WHY DO BICYCLISTS DRESS LIKE SUPER-HEROES FOR EVERY RIDE? WHAT'S UP WITH THAT???

Yes I run more than 10 hours a week. 100-120 miles a week is at or over 10 hours a week.

Give me a pair of shoes, shorts and a watch. Simplicity.

To the previous poster - are you serious, dude: I can run 10-15 miles at sub 5:30 per mile for tempo runs over hill and f***in' dale, I bet I could hop on a bike and keep up just fine. I think most serious 'skinny' runners would suprise you.

No, you couldn't--simply untrue. Obviously, you're using different muscles biking, ones that are underdeveloped from running exclusively. It's akin to saying a serious biker could hop off his bike and keep up with you--also untrue

Sports are dying in America wrote:

Yes I run more than 10 hours a week. 100-120 miles a week is at or over 10 hours a week.

Give me a pair of shoes, shorts and a watch. Simplicity.

To the previous poster - are you serious, dude: I can run 10-15 miles at sub 5:30 per mile for tempo runs over hill and f***in' dale, I bet I could hop on a bike and keep up just fine. I think most serious 'skinny' runners would suprise you.

luv2run wrote:

Why does it matter?

Why do so many juveniles care about what others do that does not affect them?

Shut up pussy, you commented too.

Anyway, I can't stand these motherf***ers. It's as ridiculous as us showing up on Sunday for a 2 hour run with a singlet on. They could as easily wear a slim fitting dri-fit shirt. Most of them wear that shit to tuck their belly in.

BroBro

Dude, form fitting tops with a "crossing gaurd" vest over the top?

Have you ever been cycling for a few hours? Obviously not.

Clothing is so super important in cycling because of the discomfort of being in the saddle for multiple hours. Your hypothetical vest would block the wind from cooling us down. It would also chafe. It also would allow us to not breathe, which over the course of a 3 or 4 or 5 hour train would be freaking miserable. Your form fitting top would lack the pockets in back which I use to store extra clothing, tube, food, and more. Wearing cotton on a 4 hour ride is a way different deal than wearing a cotton T for a 10k training run. The cotton T would end up weighing more than my bike in sweat. Runners really only experience extreme pain due to clothing on runs like marathons where you get bloody nipples and blistered feet. Cyclists have these issues EVERY ride. Wear your running shorts on my group ride and I will punish you with a blistering pace and I'll literally break your f***ing balls off.

Obviously runners can wear this crap because you're moving at slow speeds and wind resistance is not an issue. Cyclists use 80% of their energy pushing through the wind and aerodynamics are a huge portion of comfort and energy on a long ride.

cycling is a sport which comes from europe, where all jerseys (soccer, rugby, F1) are littered with sponsorship. if runners had pro teams, you'd maybe be sponsored too. after the high school and college level there's very little, almost no running participation on a competitive level. show up to a fitness ride on any day of the week in my area and there's dozens or hundreds (weekend) of cyclists of all ages and abilities.

by the way this thread is so stupid. it's kind of like the nerds fighing the geeks.

honestly you think that people out for an hours worth of exercise really want to wear a f***ing crossing gaurd vest? dude are you butt broke poor college kid or what? why don't you make your own shoes or run barefoot? the right tool for the job man. and if you dont know what you're f***ing talking about you should shut the f*** up.

lets say i'm otu for a 20 mile ride lasting around an hour - like a typical recovery ride after a few hard days in the saddle. i have amazing, wicking, comfortable equipment in the house which i need on longer rides. yet your advice to cyclists is to go buy a crossing gaurd vest and wear that instead? you know for most people in this world spending $40-60 on a jersey is not the end of the world. christ man, you're a total fool. HAHAHAHA. i went for a run today and tomorrow going for 60 miles on my bike. obviously you have never really ridden a bike or you'd realize how foolish you are.

