Friday, December 10, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Modifying my balaclava
Balaclavas all seem to have the same problem. It doesn't matter how well vented they are, your exhaled breath has nowhere to go but up into your sunglasses, fogging them up. Recently, I got a new balaclava from Cannondale. It's brand new, and not even available on their website yet. I got it from a rep, and it retails for either $40 or $50. So I thought "It must be good". The big difference, mainly, is that the part that covers your face is a flap of sorts, so you can easily tuck it under your chin if you want some fresh air on your face, etc. The flap looks to be well vented, and everything fits my face well. HOWEVER...just like the $10 balaclava that I have from Target...it fogs my glasses.
If you've ever watched a surgeon, or a doctor performing a procedure, even though they are wearing masks their glasses are fog-free. I get a new N95 mask from work every year at my annual physical, so I've got a few lying around. They have a thin metal strip covered by a piece of foam padding that you "mold" around the bridge of your nose that prevents your exhalation from going up into your eyes. I figured that was the answer to my problems.
So here's what I did: I cut the metal strip out of the N95 mask (along with the foam padding), and glued it to my brand new (expensive) balaclava using a hot glue gun. You'll see in the last picture how well the mask part molds to my nose/face now. I rode for 2.5 hrs today in 35 degrees, and had no problems with fogging. I actually had to move the flap down for portions of the ride because my face was getting hot! What a change that was!
^ There's the metal strip that I cut out of the N95 mask
^ There it is sitting on the nose area of my balaclava, before I glued it
^ And with the foam glued over top of it now
^ The finished product.
If you've ever watched a surgeon, or a doctor performing a procedure, even though they are wearing masks their glasses are fog-free. I get a new N95 mask from work every year at my annual physical, so I've got a few lying around. They have a thin metal strip covered by a piece of foam padding that you "mold" around the bridge of your nose that prevents your exhalation from going up into your eyes. I figured that was the answer to my problems.
So here's what I did: I cut the metal strip out of the N95 mask (along with the foam padding), and glued it to my brand new (expensive) balaclava using a hot glue gun. You'll see in the last picture how well the mask part molds to my nose/face now. I rode for 2.5 hrs today in 35 degrees, and had no problems with fogging. I actually had to move the flap down for portions of the ride because my face was getting hot! What a change that was!
^ There's the metal strip that I cut out of the N95 mask
^ The finished product.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
It's December already?
Here we are, with Christmas right around the corner. The weather has finally changed from the mild temperatures of Fall to the bone chilling winds of Winter.
Ugh.
Winter.
My least favorite season of the year. There's no color in the landscape, the sun rarely comes out, and it's windy every day. That means it's trainer time. I've needed a new trainer for a while now, and finally, the finances lined up so that I could splurge for something nice. At the shop, we carry Kurt and Cyclops trainers, so I picked up the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (fluid) trainer. What a difference from my old, $88 magnetic trainer. I knew it would be quieter (which is nice for watching movies), but I had no idea how much nicer a trainer with a big flywheel would be. For fear of getting too nerdy about it, I'll just say that it definitely feels more "road-realistic". I've managed a couple workouts on it, when I've either been too busy to get out and ride outside, or if it's just been too cold or windy. Next, I'll need to find one of my old tires that works well with it. The tire that I used today has about 3,000 miles on it, and is totally flat in the middle from last year's indoor sessions. It kept slipping, and was pretty annoying.
So far, looking forward to next year, it looks like I'll be racing most (if not, all) of Pro-Am's events in Pennsylvania. Currently, they're running a package deal on their races. Here's a link to the .pdf file that contains the mail-in form. I did a couple of their races last year and had a good time.
With that said, I'll leave you with a Jens Voight fact: (once you click on the link, keep clicking the picture to get additional facts about the toughest man in the peloton)
"Jens Voight no longer has a shadow, because he attacked it repeatedly until it climbed into the Saxo Bank team car, claiming a stomach ailment and retired."
Ugh.
Winter.
My least favorite season of the year. There's no color in the landscape, the sun rarely comes out, and it's windy every day. That means it's trainer time. I've needed a new trainer for a while now, and finally, the finances lined up so that I could splurge for something nice. At the shop, we carry Kurt and Cyclops trainers, so I picked up the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (fluid) trainer. What a difference from my old, $88 magnetic trainer. I knew it would be quieter (which is nice for watching movies), but I had no idea how much nicer a trainer with a big flywheel would be. For fear of getting too nerdy about it, I'll just say that it definitely feels more "road-realistic". I've managed a couple workouts on it, when I've either been too busy to get out and ride outside, or if it's just been too cold or windy. Next, I'll need to find one of my old tires that works well with it. The tire that I used today has about 3,000 miles on it, and is totally flat in the middle from last year's indoor sessions. It kept slipping, and was pretty annoying.
So far, looking forward to next year, it looks like I'll be racing most (if not, all) of Pro-Am's events in Pennsylvania. Currently, they're running a package deal on their races. Here's a link to the .pdf file that contains the mail-in form. I did a couple of their races last year and had a good time.
With that said, I'll leave you with a Jens Voight fact: (once you click on the link, keep clicking the picture to get additional facts about the toughest man in the peloton)
"Jens Voight no longer has a shadow, because he attacked it repeatedly until it climbed into the Saxo Bank team car, claiming a stomach ailment and retired."
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