A classmate turned to me yesterday and asked:
“Okay, is the tie terrible?”
He was dressed in a dark gray suit and white collared shirt with dark blue stripes for a job interview. The tie was an olive green paisley kind of affair, and was honestly really, really ugly.
“I mean, I know it’s bad,” he said, “but is it like interview-losing bad?”
I gave my honest opinion that it was pretty bad, but he probably didn’t need to run home for another one, before realizing that he was talking about the state of the tie, not the color or design. He had gotten it wet earlier. Oops. I played it off like that was exactly what I was talking about before retreating behind my laptop. I know, I’m such a bitch.
It’s not like I’m one to talk, either. I show up to school these days in a mish-mash of whatever looks like it’s going to keep me insulated and warm. And while I knit a red hat a few years ago to match my Patagonia jacket, that’s the extent of any color/design/brand name coordination. I’m sure people are giving me points for creativity, or for the boldness involved in wearing heinous outfits, but like split kits that can give rise to Twitter battles, I worry that I’m doing it all wrong.
Granted, I can put a half-decent outfit together if I had to, but the thing is that cycling doesn’t seem to track the fashion world very neatly. It defies that old adage that one should always take off two accessories before walking out the door. Instead, I feel like I’m piling them on: Rapha Winter Collar, Outlier cap, my own knit hat, gloves, an extra set of clothes in my bag, layers of Underarmour…a massive silver Ortlieb bag, white helmet, and dark green bike on top of it all. Everything clashes.
Add to this the fact that I’m mixing brands. Not that it would be obvious to the untrained eye, but given the fact that the gentlemen of Rapha only seem to wear Rapha, can their gear be feasibly combined with Underarmour? Is that as tacky as wearing Chanel and pairing it with Coach shoes and a Louis Vuitton bag? Or as weirdly unsettling as seeing an Asian girl dressed up as a cowgirl? Even with all the neutral colors that bike gear comes in, is there some hidden “omg-she’s-trying-way-too-hard” when you end up wearing all the gear you own at once because it’s just that damn cold?
My classmate left in the middle of class for his job interview, and I wondered if the tie was really going to affect his chances. Not negatively, I hoped, because although he didn’t seem too interested in the job in the first place, even I’d feel bad if that happened because of the tie. But taking off my Outlier hat at home so I could pull the Rapha Winter Collar over my head, and feeling a tad self-conscious about it all, I remembered a quote from none other than Coco Chanel:
“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.”
I can live with that. I can definitely live with that.
[Yay Friday! Yay Rapha! Yay Rapha Scarf Friday!]
Tags: chanel · outlier · patagonia · rapha · split kit · winter collar7 Comments
7 responses so far ↓
Your left crankarm sits an unusually large distance away from the chainstay in that picture. Is that just the way it is or is it in the process of falling off?
how the hell do you fit that outlier cap under a helmet? those things are mega thick.
I don’t know if you can complain about wearing too much gear until you’ve tried the balaclava + ski goggles combo.
– recent UMich grad. It gets cold in Ann Arbor. Really.
Is that one of those BMX brake levers with the push-down button to lock the brake on ? I used to run those back in the day…. I guess i’m just showing my age now!
solobreak — that’s just the way it is, yo.
pete! — they’re not THAT thick
cheshyre — i’ve thought about it, seriously. does it work? this winter looks like it’s going to be a cold one…
paul — YES. AWESOME, RIGHT?
Yeah, the balaclava / goggles combo will keep your eyes toasty warm. I used it for a while. I had orange tinted lenses which helped with the winter glare, but night riding got a little dicey in the unlit portions of A2.
Problem is, I notice you wear glasses sometimes. The biggest problem I had with the balaclava is if you have glasses on, even under goggles (there are ski/snowboard goggles out there made for going over glasses), you might get fogging. Obviously none of us wants to die in traffic, so it’s something to consider.
The other thing is that the googles made to go over glasses kind of jut out from the face a little bit which does slightly impact your peripheral vision.
OH! And – they might not fit under your helmet, or at least, not super-comfortably.
I’ve never tried using regular non-glasses goggles by the way, so you might want to head to a ski shop with your scarf/balaclava/helmet and just start trying them on.
My solutions for last winter (-10F windchill for a couple weeks!), if you’re interested:
1) Helmet with super-thin riding beanie from Nashbar OR Burton beanie if it was extra frigid. Sometimes riding beanie + Burton beanie when it got to killing temps (-25F WTF). Both methods covered my ears.
2) Bandanna around the neck to seal the collar. Keeping the wind out is essential, but a regular knit scarf kept me from being able to look up at the road (I’m a roadie with drops – no flatbars. I have to be able to tilt my head back).
3) Layers. Tshirt, waffleknit longsleeve, button-up shirt or track jacket, cheap thin softshell or Cannondale Morphis riding jacket. My commute wasn’t too long though, so I didn’t have to really bulk up.
4) Leg warmers. Surprisingly warm at -10F. Be sure to wear long socks so you don’t get a gap at the bottom of the warmers.
5) Gloves – ended up going with Gore Bike Wear’s warmest non-lobster glove ($60, 30$ on lucky clearance sale). Really, I haven’t found a cheap solution for this. Warm gloves are expensive. And no, wrapping grocery bags around your Louis Garneau gloves (I have almost those exact same ones in your photo.. actually just stitched them up yesterday) with duct tape DOES NOT work. I tried and almost got frostbite within 1.5 miles. You can actually sew though, so maybe you can create extra-awesome grocery bag overgloves? I don’t know.
6) Eyewear – I have sensitive eyes so it’s critical for me to have something covering them. Because of the hassles of wearing goggles, I switched to regular riding glasses – got a pair of the ultra-cheap noframe Nashbar clear glasses (~$8) and a pair of cheap FosterGrant “Ironman” sunglasses (~25$). Both protect your eyes moderately, but the Nashbar glasses DO have some optical distortion, and for me, they tend to fog somewhat easily. It’s okay though because there’s not much traffic during the winter in A2, especially since the city RAN OUT OF MONEY TO PLOW THE ROADS ARRRGH.
7) Final trick – if your commute isn’t too long, an easy way to protect your face is to just slather on lotion, any lotion, all over your face right before you leave. It’ll act as a thin buffer from the wind/cold.
Oh, and I highly, highly DO NOT recommend the Outdoor Research Face Mask. It’s soft and whatever and the mouthport works okay, but the mask slips down as soon as you turn your head in any direction. Definitely not made for cycling.
Uh, first time caller here, but I’ve seen a few Asian girls pull of the whole cowgirl thing. It can be pretty hot.
Of course it needs to hot outside – like Texas in the summer hot – not Boston in the late fall “hot”.