Down with spandex!

[hurricane56]

It's interesting hearing everyone's responses and I got a good chuckle out of the OP. I tend to have have both admiration for roadies and a little annoyance as well. A lot of my commute route puts most bike riders on a one hour commute. I always have a healthy respect for the roadies that are charging into a morning head wind with a really nice analog bike. I also feel a little bit of envy that some have the schedule flexibility to do a 90 minute bike commute every morning.

My annoyances start to crop up with the outliers that have a bad attitude, either there making some type of verbal comment about my setup or they start to follow me wheel-to-wheel to get the draft. Take a look at this video I shot earlier this month of a roadie giving thumbs down. I guess to his credit it could be interpreted a few different ways, maybe he was doing a thumbs down at the maintenance crew? At the end of the day, I'm just one less car and a person just trying to get to work.

 

[christob]

I can and do appreciate a humorous rant, and I certainly can relate to the frustration of dealing with rude cyclists we encounter (of any variety) every day.
But to suggest it is "funny" to entertain physical assault or harm as a response to another biker's offensive behavior, and post that on a public forum dedicated to promoting cycling and helping cyclists, is troublingly misguided to me at the very least. I wonder how funny the 2 Louisiana officers feel this morning, fired yesterday after humorously suggesting, and "liking", online that Representative Ocasio-Cortez should be shot.

I suspect nobody finds humor in the bike-trail booby-traps we've all read about, designed to hurt cyclists. Yet it is all too easy to imagine how that could've arisen from some dimwit initially thinking "I know -- wouldn't it be fun to teach these cyclists a lesson about {insert behavior-that-bothers-me}."

I can't shake the feeling that posts like this one only serve to gradually, casually, normalize violence by calling it a "joke" to propose it as a solution to a problem... But as most of the responses here seem to find it humorous and light-hearted, I realize I'm likely in the minority on this view.

 

[Alaskan]

Padded spandex shorts are the most comfortable, streamlined, least chaffing bottoms you can wear while riding a bike (and yes they do prevent bees and bugs getting is there). Letting one's disdain for arrogant, rude roadies remove the best choice of riding bottoms from your wardrobe is giving them too much power.

 

[Alaskan]

I can and do appreciate a humorous rant, and I certainly can relate to the frustration of dealing with rude cyclists we encounter (of any variety) every day.
But to suggest it is "funny" to entertain physical assault or harm as a response to another biker's offensive behavior, and post that on a public forum dedicated to promoting cycling and helping cyclists, is troublingly misguided to me at the very least. I wonder how funny the 2 Louisiana officers feel this morning, fired yesterday after humorously suggesting, and "liking", online that Representative Ocasio-Cortez should be shot.

I suspect nobody finds humor in the bike-trail booby-traps we've all read about, designed to hurt cyclists. Yet it is all too easy to imagine how that could've arisen from some dimwit initially thinking "I know -- wouldn't it be fun to teach these cyclists a lesson about {insert behavior-that-bothers-me}."

I can't shake the feeling that posts like this one only serve to gradually, casually, normalize violence by calling it a "joke" to propose it as a solution to a problem... But as most of the responses here seem to find it humorous and light-hearted, I realize I'm likely in the minority on this view.

I too find the name calling and (I hope) tongue-in-cheek comments about violent responses troubling in these times of hyperbole and hate. The more we can discourage and tone down that kind of pubic discourse the better. Just because politicians seem to have given license to rudeness and crudity doesn't mean we need to run with it.

 

[jim6b]

Down with spandex.

Bring back wool!

 

[Jaxx]

Down with spandex.

Bring back wool!

Nooooooooooo, ever raced in them, when the rain buckets down?

 

[DDBB]

If we don't lighten up, we will be in the same camp as the serious acoustic roadie riders. That's another thing, those guys won't smile or even acknowledge anyone besides one of their own. We stopped for a group photo with our bikes on a recent MUP ride. We asked a roadie rider to take our picture. He had clipless pedals and shoes and so did his riding partner. When we were ready to have the picture taken, his partner yelled out to him "don't get those ebikes in the picture" What a bummer for what was until then a great day

 

[Alaskan]

I ride three days a week with a bunch of long in the tooth, spandex wearing roadies. Really a bunch of great guys with enough humility to recognize that they will likely be ending their life of bike riding on an ebike, though they are not there yet. Today's ride of 42 miles included 20mph winds so half of the ride was easy and the other half a real push. I led the pack for most of the upwind portion sustaining 22 mph against the wind, lending my electrons to the group who all tucked in behind me. I won't go so far as to say I was regarded as a hero but I did get lots of appreciation.

