Laundry Day.
I finally got tired of stepping over the moldering pile of kit at the corner of the bed. Actually, I got tired of stepping on a soggy chamois in the middle of the night on the way to see what the youngest is fussing about before he launches into a 2:00AM fit of rage.
I narrowly avoided throwing my back out carrying the pile downstairs to the washing machine and threw it in on the delicate cycle. I will ruin my wife's work clothes worth thousands of dollars (rough estimate) washing them on the "sandblast/extreme heat" setting, but I'm careful with the cycling kit. I have my priorities straight.
When done, they hang up in the shower that hasn't been used as a shower in the last ten years. It's a drying rack with a drain. Again, priorities.
This time of year I start switching from my riding kit to my trainer kit. My riding kit is the nice team stuff with sponsor logos that implies a team took pity on me when they chose to clothe me. The trainer stuff is old team kit that is no longer socially acceptable, as well as random pro team kit for teams that no longer exist and various beer jerseys. I don't want to wear out the nice stuff riding in the garage, and the only one that can get offended by my lack of coverage is me... and any family member that is unfortunate to walk in. They should know better.
Even when I ride outside this time of year, my kit is covered under 14 layers of technical fabric. It really doesn't matter if it's thin, ugly, or otherwise unacceptable, as long as it's comfortable. Nobody is going to see it anyway.
I have kit for recovery days. I have kit for moderate days. I wear certain stuff for intervals or other unpleasantries. They're not really all that different or special in any way, but I have to find little tricks to fool my simple mind while grinding away and going nowhere. If I'm dressed a certain way, I'm mentally prepared to do a certain job. At least, that's the theory. In practice, I fail no matter what I'm wearing.
The good stuff gets packed away, the old stuff gets hung up. In the spring, the process will reverse. Some stuff will be relegated to the circular file, as it will resemble items usually only seen late at night on Cinemax. Despite years of parenthood and wearing lycra in public, I still retain a small amount of shame.
Even I have my limits.
I narrowly avoided throwing my back out carrying the pile downstairs to the washing machine and threw it in on the delicate cycle. I will ruin my wife's work clothes worth thousands of dollars (rough estimate) washing them on the "sandblast/extreme heat" setting, but I'm careful with the cycling kit. I have my priorities straight.
When done, they hang up in the shower that hasn't been used as a shower in the last ten years. It's a drying rack with a drain. Again, priorities.
This time of year I start switching from my riding kit to my trainer kit. My riding kit is the nice team stuff with sponsor logos that implies a team took pity on me when they chose to clothe me. The trainer stuff is old team kit that is no longer socially acceptable, as well as random pro team kit for teams that no longer exist and various beer jerseys. I don't want to wear out the nice stuff riding in the garage, and the only one that can get offended by my lack of coverage is me... and any family member that is unfortunate to walk in. They should know better.
Even when I ride outside this time of year, my kit is covered under 14 layers of technical fabric. It really doesn't matter if it's thin, ugly, or otherwise unacceptable, as long as it's comfortable. Nobody is going to see it anyway.
I have kit for recovery days. I have kit for moderate days. I wear certain stuff for intervals or other unpleasantries. They're not really all that different or special in any way, but I have to find little tricks to fool my simple mind while grinding away and going nowhere. If I'm dressed a certain way, I'm mentally prepared to do a certain job. At least, that's the theory. In practice, I fail no matter what I'm wearing.
The good stuff gets packed away, the old stuff gets hung up. In the spring, the process will reverse. Some stuff will be relegated to the circular file, as it will resemble items usually only seen late at night on Cinemax. Despite years of parenthood and wearing lycra in public, I still retain a small amount of shame.
Even I have my limits.
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