Okay. Before we go anywhere. These are full-length compression tights, Techfit, which is adidas's compression line, and I need you to understand what compression actually does before you decide anything, because I have read too much about this and now you have to as well.
A garment that fits closely and elastically damps the small repeated movement of the muscle under impact, and less of that movement means less of the fatigue that comes from absorbing your own vibration for two hours. That is the mechanism.
Compression means the fabric holds the muscle rather than merely covering it.
It also means they are full length — long, the whole leg, ankle to waist — which is more coverage on a cold morning and, yes, more fabric on a hot one, and you should think about which of those you are actually dressing for. There is an all-over print, so they are not plain, which matters if you have ever felt conspicuous in something that draws the eye.
They are moisture-wicking, which means the sweat goes outward instead of sitting on you, and a wet compression tight is genuinely miserable, so this is not a small thing. I would rather say I do not know than tell you something and be wrong and have you find out on a court somewhere.
What I will not do is invent a fibre percentage for you.
Ulaanbaatar. It is the coldest capital city on earth, which I mention early so nobody is surprised, and I have checked the forecast four times. Gandantegchinlen Monastery first, and inside stands the Migjid Janraisig — twenty-six metres of gilded figure, rebuilt after the original was taken away, and you look up and up and it keeps going.
Then Sukhbaatar Square, wide and open, with Chinggis Khan seated in a colonnade at the north end. It is very exposed. Bring a layer. The Choijin Lama Temple Museum next, low wooden halls now hemmed in on all sides by glass towers, which I find quietly upsetting and also somehow reassuring — they did not knock it down.
And the Zaisan Memorial, a hilltop ring mural looking over the whole valley, up a lot of steps. A lot of steps. We will take them slowly and nobody will be left behind, I promise.
“It is the coldest capital on earth and everybody there is completely calm about it. I am trying to learn from that.”
Full length, real compression, printed so you are not on display. Now, has everyone got water?
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