Sun burnt knees

[Jim_Noir]

I have sun burn from the knee upto the point my shorts stop... No other part of my body, just the knees... and this is with SP50. Do I have alien legs, or does black lycra attract the sun?

Also, how the effe do you get neon yellow as clean as the day you bought it... and why do flys like to fly into it, my shirt was like a car windscreen today!

 

[HLaB]

I've never (touch wood) had sun burnt knees but they're often darker than the rest of my legs. Its par of being a cyclist getting funny tans on the parts that are exposed to the light, the knees probably bein the most exposed .

No idea how to clean neon yellow and keep it bright but flies will fly into any colour

 

[rog 1974]

black does attract the heat, but you would probably have got burnt knees what ever colour shorts you had on. yellow does attract flies and midges, my nehew had to change his top when visiting us on holiday one year after being constantly attacked by the local midges.

 

[aj82]

Black shorts will absorb heat, just as white shorts will reflect it, but the colour of the fabric shouldn't have any particular bearing on what shade your legs go as AFAIK the fabric won't let UV through to your skin unless its been specifically designed to, and I don't believe there are any kit manufacturers doing tan-through gear.

For what it's worth my legs are currently a nice shade of slightly ruddy pink after the last two weeks, and I have shorts in black and and a fetching blue and white combo.

The solution is either to spend some time naked in your back garden this summer, or if like me you don't have a garden, to paint yourself orange.

 

[arallsopp]

My knees come in for a fair amount of sun damage, but then I'm recumbent so they're aimed upward most of the time. Few days in shorts wandering around cures it. Now I have nice brown knees.

...to go with my wader's tan. (Being brown from mid thigh to floor, but white everywhere else).

 

[Hont]

That's strange as anything under 2 hours I don't bother with cream on my legs as I find I don't get burned despite having fair skin. I've put this down to 1) the legs being in the shade of my body for a large part of the time, 2) the knees going up and down and shading themselves a bit, 3) doing a loop you will expose different parts of the leg and 4) cycling in the country I get a lot of tree shade.

The part from the knee to the cycle bottom and the back of the calf at the top do get more tanned than the rest though. That's normal.

You shouldn't be getting burned with SP50 on though. You must be going out for some long rides!

 

[Arch]

My knees and thighs up to the line of my shorts are the brownest bits of my legs - they are the bits that face upwards most of the time (upwards generally being where the sun is, unless riding at night...)

Flies and yellow. Have a think about how many kinds of flower are yellow....

 

[Jim_Noir]

They must think I'm a big flower! I assume that having a diffrent colour on wouldn't be so bad? Or red at least would hide the marks where they have hit.

Yes, even with SP50 on the kness got it, the rest of my has still keep my snowwhite tan, as long as I keep the legs covred I will still be allwoed in my local Goth club

 

[Arch]

They must think I'm a big flower! I assume that having a diffrent colour on wouldn't be so bad? Or red at least would hide the marks where they have hit.

If you're having trouble with hitting them as you ride along, I think any colour will be the same, just like any car windscreen will get covered...

But yellow definitely attracts insects when static.

Mind you, my Dad had a tweed hat that attracted midges, on a summer evening there would be a column of them dancing over his head...