Battle Wounds and Tan Lines

Forgetting to put on sun-screen always adds to the lines.

Battle wounds and tan lines. If you're into riding bikes and do it often enough, be it on the dirt or road, it's almost certain that you'll have one of the two. Even if you're in the very small percentage of cyclists who don't share these traits - if you have a look around at any public get-together (e.g. a race, a recreational group ride or even a bike shop) you're bound to see people wearing their tan lines and scars with pride... for better or worse... 

The typical tan lines (missing the sock line though)

Firstly, the tan lines. You'll find these all over a cyclist. I guess the most common area would have to be around the triceps (upper-arm) and where the socks rest. This is mostly due to personal differences between people, such as; wearing baggie shorts as opposed skin-tight lycra, gloves or glove-less, glasses or no glasses, etc. 

Some people will hide their tan lines, keeping them hidden from the public at all costs, while others will embrace it and disregard any external vibes from the outside world. Of course, if you choose to hide the tan lines there are a number of problems you're going to have to face.

1. Sock Height: The much debated and always conflicted argument of 'How high do my socks go" comes into play. If you're an ankle sock wearer, or relatively low down the leg, you're fine here. However! For the many people out there such as myself, who are known to wear their socks as high as anywhere up to their calves (although I don't go that far), the tan line can be a real problem for everyday life. Not only do you need to maintain the high socks while you're riding, but you also have to walk around every day with equally as high socks. Below are some examples of common sock heights.

2. Helmet Straps: Riding a bicycle requires a helmet (Well... in Australia it does at least). Helmets have straps, and where there are straps stopping the sunlight, there is potential for tan lines - and bad tan lines at that. Below is a very over-exaggerated look at what could happen (like really over-exaggerated), but one can still see how this could be awkward when you're not wearing a helmet - so a very large proportion of your life no doubt.

3. Beach Days:Beach days. Pool days. Any day where you go to the beach and have to take off some of your clothes. This is where if you're someone who hides their tan lines, you won't be hiding your tan lines anymore. Mind you, whenever i'm in a situation like this everybody loves the tan lines and can't get enough of them. 

While it's no beach day, it's still an example of a tan in public.

Now that we all know a little bit more about tan lines, we can move onto 'battle wounds'. Everyone has them - The sponsored athletic machine who just won the World Championships, that guy that always consistently turns up to the weekend races and gets the same result every time, and even little Sally who just got off her training wheels (I don't know anyone called Sally). 

Some scars are bad, some aren't so bad. Nobody likes them much, until you find someone else with them and are comparing to see who's is bigger, anyway! I don't have much else to say about these scars, so I'll just end the post with one or two pictures of some that I've got a few photos of. 

If you don't like seeing scratches and blood and stuff, quickly scroll past :D

 My knees when they were relatively free of scars. Think this was the first of many.

AFTER: My poor knee and scar above a few months ago to this post.

 BEFORE: When I got the scar... road bikes on black ice is not wise - that's a pro tip and a half.

My Downhiller friend tried to beat one of my KOMs on Strava recently... ;)

Around about the time I first started riding my mountain bike (Approx. mid-2012) I came off over the bars one night - just missing my eye. Damn lucky.