
A couple of weekends ago, we were out on our Sunday morning club ride. Maggie, new to the club, was with the B group as we headed southeast to Creedmoor — about 17 miles away from our starting point.
I noticed while riding behind her that the leg warmers she wore were giving her some problems. They drooped. They left a noticeable gap between her riding shorts and the top of the leg warmers.
She did the best she could to yank them into place, which is a pretty neat trick while still riding. But when we got to our turnaround, she tugged harder at them to rearrange them on her thighs.
“I’ve never used leg warmers before,” she said. “I’ve always had tights.”
“Listen,” I said, “That’s happened to me, too.”
“Yeah, but this is only the second time I’ve worn them,” she replied.
Yes, I also have had the drooping leg warmer syndrome. Surprised the heck out of me on a cold January morning. But since then, they haven’t bothered me much. I don’t know if it’s because I take more care to pull them into place when I’m getting dressed — or if my thighs are getting fat enough to hold them in place.
Whatever, it’s worth putting some effort into, because you gotta admit — droopy leg warmers do not an attractive sight make.
With any luck, we’ll have an early spring this year, and I won’t have to worry about them anymore.
Before Performance Bicycles, closed them out of production, I like to wear their “Classic Bike Shorts”. They seemed made for a hybrid utility/recreational rider like me. They were very inexpensive, fit ME better than the “fancy/expensive shorts” but they would wear out around the thigh with a lot of use and I’d have the “droppy leg warmer syndrome”! I now am forced to wear the more expensive shorts which are barely comfortable at best BUT no more droppy leg warmer syndrom, LOL, personally I’d take the once in a while drop to get the “comfort” back!! 😉
Mine are Pearl Izumi, and were bought out of necessity at the beginning of a frigid MS150 last October. I think the trick is that your size should be smaller than you think. I’m 6’1″ with fairly long legs, but truly took a Medium leg warmer, and had no trouble with them during the ride. If I had gotten a large (like I thought I should), I would have had droopsie all day long.
Interesting. Mine are XL, the same size as my shorts, and my jerseys, and everything else I wear. I’ll look at going smaller if/when I get a new pair.