Thoughts On Lycra...

At the moment with attention given to and promotion of, cycling, it's common to criticise cycling specific clothing especially Lycra - at least UK-side.

Seems a lot of people have the wrong idea about lycra.

Never worn lycra. Have no problem with lycra. Lycra has its place. Like many other things, time and a place, eg skin tight rubber clothing if you're going diving...

The criticism seems to stem from the association of cycling with sport and athletics eg lots of serious effort, ergo lycra, which is a good idea when it comes to cycling and serious effort as it makes it more comfortable and therefore more enjoyable. I read that upwards of about 10 miles is the distance where lycra/cycling specific togs make the difference with regard to comfort. This corresponds with my own experience on occasional rides to a town 15 miles away. I recently decided to purchase some cycling shorts made from polyester and elastane (will have to look that one up) - not lycra, but they look the same. Probably helps you to put in a good performance in a race. It's also more durable so you won't ruin your everyday street clothes.

Of course, town bikes are supposed to facilitate riding in your everyday clothes and usually ridden for short distances with minimal effort - so no need for lycra. But given the dominance of sport oriented cycling in the UK, it is easy for so many to think cycling = lycra, as they haven't seen anything different.

2 other issues with lycra. Many judge form over function. For some time now, critics judge on what clothing looks like as opposed to what it's for...I suspect lycra is criticised because it's skin tight. You therefore get people judging lycra because in their opinion, the wrong people are wearing it, people who shouldn't wear skin tight clothing. One example is MAMIL acronym here in the UK - Middle Aged Men In Lycra.

And then you also have poseurs, dressing up to convey an image; this is easy to deride; dressing up just to impress others instead of for its original purpose.

I've always thought clothing ought to be function over form - and I don't think I have ever been fashion conscious. But if I like something, or need to wear something for a specific purpose, I'll wear it. So, with regard to lycra:

If the riding you do justifies it - wear it - your comfort is more important than what people might think. I would say you were being overly self conscious if you really think people are looking at you and sneering. Chances are you don't stand out as much as you think you do.

Your backside will be grateful and you won't ruin your business clothes...

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On the different note, I thought I would tell you that I'm reverting back to publishing once a week on a Thursday, after this post.

Don't Throw Anything Away...

Now, trying to be tidy (difficult for me), I try to consistently get rid of anything that I don't need - it might not be thrown away, it might be given away eg to a charity shop. When it comes to bike spares though, I've learnt through experience to keep just about everything no matter how small because it is likely to come in useful later on.

This becomes apparent particularly when I buy a new accessory; typically it doesn't fit the bike as it comes and needs something or other to fit it properly. This might be spacers, screws or zipties. These will have come from something else I've bought previously, where I've found that they weren't necessary.

One of the most useful things to keep are the little bits of rubber that come with accessories which I use as spacers to stop things slipping on the handlebars eg lights. They can be used to stop things slipping or metal on metal grating.

Anything small can be kept in the "biscuit tin" whilst larger items can be kept in the improvised spares cupboard:

Plenty of space for new bits 'n pieces and I've bought another "biscuit tin" for when there isn't

Not exactly super tidy but at least it's all in the same place...

Funnily enough, whilst I knew it was a good idea to keep spares, I would have drawn the line at the cardboard boxes in which I'd received my new bikes which I recently disposed of. Lo and behold, I found myself regretting it when I came to work on them; could have done with the cardboard to lay on...

Also, probably more importantly, best to keep any instructions that come with anything you've bought. Many, including myself have through experience, had to follow the rule that, if all else fails, read the instructions...

A lot of manufacturers' instruction manuals are downloadable on the internet, but in case they aren't, best to keep the ones that came with whatever you bought; they don't take up much space (usually). It's good to use them as a reference point as well as use other media.

My instruction collection: thought I'd play about with contrast, brightness etc on the Windows picture controls: not sure it was a good idea...