Life hack means any trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method that increases productivity and efficiency in all walks of life.
Naturally, bike hacks are a thing. For example, temporarily patching a large hole in your tire with a gel packet or a dollar bill. A process called booting.
I saw some arm screens while walking through a Decathlon store. These ones have a thumb hole on one side.
Using the thumb hole, the back of your hand gets protection from the sun.
Using the thumb hole doesn’t work for me. I don’t want slippery fabric between my palms and my handlebar.
I was still attracted these good quality arm screens because their price was amongst the lowest I have seen. RM29 for a pair with a UPF50+ UV protection rating. I have seen similar quality arm screens costing RM80 a pair and more.
A hack came to mind as I wondered whether I would use arm screens with holes in them.
I am the owner of a smart watch. Like with other smart watches and fitness trackers, there are sensors on the back of the watch. The watch must be worn under an arm screen for those sensors to have skin contact so that they work.
Which means having to pull the arm screen back to reveal the watch or leave my wrist uncovered.
The thumb hole is the solution. I wear these arm screens with the thumb hole uppermost on my wrist. My watch fits snugly in the hole.
Now I ride with my watch face showing through the hole on one arm and my Lifeline-ID tag showing through the hole on the other. A new bike hack.
Old Roots, New Routes 