Sensible Biking Clothes
It seems that there’s a gulf between floaty dresses of Copenhagen cycle chic and Lycra road cyborgs.
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Not that I wear floaty dresses terribly often. And that picture isn’t particularly floaty in the skirt department, but I’m pretty sure that the rider considers it just everyday clothing.
Anyway, for pretty much all the cycling that most of us could do around town, regular everyday clothes are just perfect. Walk out of your front door, get on your bike, and arrive at work / the café / school / where ever about 20 minutes later to just get on with your life. No fuss, no sportiness, just normal, everyday stuff.
But sometimes you want to go a little further. You can (and I do) do this in regular clothes, but it’s not the best. And really, the whole wearing-Lycra-and-getting-changed-at-your-destination thing is a huge faff (though I do that too).
What I’d really like is clothing that looks stylish and comfortable off the bike (and without screaming "Look at me. I’m a Cyclist!"), yet performs well enough on the bike to be comfortable over longer distances. Shirts and trousers made from breathable materials, with seams that don’t . . . uh . . . chafe.
So I was really pleased to read on BikeHugger about Performance Couture .
A range of clothes that are cool and froody, and yet perform the way we should expect from modern technical fabrics . . . . sounds nice!
The only trouble is, I’m nearly 40. The models in their photos look a lot younger (and considerably cooler) than I do. And also, they seemed to be women.
Unless I really do want to wear floaty dresses, maybe I need to shop elsewhere then?
You know, this past Tuesday was the very first time, ever, that I saw a cycling cape in person, actually being used?
We were in a park in Munich, on a day that was cloudy and occasionally rainy, when not one, but two went zipping by.
Immediately I thought about how it would work on my commute.
But since I wear my technical cycling gear (and fight against my mindset of 25 years of riding bikes with technical gear), I can’t see getting one.
Good luck fitting in to one of those skirts!
my wife’s take on sensible cycling clothing:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/placid_casual/1094308733/
I totally agree - for any one of those 80% of journeys by car that we make in the UK that are under 3 miles, you could just as easily do it on a bike in your normal clothes (and hey, if floaty dresses tickle your fancy Karl, why not?) But yeah, performance clothing for 40mile slogs or whatever must be the go otherwise you’ll end up a bit of a mush. Velorution in London do some cool ‘performance couture’
I also love the range of bikes that Velorution do. Couldn’t find the clothing section on their site though - is this only available in the shop?