to think it's ok to wear lycra

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

I see this constantly on social media, including MN. Whenever a discussion starts about cyclists people start using phrases like "lycra wearing" as an insult.

I cycle for pleasure and commuting, not for speed, and I wear lycra/cycling clothing because it's the most sensible option. Padded shorts or leggings because 30 miles on a bike is painful without them. A cycling top because of the pockets in the back for phone, keys, wallet etc. Plus the tops are breathable. I'm an overweight woman in my 50s so I'm not doing it for fashion purposes but because it's the most practical option.

However wearing lycra seems to be a complete no-no according to non cyclists. I was on a FB page yesterday where a horse rider was (quite rightly) complaining about cyclists not knowing how to approach horses on the road. She then made a disparaging remark about "the lycra-wearing brigade". No one criticises horse riders for wearing jodhpurs and riding boots.

Surely with most sports or exercise you wear what is most suitable? So if you go swimming you wear a swimming costume, if you play football you wear kit, so why the dislike of cyclists wearing cycle clothing?

Went to London a couple of weeks ago and we were pootling along on Boris bikes as we had got tired of walking! There were gangs of young lads on BMX type bikes doing wheelies and generally cycling aggressively but son says the police turn a blind eye as while these kids are busy showing off on their pimped up bikes they aren't out stabbing and robbing and there are fewer injuries/accidents involving the bikes than there would be stabbings or robberies! These kids were seriously terrifying and I'm an able bodied, well built 51 year old woman!

As has been said above, it is just an "othering" phrase - like "skirt wearing", "lentil eating" etc, almost always followed by the word "brigade".

As is also demonstrated above - "they mean the other cyclists, not you" because of course no one you know personally can be "other".

Its a way to say nasty things about people, usually accompanied by some form of "whatever they get they deserve" while pretending it's not nasty.

YANBU, the cyclist hatred in the UK is not normal.

I think the lycra comments often tie in with the part of British culture that looks down on people who are 'taking themselves too seriously' or 'trying too hard'. So it's OK to 'pootle', especially if you're wearing jeans and a cotton t-shirt on an old mountain bike. But if you actually exert yourself, have a road bike, wear sports clothing, you're a wanker who thinks they're in the fucking Tour de France.

Most people don't really care what you wear.

It is because you are a cyclist. If it wasn't lycra it would be something else.

@IncandescentSilver. Matild The Cat - not all women "potter along" when cycling. It isn't a division between men and women. Some of us women quite like doing triathlons and we have to train fast on what's available to us

Where did I say the all women potter and men are the serious cyclists? OP says Exactly! I will happily cycle 30-40 miles for pleasure with a cake stop along the way. No racing, no timing myself. But I'm.not doing it in inappropriate clothing!

I'm no expert but I am a cyclist, I'm on your side. Impressed at your 40 mile outings. I think you've earned your leggings.

@NotMeNoNo

I'm no expert but I am a cyclist, I'm on your side. Impressed at your 40 mile outings. I think you've earned your leggings.

thank you! I think I'm a pretty responsible road user both in the car and on a bike. I just get really irritated that non-cyclists think people on bikes only wear lycra because they are hell bent on racing no matter how dangerous. And lots of comments along the lines of "Jeans and a T shirt are fine to cycle in". Er, jeans can get caught in the chain, plus 30 miles in a pair of jeans is only doable if you have nether regions made of concrete.

Many car drivers hate anyone who dares to use the road and in any way hinder their 'god-given' right to pollute, not walk half a mile, or somehow affect their own life on the road. So they target cyclists, people who are making an attempt to exercise, are not polluting, not taking up a parking space, and do not kill hundreds of people in so-called 'accidents'.

Lycra's out, it's tweed for speed
www.tweedrun.com

@motorcyclenumptiness

Lycra's out, it's tweed for speed www.tweedrun.com

that looks good fun! Maybe I should borrow a Pashley and sign up

The worst cyclists are the unlit, black/ dull colour hoodie types who mistake public highways for BMX tracks and suddenly emerge from the shadows without warning.

I'd rather be sharing the roads with a MAMIL trying to smash a Strava segment

When I go out for a bike ride I find that drivers are more patient with me if I am wearing normal clothes and obviously using the bike to go somewhere, than when I am wearing lycra and just getting their way for a leisure ride.

@cologne4711

When I go out for a bike ride I find that drivers are more patient with me if I am wearing normal clothes and obviously using the bike to go somewhere, than when I am wearing lycra and just getting their way for a leisure ride.