'

should skiers just layer up all the sweaters they've got lying around the house becuase buying an extra parka is overkill? after all 99% of skiers are not racing.

dont you realize that cycling is an actual sport with pro teams, huge sponsors, TV deals, etc. running is mostly an activity people do to quickly lose weight. competitive running really exsists only in high school and college. even the olympics is mostly college stars with obvious excpetions. so even if you watned to wear pro stuff you don't have that option for running.

you are clearly a total moron.

why are you so concerned with looks anyway? you know you're just the loser at school who gets picked on but you've got a superiority complex. hahaha we're all laughing at you here too idiot.

YOUR ORIGINAL POST BELOW

God, you are stupid

A) I wrote SEVERAL times that I was talking about recreational cyclists on NEARLY EVERY RIDE. You are talking about VERY LONG rides. I am talking about 60 minute rides that lots of cyclists do but yet they still need to wear the comic-book get up. SEE THE DIFFERENCE??? GET IT YET???

B) Do you even know what type of reflective "crossing-guard" vest I am talking about??? It is MESH, weighs an ounce or two, and can be adjusted to be completely form-fitting. Over another shirt (even a tank-top), it does NOT chafe at all. It does NOT block wind, and it does NOT make one hot. A couple things that it DOES DO though are these: it makes one not look "cool," and it makes one not drop $150 for a super-hero shirt, and it makes one not be able to belong to the "cool yuppie cyclists" club. OTHER THAN THAT, I see no problem with it.

I am dead serious. Strap a cape on them, and they would look like "bike-man", ready to drive into SUV's in a single bound!

Look, I am hating, sure. But I REALLY want to know: how come nearly every road cyclist I see, no matter how medicore, has to be dressed from head to toe in some super expensive, over-decorated, skin-tight lycra costume??? WHY??? Ok, the shorts I somewhat understand because of the padding aspect, and yes, non-bike shorts could ride up on you. Ok, I will GIVE them the shorts.

But what about the shirts? And don't tell me they wear those bizarrely decorated things because "they want to be seen by cars." OH NO.....don't try that excuse! Because if they were REALLY dressing like that mainly because of the desire to not to be hit by traffic, they could

A) easily strap on a virtually weightless, super-cheap, non-perspiration absorbing, fairly aero-dynamic crossing-guard-type vest. THAT will get you seen better than some $150 dark blue, trying-to-be-hip, weirdly designed lycra shirt. And..

B) they could ride on bike paths more. I have been plenty of places where there are good bike paths, with not many people on them, but the super-hero cylists are too cool for the safe paths, and opt for narrow high speed roads that are right near by. Do these guys have suicide wishes?

And I also don't buy the "aero-dynamic" aspect of those shirts. There are PLENTY of tight-ftting, cheap tank tops one could wear, that are don't flap much in the wind. Or, in colder weather, a normal long sleeve shirt would work FINE. I've ridden in those plenty of times and they work FINE.

And 1/2 the guys I see wearing these superhero outfits don't even wear a helmet. They wear that gay little painter's cap thing, because their european heroes do the same on training rides. How follow-the-fashion-crowd is that?? Their motto seems to be: i'd rather look cool and die than look like a geek and stay alive. How pathetic!

Look, all I am saying is that:

biking is one more in a long list sports where MANY (not all) of the athletes care MUCH MORE about the fashion and equipment related to the sport than they do about the actual activity of the sport.

Most runners actually care A LOT MORE about the activity than the fashion or equipment. And that is why running is better.

(ok, time for my run in my dirty, very un-hip looking running shoes, whatever shorts I find on my floor, and no shirt of maybe a $15 tank top. I don't have time for "costume sports").

Could not agree more. Plus 95% of riders I see have pot bellys and are going VERY slow. Put my 14 min 5k ass on a bike and I bet I could outride most of them.

A few obervations

- the shorts look feminish, I wear them under microfiber cargo shorts as I bike to work. Women should wear them all the time, tho.

- the shirts are not necessary, they reflect their need for attention.

- most bikes are overpriced and uselessly flashy, again demonstrating their need for attention.

