I have been wearing the Underwork's Double Front Compression Shirt (Model 997) as my primary summer binder. It is the lightest, by far. It's comfortable to all hell and it binds so well without restricting my breathing that I can wear it with my lightest, transparent white shirts.
But, because it covers my entire frickin' torso my skin underneath doesn't get a lot of air (especially necessary when bicycling!), so on occasion I'll wear the zip-up T-Kingdom 801. But, alas, it doesn't bind as snug as I'd prefer, so I end up wearing a loose button-up or t-shirt over it. And as the day progresses it gets looser and binds less and less effectively, so I generally end up switching between the two.
The other ones I own are just, miserably awful when it comes to heat.
Just the other night, for example, I tried my old winter binding method that I blogged about back in the day, with the T-Kingdom M801 zipped OVER my comfortable cotton Underworks Style 974 binder. As a summer binding method? No way. After only an hour I was coated in sweat. The tip of my nose became a drippy salt faucet.
The second I got home I ripped the things off and threw on the T-Kingdom M801 combined with a very loose button-up. Which give me the appearance of morbid obesity - which, well, is fine. 70% of the time.
Exerting myself when it's this hot just, sucks. My forms of transportation are my feet and/or bicycling, so exposure to the uber heat is a get around and aboot necessity. And the exercise is good for me, but just... jebus hewey christ. Seriously.
I did stumble across a solution of sorts, however! A week ago I peddled to a diner to meet my family for brunch. This was a peddling excursion I'd done numerous times last summer, no problem. This time? Even 30 minutes after being in the air-conditioned diner, I was still sweating, red, and not cooling down. I tried putting ice on my neck, to no avail. Eventually I cooled down, somewhat - but after witnessing this pathetic endeavor an idea of pure genius occurred to my parents.
See, my dad has been cycling in a spandy bike jersey for years. Even after my ten years of cycling it never dawned on me that a cycling jersey would be worth much benefit. I also assumed that all cycling jerseys were obscenely tight, which, for a binding tranny, does NOT sound appealing.
So when they took me to REI to get my first ever nifty cycling jersey, I felt spoiled to all hell. I tried some on and picked one out. The Cannondale Caffeine jersey:
- Soft, stretchy fabric blend moves moisture to the outside of the garment for fast evaporation
- 6.5 in. front zipper allows on-the-go ventilation
- Casual style is appropriate for both the beater and the ''good bike"
- Single rear zippered pocket secures a few essentials
- Traditional collar with classic stand-up neck band
- Relaxed athletic fit for freedom of movement
It's not tight at all. And combined with a binder, instead of having it desperately try to wick my sweat away and then being trapped in a hot ass cotton exterior I have two layers of ventilation! Genius! The black color of it is the genius loophole in this whole fiasco but, I haven't actually noticed a problem. I'm betting a lighter color would be even better but, this is definitely 85.6 x's better than the non-cycling-shirt crap, for sure.
Speaking of heat, just a couple of weeks ago my roommate, parents and I saw this truck in the parking lot of a nearby grocery store in 90+ heat. The windows were completely rolled down, so at least their guardian was trying... but, in no time at all, both of the little dogs jumped out of the car. One darted around the parking lot while the other ran IN to the store.
I ran in and asked the employees to announce that dogs were running about, and fortunately the guardian came out to scoop them up.
His solution? To put them back in to his truck, roll the windows up leaving a few inches, and go back inside to resume shopping. I stopped him and asked if he had leashes or something to tie them up outside and he replied, "I'm only going to be a few minutes.", and continued on his way.
I understand that he was likely frazzled and in a hurry, but... gadz, it's the worst, dogs in cars on hot days - which are essentially ovens acting like a greenhouse, trapping the sun's heat. Even after just a "few minutes" his truck would become a death trap even if it was a mild sunny day--where the car's temperature would incrementally rise to well above 120 degrees.
Fortunately, that kind of crap is illegal here in Salt Lake City, so we called the police. And, to my relief, they took it seriously. The guy wasn't just a "few minutes", as he claimed. But in less than 10 minutes two police cruisers pulled up to his truck, got him out of the store, and I overheard the officer telling him, "Sir, on a day like this in less than ten minutes the temperature in your vehicle can rise to 130 degrees.". It wasn't a joke or a slap on the wrist. They were pissed, responded, and treated it like the serious issue that it was.
20 points for team police, who have a debt of about 300 points... so, now they're at -280. Which is progress!
Then, just last week while getting said bicycle jersey, we noticed another pup trapped in a car in the parking lot with the windows rolled all the way up. Then, upon closer inspection, I heard the car's engine running. And saw the pup's fur blowing around. They had their A/C on while they ran in to REI. So.damn.cute. And, while our pup was tied up in the shade outside, someone had given him a plastic bowl of water. Awww!









