One week he's in polka dots, the next week he's in stripes

I'm trying out cycling tops. My own I should add. What for? Well, it's a long and tedious story, but the nub of it is to find those shirts that have the biggest pockets (because I'll be carrying all my own layers) and yet still retain some element of bling. Now I know this is all relative, lycra doesn't lend itself to high, or even street, fashion. But when I'm cycling in the Pyrenees in three weeks time, I don't want the locals pelting me with rotten onions because I am making their beautiful roads and cols look disgusting by wearing poorly colour-co-ordinated kit, or worse, something out of the 80s.

Now I know he is Britain's best Tour finisher, but look at that top. It looks like something out of an American cartoon, not fit to grace the body of a legend. To be fair, he did wear a natty polka-dot jersey, so all is not lost.

Of course, not being a dedicated follower of fashion, or as we saw last week, cycling etiquette, I too broke one of the cycling rules today and opted for my very own polka dot jersey. This one from the slightly less glamorous Tour of Britain 2009. I know I haven't actually won a polka dot jersey or King of the Mountains competition in the Tour of Britain 2009, or any other race. But the jersey was my incentive to train for the Raid Pyrenean last year, and it also has very big pockets indeed, so it's on the plane.

Thomas de Gendt is the man wearing my shirt, next to Edvald B-H, now the official King of Norway, having taken over from Thor Hushovd last week.

To derive a sense of irony from today, and also because I was still feeling a bit tired, I decided to cycle in the flat way for a change. When I first started commuting it was my regular route, but I've hardly done it of late. To live up to the jersey, I did do a few hills on the way home, Dundry the hard way, the Chew Valley road, as well as the tough hill out of Blagdon, and finally Rowberrow. So at least I didn't disgrace myself, and with a total of just over 50 miles for the day, it was a fair workout too.

I wonder what I can try out tomorrow, the Devon jersey maybe, but being largely green it has a tendency to blend in with  hedgerows. Maybe I'll have gentle ride to the coast in my Foska England top, or maybe it's time to get the Northwave skeleton out again. So hard to make decisions, I just don't know what to wear.


http://ridewithgps.com/trips/342656