Do clothes make the cyclist?

Perhaps so; and no, it\’s not necessary to spend megabucks on fancy kit. Specialized cycling clothing might not be necessary. Unless, that is, you intend to do lots of miles. Then \”real\” cycling togs make the ride more comfortable.

Then, I\’d say, you do need real cycling shorts, with a chamois. There are \”normal\” (as my brother would say) shorts, and bib shorts. I can\’t give any advice as to the latter, never having tried them. I don\’t think I\’d want them in hot weather, anyway. The \”bib\” part probably would make me hotter by adding another layer of clothing.

Jerseys? I didn\’t get my first one until I\’d been riding for over two years. It was my reward to myself for riding my first century. Of the jerseys I have, the one shown above is my favorite. I love sky blue; and the edge of the black stripe just shows at upper left.

A Handout?

I quickly developed the habit of wearing cycling gloves. Without them, your hands can get rubbed sore; and possibly even blistered. Hands get sweaty; and gloves go a long way in keeping them from slipping. Or, if you get caught in the rain, gloves serve that purpose, too.

In cooler weather, of course I don\’t want those half-fingered gloves. I dig out the full-fingered gloves when the temperature gets down to about 60.

For temperatures below 50, I dig out my so-called Wombat Gloves. They\’re very heavy, and really too big for me. Even they don\’t keep my hands warm enough; and full fingered gloves of any sort make eating on the bike hard by rendering my hands clumsy.

Hard Work Afoot

I use cycling shoes when I ride the road bike. Mine are MTB shoes, though. I like having velcro fastenings. I don\’t have to worry about tucking shoelace ends and loops inside the shoe, where they could conceivably get loose and snag in the pedal.

In fact that happened once, luckily on the tricycle; so I didn\’t fall over. The lace had somehow come untied; gotten tangled up in the pedal; and was pulled too tight for me to wiggle my foot out of the shoe. My leg was in such a position that I couldn\’t make the pedal move; and I couldn\’t reach the shoe from the tricycle\’s saddle. I had to — carefully! — get off the saddle and stand on my free foot and work the other shoe\’s lace loose enough to pull my foot out, and then untangle the lace from the pedal.

Back to the wardrobe. Of course there are cycling socks. They seem to be a bit more comfortable than regular terry socks. The difference is especially noticeable when the socks are brand new. I like socks that come up a couple of inches above my ankle. The \”no-show\” style of sock has a way of slipping down into my shoe. That drives me crazy.

So those are the basics: shorts, jersey, gloves, shoes, and socks. And a helmet, of course even for the youngest rider. So yes, I guess clothes make the cyclist.