Bicycle Fixation Weblog
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11/05/2006: "Knicker Knews Knumber 10.5"
Well, it isn't new enough news to warrant a whole number to itself....Yesterday I casually mentioned on the KOG list that the weather had finally cooled down here...hah? I should have known better! I was going over the Cahuenga Pass--a pretty rough climb--to visit my father and get his perspectives on James Black's cargo bike design. My dad's an engineer and knows heaps about stress distribution (and he distributed plenty to us when we were kids, you betcha, yah) and welding specifically. (Among other things, he designed the welded roof truss for the UC Davis basketball stadium.)
Anyway, as soon as I got near the Big Climb, the Santa Ana winds cut in, changing a pleasantly cool morning into a rather fiery one--so on the pass I had the Three Hs to contend with: hill, heat, and headwind. For an old guy on a fixie, it was a good workout. And of course I was testing the black wool knickers today, so they got a real good workout too: seated climbing, standing climbing; sweated on, dribbled on; torqued, tweaked, and twisted; and generally well used for about 35 hot miles.
A bit of spinning too: on the way home, when you crest the pass and drop steeply back into Hollywood, you have the pleasure of an often terrifying bit of road design where a two-lane freeway offramp merges into the street from the right, with no red light or stop sign, so the cagers just flow onto the street at full speed, and you have to cut across their path to get to the new right lane.
Well, I made it through alive once more, so you still have to read my blither here.
The knickers did fine. I think I personally prefer the material for the black ones better, though my wife has forbidden me to get any more black clothes.
They are cut a little big--the pattern was for a 33 waist, but they fit more like a 34--and the pockets pop out a bit, but we'll fix all that on Wednesday, then it's on to the pattern grading!
But before any of that, I drop them off at a cheap dry cleaner to see how they shrink.
That's the way it works.