Can you let me know how you wear "normal" clothes for long bike rides? I'm not being sarcastic, I am genuinely interested. I used to cycle 14 miles each way to work and would have loved to do it in work clothes in order to avoid changing but there is no way on earth I could do that. And I would have stunk to high heaven all day long.

It doesn't matter what cyclists wear, they and car drivers should be respectful of each other. Any car driver who drives more aggressively if cyclists are wearing cycling clothes on the grounds that the cyclists are "getting in their way" as you put it shouldnt be on the road.

I'm trying to get organised for a puny 3 mile cycle to work and debating whether to bother changing. Unfortunately last quarter mile is a very steep hill.

Jeans and a T shirt are fine to cycle in

You could do yourself serious damage cycling 40 miles in jeans 😳

Yanbu op, at all I’m a cyclist sometimes I go a bit quicker, sometimes I pootle and look at gardens. Sometimes I use a shared path with no pedestrians on it, I slow if there are any.

I think a lot of cyclists don’t know how to pass horses though and they try to ‘creep by quietly’ 🤦🏻‍♀️. It’s mostly just ignorance, I think.

I wear my Lycra with pride

It's not any old Lycra people are referring to, its a subgroup of (mostly male) cyclists who wear replica Tour de France type kit. I wear padded leggings and a top too, waterproof jacket today of course.

It's just a bit narrow minded, dumb and bigoted to hate a whole group of people

As a fellow cyclist it’s not the lycra, it’s the cycling in general that non cyclists hate so much.

User45 - in the last 13 years in the uk 548 pedestrians were killed on pavements by vehicles, only 6 were bikes....

@Macncheeseballs

User45 - in the last 13 years in the uk 548 pedestrians were killed on pavements by vehicles, only 6 were bikes....

Not all dangerous behaviour results in deaths. And I'm assuming most of those killed were in other cars or vehicles?

Obviously cars are more fatal and involved in more accidents and so many drivers are poor/dicks.

But I'm also fed up of some cyclists acting as though rules around traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, pavements etc don't apply to them! Though this may well be London specific

@minnieok

It's not any old Lycra people are referring to, its a subgroup of (mostly male) cyclists who wear replica Tour de France type kit. I wear padded leggings and a top too, waterproof jacket today of course.

Yes exactly this. Like when people talk about 'Hoodies' they are not really talking about anyone wearing a hooded top - you do get that right OP?

minnieok It's not any old Lycra people are referring to, its a subgroup of (mostly male) cyclists who wear replica Tour de France type kit. I wear padded leggings and a top too, waterproof jacket today of course.

Again, I'm a woman and I rather like to wear a bit of team kit. Its also much, much cheaper to buy a team jersey than a preciously, expensively produced brand name designed especially for women and marketed at great expense towards them. Team kit seems to be produced for one season only and is done on a promotional budget so it really is a bargain. And I quite like the patterns and colours.

Last year I got a Quickstep short sleeve cycling top for £18.99 as opposed to £75.00 for a Velo Vixen Kia Ora short sleeve cycling top of exactly the material, presumably designed to appeal to women with its banded but non associated with racing teams rainbow stripes.

I quite like imagining myself climbing up an Alpine climb in the TDF - makes the time go quickly and it doesn't harm anyone.

It's not any old Lycra people are referring to, its a subgroup of (mostly male) cyclists who wear replica Tour de France type kit. I wear padded leggings and a top too, waterproof jacket today of course.

I think that’s probably me (and quite a lot of women) then. Feel free to sneer I care not.

how you wear "normal" clothes for long bike rides?

I can cycle 12-14 miles in cut off jeans without discomfort, but I guess I wouldn't choose 28 miles round trip in cut offs, ideally. I tend to wear layers so I strip off or put on to deal with body temp & that reduces how much I might sweat. I guess maybe in past everyone at work was too polite to say anything about my horrible smell.. And now they are supposed to keep 2m so bonus if I do smell awful. I can't see the downside if I did smell -- not that I think I do, but you see what I mean. Also, lycra/synthetic clothing make you smell worse than cottons. Dunno if everyone realises that. Pannier bags lead to less sweating, too.

Since riding keeps one warm on bike, the main thing upon arrival is to pull on actual clothes and then there are extra containment layers between my posited smelly fumes and any colleagues. But mostly we have a shower/can sink wash at work, to help reduce fumes.

I can't cycle in tight skirts, stiff jeans, billowing things, long robes or high heels. Most other clothes I can wear while riding.