Clothes save wear and tear on biker's body
By Connie L. Sheehan
Senior Editor
With eight years of biking ex
perience under his belt, Mark
Anderson knows how to choose
the right clothes to survive biking
in Nebraska.
"I follow a few general rules for
myself — temperature rules basi
cally," said Anderson, manager of
Cycle Works, 720 N. 27th St?
Below 60 degrees, a rider has to
have tights and below 50, a rider
has to have shoe covers, he said. If
it's below 30, it's not advisable to
ride a road bike out for any amount
of time, he said.
"Some days it's just too cold to
ride," Anderson said. "People liave
a hard time facing that."
Feet are a major problem when
it's cold out, he said. If the cyclist
doesn't add extra protection, feet
will freeze in about an hour.
Shoe covers, usually made of
neoprene, fit over the roadracing
shoe that is designed for warmer
weather with mesn sides and vents.
When it comes to pants, people
doing road training use a plain
Lycra tight, which generally will
cover them down to 30 degrees.
Black is a good color because if
there's any sun at all, it helps to
keep riders a little warmer, black
also is the traditional color of bike
tights and shorts.
Some people are put off by tight
fitting clothing, he said, so compa
nies are beginning to offer otner
materials that hang like regular
fabric.
These materials are usually a
little heavier and warmer tfian
Lycra, and some are rain repel
lent, he said.
Anderson said many people will
pull their tights over tneir shorts
so that if the weather improves,
the cyclist can peel down to biking
shorts.
Biking shorts vary on the qual
ity of the construction, he said.
Tne inexpensive shorts are con
structed from two panels while
the more expensive shorts can be
constructed from four to eight
panels of fabric.
"This four-panel short has a
more anatomical fit," he said,
showing how more panels allow
the fabnc to follow tne curves of
the body.
Riders should check the quali ty
of the chamois, the pad sewn into
the crotch of the biking shorts, he
said. The better pad should have
more body and oe thicker, while
the lower quality chamois has a
dead, spongy feel.
Manufacturers are beginning to
design baggy biking snorts too,
Anderson said, pointing to the
fluorescent orange shorts made
by TrekWear.
Moving over to the jersey rack,
Anderson pointed out the variety
of fabrics available — CoolMax,
Lycra, 50/50 blends and other
synthetic materials, Anderson said.
"Each company, each year,
comes out with their new fabric,"
he said. It does makes a difference
in how well a fabric breathes,
especially in the coat.
Quality coats should have a
double zipper that zips from the
top and tne bottom, ne said, and
the backs will be vented or made
from breathable material.
"Your front is what needs pro
tected, because you're taking in
wind," Anderson explained.The
major protection occurs up front
in tne jacket while vented sleeves
and backs open up for drying off
quickly.
Jackets always will have back
pockets for storage, he said, and a
good jacket should have cuffs on
tne sleeve and around the waist.
During the cold weather, the
cyclist should have full-fingered
gloves that come in all types of
synthetic materials.
"One of the things that's sort of
unique to cycling gloves, is the
terry cloth thumb or back," An
derson explained. This allows for
wiping the nose or sweat from the
face.
Once the weather warms, the
big gloves become cumbersome
and the rider can change over to
cotton gloves, he said.
Anderson said in the spring,
wet-weather gloves with bumps
on the glove's palm provide better
gripping.
Koad bikers use padded gloves
because extreme pressure is put
on the palms from leaning tor
ward on the handlebars.
"With the road bikers, a lot of
people complain about nerve prob
lems like fingers falling asleep,"
he said.
Spenco made one of the fi rst gel
tounng gloves, Anderson said. Tne
palm is filled with squishy gel that
doesn't go flat like regular cloth
padding.
One of the most important pieces
of clothing is the helmet, Ander
son said, even though helmets are
not required by Nebraska state
law.
Most helmets consist of a foam
injected core that may be coated
with a shiny microsnell or thin
plastic coating, he said.
Anderson said a good helmet
will have the approval of both the
American National Standards
Institute and Snell, private prod
uct testing laboratories.
"People are more apt to wear
helmets now that they aon't weigh
much," Anderson said, estimat
ing that the average helmet now
weighs about eight ounces.
Helmets range in cost from $29
to $89, with the Giro helmet worn
by Greg LeMond topping the price
list, he said.
Finally, Anderson said, many
people cion't think about glasses
or goggles as something they
should wear when biking.
"If you've seen a rock bounce
off of your glasses — you're proba
bly going 30 mph and the rock's
going 20 mph — it makes you
nappy that you've worn your
glasses that day," Anderson said.
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Robin Trimarchi/Daily Nebraskan
Oakley sunglasses, fingerless road-racing gloves and a water
bottle: biking gear for today's rider.
