Clothing

Yvonne's clothes (age 8)
Being the youngest and bounciest, Yvonne has a tendency to get much dirtier and wetter than the rest of us. Since her clothes are smaller and lighter, we can pack a few extra items in for her. Yvonne runs hot and hates wearing too much clothing. She likes to wear t-shirts and shorts even in winter! Not very many companies make outdoor and cycling clothes for children, so Yvonne usually just wears regular kid's clothes. We figure Yvonne will grow out of several sets of clothes over the year and a half we are biking. So we will be buying clothes for her in the various countries along our route. It will be interesting to see what outfits she ends up in.

Here is Yvonne's clothing list. Because we are very concerned about how much space the clothes fill in our panniers, and how much they weigh, she won't be bringing much!

• 1 one piece swim suit
• 7 pairs of underwear
• 4 pairs of lightweight breathable socks
• 1 pair of medium weight wool blend socks
• 1 set of long underwear (for sleeping and as emergency dry clothing)
• 2 pairs of shorts (Yvonne does not like tight clothes and prefers running shorts; this number will reduce to 1 when cycling in fall and winter)
• 2-3 t-shirts (dark colored to hide the dirt)
• 1 long sleeved shirt (this number will increase to 2 when cycling in fall and winter)
• 1 warm sweatshirt
• 1 lightweight polar fleece vest
• 1 warm sweater
• 1 pair of stretchy pants (Yvonne does not like tights; this number will increase to 2 when cycling in the fall and winter)

Anya's clothing (age 11)
Anya has always been clean, and avoids getting wet (except for swimming) so she needs less clothing than Yvonne. Like her Dad, she is very sensitive to scratchy itchy clothing and hates to wear wool. She runs hot, just like Yvonne, and prefers to wear layers that she can quickly peel off. Anya has sprung up like a weed in the past year, and will certainly keep growing as we bike around the world. So like Yvonne we plan on buying her new clothes in the various different countries we travel through. Who knows, you might see her pedaling along in a Chinese jacket or a Japanese kimono one day!

I think you'll agree Anya's wardrobe is definitely very small: at the most she has one or two pieces of everything.

• 1 bikini swim suit (Anya likes to wear the bikini top with shorts on hot days)
• 6 pairs of underwear
• 4 pairs of socks
• 1 pair of thick synthetic socks
• 1 set of long underwear (for sleeping and as emergency dry clothing)
• 2 pairs of cycling shorts (this number will reduce to 1 when cycling in fall and winter)
• 2-3 t-shirts
• 1 long sleeved shirt (this number will increase to 2 when cycling in fall and winter)
• 1 warm sweatshirt
• 1 lightweight polar fleece vest
• 1 warm sweater
• 1 pair of cycling tights (this number will increase to 2 when cycling in fall and winter)

Lorenz's clothing
Lorenz was made for the outdoor clothing industry, or perhaps, the outdoor clothing industry was made for Lorenz. In any case he always fits perfectly into every piece of clothing he tries on. Since the cycling and outdoor clothing industry was designed first, and foremost for men, he has far more clothing options than any of the rest of us. Still, Lorenz is a die hard, practical, simple outdoors man from the old school. He prefers jeans, cut-off shorts and flannel shirts to all this fancy new stuff--all of course, which are very heavy and bulky and usually end up in Paula's bike panniers. While Paula has been able to convince him to try out some of the great new lightweight breathable jerseys, and he has even conceded to buying packable hiking pants that zip off to form shorts, it's unlikely you'll ever see him wearing any of those wild colored biking jerseys or close fitting cycling tights and shorts.

Lorenz tends to run warm like the girls, and hates wearing tight or itchy clothing--especially wool. On the other hand, he's not one to worry about looks and will wear almost anything comfortable as long as it is moderately clean and dry.

• 1 pair of swim shorts (which can also serve as cycling shorts)
• 5 pairs of underwear
• 4 pairs of breathable socks (he hates smelly socks)
• 1 pair of thick synthetic socks
• 1 set of long underwear (for sleeping and as emergency dry clothing)
• 2-3 t-shirts
• 1 long sleeved shirt
• 1 breathable cycling jersey
• 1 warm sweater--with NO wool
• 1 pair of packable pants, with zippers to convert to shorts
• 1 pair of lightweight pants
• 1 belt

Paula's clothing
In contrast to the rest of the family, Paula loves clothes that hug the body, and lives in tights and turtlenecks. Since she tends to sweat a lot when cycling, she has become a complete convert to the new lightweight, breathable synthetic fabrics used in most athletic clothing these days. Although she certainly does not consider herself to run cold (she loves winter and snow), in comparison to Lorenz, Anya and Yvonne, who will run around in t-shirts in 30 degree weather, she certainly prefers warmer clothing, and tends to wear lots of layers that she peels off over the day. Unlike the rest of the family, she loves the warmth of wool, and the feel of soft wool blends against her skin. Since she has long legs and arms, she sometimes finds men's small shirts to be more likely to reach her wrists, although she generally prefers the, now, very good selection of women's active wear.

• 1 pair of women's bikini bottoms (Paula uses a sports bra as a top--saving an extra piece of unnecessary clothing)
• 3 breathable moisture wicking sports bras
• 5 pairs of underwear
• 4 pairs of breathable hiking socks
• 1 pair of thick wool socks
• 1 set of long underwear (for sleeping and as emergency dry clothing)
• 2 pairs of cycling shorts (this number will reduce to 1 when cycling in fall and winter)
• 2 short sleeved cycling jerseys (this number will decrease to 1 when cycling in fall and winter)
• 1 long sleeved cycling jersey (this number will increase to 2 when cycling in fall and winter)
• 1 medium weight turtleneck (which can fit under the jersey in a pinch)
• 1 lightweight sweatshirt
• 1 lightweight polar fleece vest
• 1 warm wool sweater
• 1 pair of cycling tights (this number will increase to 2 when cycling in fall and winter)

Updated: Nov 23, 2001

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