Monday, January 14, 2008

Winter Gear Rundown Returns: The Melon

I'm past due in reporting on Week 1 of Snowbike Follies, but until I have some photos of the trusty steed to share (per the request of iBOB-pal Scott), this will just have to do.

I'm lucky enough to be married to someone who's as nuts about knitting as I am about bikes. It's like living with a giant spider: sit still long enough, and she'll probably knit you to the couch. So, when I mentioned that I was going to start riding again, and gosh, it would be so nice to have a wooly head-and-face protector, she went straight to work. The pattern (available for free all over the Web, apparently) is called a "helmet liner" -- designed in most cases to be made for troops serving in chilly climes. Mix that with some wool/mohair blend yarn and the abovementioned knit-nut, and you've got the oh-so-fashionable "cyclist preparing to rob a convenience store" look shown above.

When I need a little more airflow, I shift to this look: "cyclist auditioning for a part in a local production of Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (insert your own coconut clip-clop sounds here).

So far, this melon-insulator has been perfect for the oh-so-brisk 15-25F temps of Iowa in January: toasty without being clammy, fast to dry, and nowhere near as stinky as the synthetic balaclava it replaced (unless the smell of wet wool isn't too your liking).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the top picture, you look like you're thinking about getting away with something.

In the bottom picture, you look like you've gotten away with it.

Looks warm, compliments to the knitter.

Scott Clark said...

Very nice, Sir Bedivere.

Frostbike said...

Nice, I'm totally jealous!