Good and Bad Naked

Some things seem to be made for doing naked, like sex and bathing. Other things would be ok to do naked, like housework or frolicking on the beach. Then there are things that just don't seem right to do naked, like mountain biking. Besides the fact that it seems rather like the Seinfeld episode when Jerry was grossed out seeing his nude girlfriend straining to open a jar (of pickles?), riding through woods and weeds and just sitting on that wretched seat while naked don't seem like a particularly good idea. I got the shit scratched out of me as it is wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Can you even imagine what I might have looked like had I been wearing nothing?

I suppose it doesn't make sense to me because I'm not a nudist by nature, but even so, the whole idea seems entirely uncomfortable. After my last ride (which should have been yesterday but wasn't), the subject of deer ticks came up. Riding through the woods, as much as is typically the case in mountain biking, seems to me like a good time to cover up. It is one of the recommended ways to avoid being bit by deer ticks, among other nasty insects, and avoiding the risk of Lyme disease. Riding nude seems like an engraved invitation to be bitten. And that doesn't even consider the itch factor. I was itchy enough wearing clothes.

Besides bugs, there are plants, like poison ivy, oak and sumac that are good enough at finding the one square inch of exposed skin on a body. Having an entire body of exposed skin is asking for trouble. Even if you manage to avoid all the poison variety of plants, there are still those with thorns and jaggers. Even the ones that just are can be itchy and uncomfortable, only made worse when you're hot and sweaty. I thought my Wednesday case of the itchies was bad; consider how I'd have been had I ridden nude.