Here we are (about half the group) at the half way mark getting some fluids and caffeine.

...and yes I am wearing padded spandex shorts and a vintage cycling jersey.

 

[DDBB]

I'm sure it's a great group to ride with however in these times of accepted group generalizations and put downs, this thread fits right in

 

[PDoz]

Here we are (about half the group) at the half way mark getting some fluids and caffeine.

View attachment 35711

Caption contest time ?

Team orange
Leftie " crap , they're taking a photo with that ebike and us"
Mr crossed legs " Glad I brought the disguise ....oops, I wet the chamois "

Alaskan " sheep following a cheetah....did you expect mercy?"

 

[ritestuf]

Ok, maybe joking about a gas-operated, rear-mounted pepper spray nozzle was an overreaction. How about this?...

Tour de Frogue wannabe packs would surely move over to the right once they heard me coming!

 

[DDBB]

The problem with the playing card in the spokes is that after just a few short miles, the card gets floppy and noise isn't as loud or cool any more

 

[AlanDB]

I can remember when I was a Kid (65 years ago) attaching playing cards with clothes pins to my bike, both sides, front and back. Wow! I just thought it made my bike so "cool", but my parents weren't overly pleased about the unusable deck of cards they were left with!

 

[J.R.]

Nowadays kids use an iPhone and play sound effects on a bluetooth speaker

That is if they even ride a bike

 

[Toomanycats]

Personally I like to wear spandex. On my recumbent trike, cargo shorts become bug scoops. Not fun stopping and digging bugs out of my shorts. Fear of a bee made wearing spandex an easy decision. Then on my regular ebikes, spandex shorts have zero friction and seat padding. Again the most logical choice. Anyone thinking that a rant about hate wouldn’t ignite more hate is living under a rock in this world today, satire or not. Tolerance has definitely left the building!

Agreed. I thought I’d left bike shorts behind forever. But then I started to get some really ugly chafing. Bike shorts are just the most comfortable. And I like the jerseys because I can stick things that I need in the back pockets. But I don’t dress like a competitive cyclist. My favorite jersey is fluorescent magenta with cats.

 

[PDoz]

Nowadays kids use an iPhone and play sound effects on a bluetooth speaker

That is if they even ride a bike

Watched a kid riding to school on Thursday, no hands, in the wrong lane because he was busy texting whilst simultaneously giving his mate the finger ( presumably who he was texting to...)

I wasn't sure if I was impressed or concerned he'd hit my car

 

[tomjasz]

I hate the color-coordinated spandex-wearing, slim-jim, Lance Armstrong wannabe, road hogging a-holes!

A first world problem. More prevalent on the left coast. Great food, mediocre manners.

 

[Over50]

Padded spandex shorts are the most comfortable, streamlined, least chaffing bottoms you can wear while riding a bike (and yes they do prevent bees and bugs getting is there). Letting one's disdain for arrogant, rude roadies remove the best choice of riding bottoms from your wardrobe is giving them too much power.

For the sake of my fellow citizens, I'll never be caught in public in lycra/spandex bike shorts. For me it is padded bike underwear under some mountain bike shorts which solve the bug entry problem. For long pants it is Arcteryx commuter pants or multi-purpose hike/bike pants from companies such as Prana who are pretty good at making pants with some stretch, gusseted crotches and non-chafing seams.

 

[ritestuf]

I don't understand why people are so concerned with bugs flying up their pants leg.
If you trap a bee and subsequently get stung on a testicle, you'll have no need for your motor for at least 10 more miles!

 

[DDBB]

What about those stupid looking wrap around sunglasses the lycra crowd wears? TBH, I don't WANT to look like a tour de France competitor when I'm on the local MUP trail going 14mph. Sure I've had bugs fly into my eyes but I can usually just blink them out