When I first got back on the bike as an adult in my 30s I made a commitment ... a financial commitment initially. I needed a bike. The Ridgeback hybrid came into my life as my commuter machine. At the same time, clothing reared its ugly head. Somehow it was no longer de rigueur to cycle in jeans with clips to stop them catching in the chain. Also, comfort came into it. How come as a teenager cycling saddles never gave me a moment's ... um ... difficulty? Anyway, I was handed a pass me down pair of cycling shorts by my then boss, and so I approached the world of lycra with a pair of Gan shorts (professional cycling team of the 1990s). That really was the start of a gentle but slippy slope up which I will never return.
So, clothing. I gradually acquired, mostly through Aldi supermarket seasonal offers, various pairs of cycling shorts, then a cycling top or two (longer in the back and with zipped pockets on the back). Then there was an end of season sale jacket with longer back and vents under the arms and no hood. Fantastically well suited to cycling. There was of course a helmet too. Since those days many items have been upgraded, the first jacket was replaced by a second, was replaced by a third, each more tailored somehow to a cycling need - waterproof, windproof, breathable - all these words have entered my cycle clothing vocabulary.
Some fashion disasters have crept in; things I love for their practicality and definitely not appearance. The infamous Ronhills. These are wonderful - Ronhill bikesters. A very practical black, close fitting but not the lycra which wraps round your skin (definitely a plus when you're no longer 18). An inside pocket for keys, reflective stripes on the back, straps which go under the feet which stop them riding up. They are ugly but they will never die. I have fallen off in them acquiring copious bruises, gouges and scratches myself and not a mark on the damn pants. They dry in no time and mud simply brushes off. Fashion faux pas but what do I care, it's all about the bike.
These days I make a lot more effort on the bike than I used to, and gasp my way up rocky terrain on various hillsides of the North West. Cycling shorts in these circumstances impede my breathing somewhat, the elastic seems to get me just where my lower lungs are feebly attempting to push against the shorts which are determined to hold me all in like a good control knicker. Combine that with a low bent over position on the bike and we have a problem, or at the very least an issue. Talking to a sports scientist (as you do, or I do anyway in my line of work), he advised that when young people (who it seems are made of elastic) train and become fitter and lung capacity increases it's normal for this to be visible in body changes with the chest increasing in size. When old burds such as me get fitter, assuming we were not in the habit of fitness in our youth (valid assumption) the lung capacity increase is reflected in body shape with the abdomen increasing as our lower lungs expand with the desperate need for more oxygen supply. This would explain my shorts elastic issues. This year, therefore, I think is the year to invest in bib shorts. Just hope they don't cause nipple abrasions.
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