And then I threw a smoke bomb

Yesterday afternoon I took advantage of the rare 40 degree temperatures and took a 40 mile bike ride south of Indianapolis. It was at mile 30 or so when I stopped in at gas station to get a drink, shedding a couple layers before I ventured into the establishment.

While click-clacking my slippery bottomed shoes across the tile floor, a woman turned to look at me with an expression only befitting the appearance of aliens on the front lawn - she actually double and triple took my appearance.

After acquiring my fountain diet pepsi, I returned to my bike outside and began to wonder why the woman was so confused. Was it that she had never been struck with the combination of extreme shrinkage and spandex pants? Perhaps. Or perhaps it was my overall choice of apparel.

You see, I was wearing nothing short of 9 brands of clothing yesterday: A helmet by Giro, and helmet liner by Performance Bike, full fingered gloves by Performance, bike gloves by Specialized, a wind breaker/rain coat from Cannondale, a polyester warming coat from Old Navy, a jersey by Voler, and undershirt by Under Armour, Bib Pants by Performance Bike, wool socks by DeFeet, shoes by Specialized, and shoe covers by Pearl Izumi.

If you're used to seeing cyclists out on the road, you might suspect that every piece of clothing I was wearing was a different color. While that certainly paints an entertaining picture, that wasn't the case at all. Everything (visible) I was wearing was black.

So I'm left to think that the womans confusion laid in the fact that it was cold. Or perhaps she was just confused that a bearded ninja in plastic shoes had appeared in her local gas station, when she could only have been expecting Bozo.