A Gal's Glossary Guide to Cycling Jargon

In honor of Bike Month, for the next several weeks, I will be writing a few articles a week based on cycling terms and jargon. There's so many people getting into cycling and like anything else, the cycling community has made up its own language which often leave people wondering what the heck is being said. So make sure you turn your eyes to the Girls Gone Riding blog a few times each week to unravel the gobbledy-gook of learning cycling terms and slang.

Arm warmers –

If you lived through the 80s, then you remember the delightful fashion must-have called the leg warmer. Whether we were Flashdance wannabes or just fashionista wannabes, we had them. Well, arm warmers have nothing to do with fashion and have EVERYTHING to do with comfort.
In the warmest of climates, and I live in one of those in Arizona, there are still times throughout the year where the temperature dips to those chilly temps that has you wondering about your sanity when you are climbing on your bike to ride. Often though, even when it is frigid, once a person gets rolling and the blood starts pumping, the chill lets up and you become toasty, the uncomfortable kind. Arm warmers are a great accessory that you can peel on to keep you comfy and the easily peel off when you warm up. They are compact and although thin, amazingly effective. After they are removed, they can easily be stuffed into a back jersey pocket or bike pack.
These handy tubes of comfort can be purchased at nearly any bike shop that carries bike clothes or online. Just like any outerwear, you can find bargains in the summer months. They can rise in price to nearly $60 but it is pretty easy to find a pair for about $30 or $35 any time of year if you are a good shopper. Most are plain black or white, but some have reflective material woven in them to render the rider a little easier to see while ride and since when the weather is colder, it’s common for the days to be shorter so it’s likely you could be riding in dusky dawns or the twilight of evening.

You can check out some reasonable arm warmers here.