"I had to ride my bike to and from their god damn plant way up north in the high-chemical crime district, and reachable only by riding on the shoulder of some major freeways. I could feel the years ticking off my life expectancy as the mile markers struggled by."

― Neal Stephenson, Zodiac

My commuter bike

Winter is upon us - and here in Texas that means the two weeks of nice weather is in the rear-view window and the days of windy/wet/cold have begun. Winter is Texas is best described as mostly uncomfortable.

But it does mean I have to dig out my winter cycling gear which consists of two things: layers and long pants.

When I look at my supply of long pants I notice a couple of things - the cuffs of my right legs are shredded and there are grease stains on those same legs.

My bikes don't have effective chain guards. I remember in the seventies we had these little metal clips for our right pants legs... they didn't work well and were easy to lose. I am old enough to remember those times - pre-velcro, believe it or not. Then the metal clips were replaced with little nylon velcro straps - which didn't work well and were even easier to lose.

As I was thinking about these things I thought to myself that there must be a better way to shield my right pants leg and, after a short web search, I found a solution - Leg Shield.

So, a few clicks, a bit of Amazon Prime magic, and I had a neoprene leg shield on my porch that afternoon.

And it works like a charm. Get one, it's great.

This is truly the best of all possible worlds.