Is This The Meeting of Two Cultures?
Seems to me that there are two types of bikedom.
On the one hand, in countries and societies where the car / automobile is king, there’s the Adult Toy culture (no, Honey-Bunny, not THAT sort of adult toy). Lots of Lycra and carbon fibre and a fixation with gear ratios. They wear helmets and Camelbaks, and load their bikes on the back of their cars at the weekend before driving off to get away from all that traffic. If you ride a bike in these societies, you’re probably a bit of a radical. If you ride a bike without a helmet, you’re viewed as a pariah.
Then there’s the Dutch, the Danes and people like that, who treat a bike as a vehicle (with wicker baskets for luggage); a way to get about town; a chance to shoot the breeze with your friends, with the breeze in your hair. And they do have the breeze in their hair too, as they don’t wear helmets. In fact they don’t wear any special clothes - just regular clothes on their way to work, the bar, the opera, or just around town. Though those clothes often look a whole lot cooler and more chic than I (as an engineer) could ever manage.
Of course, the distinction isn’t THAT black & white - there’s always a little crossover between the two. For example, I race (because it’s fun) in Lycra, in the saddle for hours on end, but I’m happy to tootle into town wearing a shirt and tie. And I’m not at all unique in this.
Where I’ve always struggled is on somewhat longer rides in town. Those journeys of more than about 6 miles (10km), where regular trousers - especially jeans - start to show their limitations, and regular underwear just chafes. Sorry - too much detail there.
So when EcoVelo and Commute by Bike featured these Bike to Work Pants (fnaar fnaaaaar! ‘pants’ in the UK = ‘underpants’) , I was intrigued. I have to say that although I just lurve the other stuff that Cordarounds have on their site (corduroy - the perfect geek material, but horizontal stripes!) I’m probably a bit disappointed though. They have a nod to the kind of features that people might want, but when it comes down to it, there’s just no way I’d ride along with my back pockets turned inside out and trousers rolled up like that. Where would I keep my wallet?
Maybe it’s just my age. Or maybe it’s just that I’ve got a hankering form something more traditional. I’d like to see someone make real clothes for cyclists. A return to great materials from the past (Tweed!), suits with seamless seats, shirts made of wicking materials, smart shoes with stiff soles (or even cleats!), skirts with pleating to make sure they hang just so when cycling, smart briefcases with pannier fixings. Stuff like that.
What kind of clothes would you like to see for cyclists?
I assume you’re aware of how big cycling is over here. There are a few cycle races around area, including this year a 24 hour MTB race a couple of weeks back, the tour of Drenthe and the Jeugdtour - the biggest youth cycle race in the world which is held annually in Assen.
All the accommodation in the city was taken up for the Jeugdtour, so we put up a Danish family who had a daughter in the race. It’ serious stuff. Roads are closed etc. and one of the Swedes went on to get a silver in the Olympics.
Also, note that the list of Dutch Tour de France stage winners is rather longer than that of the US and UK put together, which isn’t bad for a country of just 16M people. Cycle racing is much more popular here than in the UK, both for competing and for watching. The TdF was covered in full on three TV channels at once on normal TV (we don’t have a sport channel, or any other extra channel, subscription).
While everyone cycles for utility purposes, it isn’t only about utility cycling here. However, no-one would dream of riding a sports bike to the shops, or wearing lycra as they did so. That would be silly.
As for me, I’ve also got the engineer gene instead of the chic gene. And I’ve also much enjoyed the going around in little circles wearing lycra and funny shoes type of cycling as well as touring, pootling around with kids and any amount of utility cycling.
What clothes do cyclists need ? Whatever they happen to be wearing. Mind you, at my time of life I am beginning to think that move to tweed might be good.
> ” . . . no-one would dream of riding a sports bike to the shops, or wearing lycra as they did so. That would be silly.”
I think that’s the key to the difference between the two types of bikedom. In car-dominated societies, the majority of people think (or act as though they think) that you can only ride a bike wearing Lycra, toe-clips / cleats, a helmet, and don’t-mess-with-me-shades.
What you point out is entirely correct though - it really isn’t an either / or choice, and utility cycling is an add-on to the other kind.