Temperature Regulation and Underlayers

From a reader's email, quoted with permission:

...not sure how to put this delicately, but when I ride my bike in the cold I inevitably end up with a sweaty bra. Even if I am not exerting myself, the bra is soaking wet by the time I get to work and The Girls are not happy spending an entire morning waiting for it to dry. I've taken to stuffing paper towels in there, but was hoping you could share a better solution. How do you deal with this? Don't tell me you only wear wool bras?

Now approaching my third winter of cycling, one of the most valuable lessons I've learned is how to dress for the cold weather. Merely piling on layers can lead to overheating, then freezing underneath the sweat-soaked clothing when stopped at red lights. This is where choice of fabric becomes important. Wool and silk not only keep me warm, but regulate my body temperature - meaning that I sweat lessunderneath all those layers of warmth than I do wearing cotton or synthetic fabrics. And compared to technical synthetics, wool and silk do not retain body odor.




When choosing temperature-regulating fabrics, the key to the whole system working for me is to start from the inside out. If I am wearing a wool sweater with a cotton long-sleeve tee underneath, that cotton is going to be drenched in sweat; it's better to wear a wool baselayer and a non-wool garment on top of that. Similarly, underwear matters a great deal, since it is the first thing to contact the skin. Cotton or polyester underwear will end up soaked in sweat, causing discomfort even if every single other article of clothing I am wearing is wool.




So yes: In response to the reader's question, I only wear bras made out of fabric that regulates my body temperature effectively, which for me means wool or silk. Wool is the more durable and somewhat more effective option. But wool bras tend to be plain and sporty looking, and not everyone likes that. Also, women with larger chests often report that these bras do not offer sufficient support. If you prefer a look and feel that is more lingiree than sportsbra, real silk bras are available with everything from decorative lace to underwire support and nylon stretch. After having tried a number of manufacturers, I have settled on Ibexfor wool underwear,and onWinter Silksfor some fairly inexpensive silk bras. I also like to wear Icebreakerleggings instead of stockings once it gets cold, and always Smartwoolsocks. There are other excellent options out there. But as long as it's wool or silk, there should be no need to stuff your bra with paper towels before cycling to work.

The Little Blue Shack

Every time I went to the restroom while staying at the Homer Spit Campground, I passed by this little blue shack that was covered with interesting items (for lack of a better term). It seems to be the thing to do in Alaska – odds and ends of fishing and boating and other paraphernalia can be seen hanging from all manner of buildings. But the color of this little building stood out amongst the others.

And each time I passed by I wanted to stop and take some pictures, but the weather just wasn't cooperative and the lighting wasn't right – until Saturday morning (August 14th).

Another Orchid

Although this isn't an orchid, it sure does look like one.

Aspen Tree in Sandia Mountains

This is an aspen tree we saw on our recent trip to the Sandia Mountains. This was what is considered the 'backside' or west side of the Sandias. It is a narrow, usually single lane, dirt road that goes up the mountain from the town of Placitis, NM, which is north of Albuqueque.

And from our Friends in Finland!

From the top of Europe a great blog and an approprieate picture for the current and reaccuring topic of crampons.



Thanks Toby!



Gotta watch that crampon fit. Nepal Evos and Black Diamond Cyborgs should be good to go though. That one might well be operator error. SorryToni...as I was cheeringfor you! But I know the head of Black Diamond's hard goods program uses the same set up and hasn't lost a crampon yet.



More here:



http://lightfromthenorth.blogspot.com//01/january-ice-climbing-and-hiking.html





Black Diamond field testing the same boot/crampon combo on Utah ice last winter.

Gone to Texas...

Monday morning I left Columbia City. With daytime temperatures in the low teens for the 3 days I was there, I was looking forward to some warmer weather!

While I was home in October, my best friend from my college days (Indiana State University 1979-1982) found me on Facebook! (And through her I "friended" our Photography Professor and another classmate.) I hadn't seen Connie since 1985 (or thereabouts). I've driven through Terre Haute several times in the last 20 years and each time would think of her but never took the time to stop.

Monday afternoon I paid Connie a long-overdue visit. I took a chance that she would be home and not busy and stopped without calling ahead. Not good form, I know, but I didn't know I was going to stop until I got to the Third Street exit!

As luck would have it, she was home! We had a wonderful visit, though only about 90 minutes long. It was great to see her again and hopefully it won't be quite so long until the next visit!

Connie and Me. Photo taken by her daughter. December 13, ...
Connie's grandson, Declan, was doing his best to stuff his hand in my mouth!He is such a cutie! Blonde hair, blue eyes, chubby cheeks. And so sweet.
Snow was on the ground, but the Interstates in Indiana were mostly clear. They had just enough moisture on them so that trucks and cars sent up a fine salty mist. My black van is mostly white right now. Driving through Illinois on I-70 there were an awful lot of cars and semi-trucks in the median and along both sides of the highway. Many were “right side up” but several were on their sides and a couple had completely rolled over. Not a pleasant sight and I was thankful that I had missed the really bad weather.

Turning south on I-57 and I-55, the temperature started slowly rising, from 16 to a high of 24! Once into northern Arkansas the snow had disappeared and the roads were dry. Yesterday afternoon I smiled as the sun came out and the temp kept going up. It was a blustery 55 degrees when I stopped for the night a little ways west of Texarkana, and 55 degrees never felt so good before!

Great Blue Heron Rookery

This week we went to visit a Great Blue Heron rookery with 17 active nests. This was my first time seeing a heron rookery and I was fascinated by it. The birds were pretty active, with the adults changing places on the nests quite frequently. It wasn't until late in the evening when we finally noticed some babies in one of the nests. At one time we could see three individual baby heads sticking up out of this nest. It sure was a fun day watching these birds and I can't wait to hopefully go back in a couple of weeks and see the babies when they are bigger!

































































































































Above is a photo that shows almost the entire rookery which has 17
nests. If you look closely you can see several of the nests have herons
standing in them. This sure was a beautiful place to watch the sunset!