- leg shaving is again another attention deficiency symptom, leg shaving should be for racers who race in peletons as they crash a few times a year and mountain bikers, they crash on every ride.

- The bicycle is the most efficient vehicle, everyone should commute to work or school by bike.

maybe they're tri's...?

o.k blew away that stupid link..

The shirts are called JERSEYS! and I Do wear a helmet.

I agree that some of the Dorks on bikes are kind of silly. They are mostly posers and can't average more than 15 miles per hour.

I have been racing for twenty years and have never paid more than $40 for a Jersey. There are a lot of posers in the running comunity too. Chips in shoes, flags on shorts,fuel belts. Just let them be, they will be eating our dust! XX

I am going to take this obvious troll as a serious question.

I think you answered your own question about the shorts.

As for the shirts. Firstly a normal shirt that doesn't have an elastic bottom and isn't tight fitting would not only be terribly un-aeodynamic but would also be a flapping pain in the ass. There are also three pockets across the back of them which are pretty much required for any real rider, for food, spares, tools cellphone extra clothing etc. When you are on a 6 hour ride and 50 miles form home.... The zipper also comes im REALY handy as you can unzip it when riding UP hills and zip it back up when going down. The reason most are multi-colored and weird is simply because most are knock-offs of professional kit or actually a team jersey, all those colors you see are different logs of different sponsors. Some aren't and are just pretty much poor taste. The fact that you haven't discovere this make me think that you likely haven't really ridden as much as you think.

As far as the roads Vs. bike paths. Most cyclist choose roads because the would rather risk their own lives rather than those of others. Bikes paths are most definitely not for bikes. a cyclist traveling 25 miles an hour would actually be a complete menace on any bike path I have been on.

It is true that there are many fat masters riders out their with $5k bikes who are 20 pounds overweight making the bike 3k worth of costume, but jersey's have nothing to do with this, in fact they are pretty much essential.

You have me on the hats. The were originally designed as hat that wouldn't get blown off in the wind, but still serve all the function of a hat but why anyone would ride without a helmet is beyond me.

As far as caring about the activity, pretty much every competive cylist I know (even lowly cat 4's) spend upwards of 10 hours a week on the bike and most spend quite a bit more. I think it would you would be hard pressed to find any but the most elite spending that much running.

If you want to mock some arbitrary clothing why do more and more runners where the "have you met my cock?" spandex uni's? What possible purpose could they have over a a nomal pair of shorts...And you say that the aerodynomics of a t-shirt vs. jersey are minimal?

What's the matter? Your daddy never gave you a hug when you were a kid?

relax or you'll cut yourself shaving them legs...bwaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaa

Enjoy what you have createdEnjoy your choice of black, navy and "maybe I'm gay" red shorts and your 5 year old "State Meet" T-shirt.

Obzerver wrote:

What's the matter? Your daddy never gave you a hug when you were a kid?

relax or you'll cut yourself shaving them legs...bwaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaa

I'm not elite and I spend more than 10 hours running.

The Real Story. Who gives a shit what you wear to run or bike. Performances matter. Nothing else.

Question wrote:

As far as caring about the activity, pretty much every competive cylist I know (even lowly cat 4's) spend upwards of 10 hours a week on the bike and most spend quite a bit more. I think it would you would be hard pressed to find any but the most elite spending that much running.

Most of your points were enlightening, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find even shitty D3 teams where most of the varsity runners didn't put in more than 10 hours a week.

You must be kidding, right? Or are you referring to total practice time--stretch, check out the girls, listen to the coaches' instruction? At shitty d3 schools, or shitty NAIA schools, a varsity runner might be lucky to get in 4-5 hours of running a week.

Ya need to chill, Real. Listen, cycling is a good activity, it's all about riding but the mentality and the attitude behind it is all about self exaltation, for many riders.

Commuters are my idols, they bike for the what the bike was invented for, just a vehicle.

Running is the purest sport. Perhaps you should hang out on Let's bike.com and discuss "Neat" things.