I'm sympathetic to this point of view - I'm 56 years old,5 feet 10 inches tall, weigh 203 pounds, and gave up wearing Lycra three years ago when a colleague told me I looked like a balloon full of water. It's not that I can't take a gibe - it was simply that I looked in the mirror, and realised he was right! I now wear traditional English cycling shorts (whipcord baggies in a style that has been made by the same company since the 1920's) and a shirt. Not only are they more comfortable and dignified, I can go into a shop or pub without looking like a shiny advertisement board. If I were super fit, and raced modern machines, then, no doubt, I would take advantage of modern technology, but for general touring and pleaure riding, I ind that something less exotic works for me.
There are always people who are prepared to dictate how and what others should ride, wear, etc., and it seems to me that these are often the ones who can't tell the difference between fashion and good taste...
Neil foddering Weymouth, Dorset, England
>From: "Ted E. Baer" <wickedsky@sbcglobal.net>
>To: john@os2.dhs.org, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: Re: [CR]Appearances......uh-oh......
>Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 10:37:28 -0700 (PDT)
>
>
>John,
>
> > Tom Sanders wrote:
> >
> > > Am I hearing this correctly that there are folks
> > here who make judgments
> > > about other cyclists because they are not wearing
> > clothes that the critics
> > > find to be not matching their own tastes?
> > > I ride in what I consider comfortable...I do try
> > just for fun to wear a Masi
> > > jersey if riding a Masi
>
>For all of the years I rode in cut-off shorts, tennis
>shoes, and my JAWS T-shirt I got criticized to death
>about it--(this was back in the "Greg LeMond
>era"--before Armstrong came along and basically erased
>Lemond's name from the record books for good.) But
>that was what I was COMFORTABLE in.
>
>People would laugh at me for NOT wearing jerseys, the
>correct shorts, etc, etc. I did not wear the jerseys
>because I had and still have rolls of "baby-fat" on my
>body; the jerseys make it look like I have these
>little breasts.
>
>You guys lash out at me about criticism, yet the
>riders at the time (in the Bay Area) were so anal that
>they would criticize everything about me. Example:
>One guy had the nerve to say "Hey, you are not
>'ankling' correctly" as I struggled to climb one of
>the local hills. Others would flat out criticize the
>bicycle I was riding--a Centurion Super LeMans. The
>easy way out would be to challenge these guys to fist
>fights. I may come across as a barbarian at times,
>but I'm not. And I know that people who fight go to
>jail because my favorite show is "COPS."
>
>I would like to talk about bicycle advocacy as one
>fellow suggested I stop complaining and do more for
>advocating cycling.
>I have been unearthing, excavating, digging through
>basements, rummaging through old parts bins at just
>about every single bicycle shop in the Bay Area for
>years. I in turn take these old parts clean them up
>and recycle them via selling them on ebay. While most
>of you go to normal well-paying jobs, I attend garage
>sales, flea markets, swap meets, estate sales, etc in
>an attempt to find the stuff that people WILL
>eventually throw away. My job is to bring these parts
>back to life and pass them on to you by fair open
>auction via ebay. Now if that is not bicycle advocacy
>I don't know what is.
>But if you think for a second that I am going to set
>up shop in Berkeley, weave dread-locks into my hair
>and ride around with a bunch of stoned guys with
>Reggae music blasting through a boom box strapped to a
>Pletcher rack while yelling slogans through
>bull-horns, that's not going to happen. That kind of
>thing is called making an ass out of yourself.
>
>Ted E. Baer
>Palo Alto, CA
>
>
>
>--- John Thompson <JohnThompson@new.rr.com> wrote:
>
> > Tom Sanders wrote:
> >
> > > Am I hearing this correctly that there are folks
> > here who make judgments
> > > about other cyclists because they are not wearing
> > clothes that the critics
> > > find to be not matching their own tastes?
> > > I ride in what I consider comfortable...I do try
> > just for fun to wear a Masi
> > > jersey if riding a Masi or a Sachs jersey on a
> > Sachs bike and so on, but
> > > this is just a personal choice that reflects my
> > own goofy preferences...I
> > > eschew fluorescent and gaudy but then I also
> > eschew it in my non-riding
> > > clothes.
> >
> > I personally like showing up on my old beat-to-crap
> > 1972 Atala fixed
> > gear wearing generic shorts and a plain T-shirt, and
> > then keep up with
> > the hot dogs on their shiny new bikes and togs.
> >
> > --
> >
> > -John Thompson (john@os2.dhs.org)
> > Appleton WI USA
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> >
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> >
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