a bad bad idea.

The rain drops got bigger and bigger and by the time I hit the 8km mark,
I had a wettish bottom from the spray off my rear wheel. I stopped to
put on my el cheapo wet weather pants (to protect my phone really) and
stupidly thought I'd buck the odds by not bothering about my windcheater
or my makeshift booties.

By the time I had gone another 2kms, I realised I had made a bad bad
choice as my feet were starting to feel... eeerrr... you know how when
you wiggle your toes and the toes start slipping against each other???
Going another 2kms and with the rain now bucketing down, the sleeves
of my sloppy joe were a bit wet and my shoes were likewise.

Oh well, I was now only 2kms from home so there was not much point doing
anything else but just keep riding. I still managed 36mins for the 14kms
which is not that wonderful but given that I was not pushing it cos it
was wet, I am sorta happy with the time. My best time is still 32mins
and I don't think I'll ever ever crack 30mins

Surprisingly, when I was hanging up my wet stuff, I noticed that the
bits of my sloppy joe which were covered by my hi-vis vest were quite
dry, meaning that my tee-shirt under the sloppy joe seemed quite normal,
ie dry on the front and wet on the back from perspiration. Considering
the intensity of the rain, I'd thought I'd be wetter but apparently not.

Anyway, maybe next time, I'll not be so lazy and just put on ALL my wet
weather gear and I'll, at least, have dry feet but then again ....

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:51:50 +1000
Geoff Lock glock@home wrote:

The rain drops got bigger and bigger and by the time I hit the 8km mark,
I had a wettish bottom from the spray off my rear wheel. I stopped to
put on my el cheapo wet weather pants (to protect my phone really) and
stupidly thought I'd buck the odds by not bothering about my windcheater
or my makeshift booties.

My solution is to get wet

I wear Shimano cycling sandals (I'm allowed to, I'm a recumbent rider
so don't have to worry about fashion police) so if I get wet feet all
I need is a dry pair of socks in the seatbag. Woolen explorer socks
in the winter get wet but not cold I've found.

Legs just get wet. I wear MacPac woolen tights most of the time in
the winter, they dry fairly quickly so are ready for tomorrow. Upper
body is a waterproof vest and longsleeved tradie's shirt. The vest
keeps my core warm and dry while the tradies shirt doesn't hang and
get clammy like a cotton sweatshirt does.

If I'm riding to work then I have a spare set of longs and dry socks
in my work clothes panniers, the synthetic tradies shirt arms dry off
enough in the locker to not be too horrid to put back on.

If I'm going somewhere and not changing clothes at the end, I just
wander in wet I am not going to die of cold in Sydney although I
might duck into a loo to change to a dry shirt while I'm walking
about, the woolen longs are fine when wet.

Once you realise wet don't kill you, no problems!

Zebee

On Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:42:22 +0000, Zebee Johnstone wrote:

I wear Shimano cycling sandals (I'm allowed to, I'm a recumbent rider so
don't have to worry about fashion police)
Sandals don't look the same without long socks and a beard.

On Jun 4, 12:42*pm, terryc wrote:
On Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:42:22 +0000, Zebee Johnstone wrote:
I wear Shimano cycling sandals (I'm allowed to, I'm a recumbent rider so
don't have to worry about fashion police)

Sandals don't look the same without long socks and a beard.

Don't forget leather elbow patches on your cardigan!

Tony F

On 4/06/2010 6:42 AM, Zebee Johnstone wrote:
In aus.bicycle on Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:51:50 +1000
Geoff Lockglock@home wrote:

The rain drops got bigger and bigger and by the time I hit the 8km mark,
I had a wettish bottom from the spray off my rear wheel. I stopped to
put on my el cheapo wet weather pants (to protect my phone really) and
stupidly thought I'd buck the odds by not bothering about my windcheater
or my makeshift booties.

My solution is to get wet

Yeah, not much choice there

I wear Shimano cycling sandals (I'm allowed to, I'm a recumbent rider
so don't have to worry about fashion police) so if I get wet feet all
I need is a dry pair of socks in the seatbag. Woolen explorer socks
in the winter get wet but not cold I've found.

Hm, I have heard about using sandals for wet weather riding/ Might check
them out for summer.

