Cycling and fashion are rarely companions. Riders are reminiscent of a fluorescent traffic cone hovering over a road crack. Every crevice is brightly advertised — look!
Cyclists will say the attire is for safety (please see me, mad motorist), comfort and minimizing wind resistance. One would hope. It's certainly not chic. If anything, it shouts to the crankier of non-cyclists that those whirling Bomb Pops on wheels are in their way, a club of "others" to which they do not belong.
Now, in the evolution of cycling, a swing has occurred. Bustling about the city are the casually outfitted of T-shirt and shorts or the practical cyclist who chooses a commuter pant or knicker with stretch and sweat-wicking performance. They look like normal people taking a breezy ride, not necessarily training for the Tour de France.
It's Bike To Work Day across the country today, and the bicycling community is in the throes of Bike Month festivities in central Iowa. Cylists say that the Lycra revolution is flanked now by folks who just want to hop on and commute to work or to the market or take a slow ride on the trail and not gear up, which means we've expanded our horizons of riding.