I wrap plastic shopping bags around my feet and tape them down with
electrical tape Works real well even if I look stupid in them but I
don't care - my shoes stay pretty dry

Legs just get wet. I wear MacPac woolen tights most of the time in
the winter, they dry fairly quickly so are ready for tomorrow. Upper
body is a waterproof vest and longsleeved tradie's shirt. The vest
keeps my core warm and dry while the tradies shirt doesn't hang and
get clammy like a cotton sweatshirt does.

I suspect keeping the core dry and/or warm is the key to wet weather
riding. Getting dry reasonably quickly after riding is also a good thin.

If I'm going somewhere and not changing clothes at the end, I just
wander in wet I am not going to die of cold in Sydney although I
might duck into a loo to change to a dry shirt while I'm walking
about, the woolen longs are fine when wet.

Heheheh, the wet hair look is apparently coming back into fashion I
believe

Once you realise wet don't kill you, no problems!

My wet feet could be lethal to other peole though - they smell

On 4/06/2010 12:42 PM, terryc wrote:
On Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:42:22 +0000, Zebee Johnstone wrote:

I wear Shimano cycling sandals (I'm allowed to, I'm a recumbent rider so
don't have to worry about fashion police)
Sandals don't look the same without long socks and a beard.

I could possibly picture Zeebee in long socks but a beard?????

Geoff Lock:

I wrap plastic shopping bags around my feet and tape them down with
electrical tape Works real well even if I look stupid in them but I
don't care - my shoes stay pretty dry

Are you saying you tape them around your *shoes*? You don't wear cleats,
right?
--
Steve = : ^ )

On Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:42:22 +0000, Zebee Johnstone wrote:

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:51:50 +1000 Geoff Lock
glock@home wrote:

The rain drops got bigger and bigger and by the time I hit the 8km
mark, I had a wettish bottom from the spray off my rear wheel. I
stopped to put on my el cheapo wet weather pants (to protect my phone
really) and stupidly thought I'd buck the odds by not bothering about
my windcheater or my makeshift booties.

My solution is to get wet


Once you realise wet don't kill you, no problems!

That was actually my solution as well; sandals, shorts and rainjacket.
All I worried about was getting chilled. There is comparatively excellent
clothing around to do this now.

If really cold, wool socks for the feet and wool mittens were enough
whilst actually riding. Swap to dry socks on arrival.

On 4/06/2010 6:35 PM, Steve Ball wrote:
Geoff Lock:

I wrap plastic shopping bags around my feet and tape them down with
electrical tape Works real well even if I look stupid in them but I
don't care - my shoes stay pretty dry

Are you saying you tape them around your *shoes*? You don't wear cleats,
right?

Well, I can't afford cleats - simple as that really. I am not a rich man
and I get by with what resources I can scrounge up.

So, yes, I run a bit of tape around the bags around my sneakers to stop
the loose flappy bits of the bags from catching on the chain rings.

Feel free to laugh at me if you like. I don't mind. It's primitive,
it's pig ugly but my feet usually stay dry, so it works quite well for me

Geoff Lock wrote:
On 4/06/2010 6:35 PM, Steve Ball wrote:
Geoff Lock:

I wrap plastic shopping bags around my feet and tape them down with
electrical tape Works real well even if I look stupid in them but I
don't care - my shoes stay pretty dry

Are you saying you tape them around your *shoes*? You don't wear cleats,
right?

Well, I can't afford cleats - simple as that really. I am not a rich man
and I get by with what resources I can scrounge up.

So, yes, I run a bit of tape around the bags around my sneakers to stop
the loose flappy bits of the bags from catching on the chain rings.

Feel free to laugh at me if you like. I don't mind. It's primitive,
it's pig ugly but my feet usually stay dry, so it works quite well for
me
Some in the motorcycle community have suggested that putting the plastic
bags inside your shoes (or boots) provides similar protection for your
feet (provided you don't have to slop around in wet shoes
afterward)while avoiding the flapping in the breeze problem.

I've not tried it since my ancient BMW provides adequate foot
protection, and I don't cycle to work in the rain. I don't mind cycling
home in the rain, since I can change immediately, and it's inly a few
minutes away.

Moike