I was shocked -- shocked! -- when he told me that he mountain biked with boxer shorts under loose fitting biking shorts, instead of the industry-standard $40 padded underwear or $100 padded spandex sausage shorts.
Wasn't it Chesterton who reminded us to be 'frugal with our heresies?' And I have been: despite being skeptical about many of the trends that have come along in the bicycle industry, I have been conventional regarding bike-liners-underwear, the last few years.
But it was not always so. Years ago I had two pairs of loose-fitting nylon shorts, with a thin, loose, and cool liner inside. I kept those shorts alive for 15 years, taking them to various seamstresses to resew -- and you know how hard it is to find a seamstress when you are on the road!
Finally they were dead. But REI didn't sell them anymore. They were only selling the over-priced, thick, hot, overly long, overly busy mountain bike shorts that made you look like an urban rap singer. I refused.
That pushed me over to conventional lycra/spandex tight-fitting bicycle shorts of the type that 'roadies' wear. They are OK, but they don't last long in public laundromats; and try touching them to a barbed wire fence!
But the last couple years the industry has started to make lightweight loose-fitting shorts again. So I took his advice and wore normal boxer shorts underneath a pair of these light and cool shorts. It worked great! Women must have felt like this around 1900 when they stopped wearing corsets.
Why should I have been so surprised? Just think of how expensive bicycles have been, their vaunted technologies, and all the expert reviews you have read. And then they tell us we need to wear thick, hot, smelly DIAPERS that now cost $40. If the industry can trick us into that, they can trick us into anything.
I had forgotten how nice moving-air feels against the leg or even higher. You feel so liberated and comfortable! Feeling air move against the skin is one of the great advantages of bicycling in warm weather.
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| And speaking of the sense of touch, this is New Mexico, the goathead capital of planet Earth. |
Comments
Found a few Gel Seats that added to some comfort.
Dam Goatheads have cost us at least Six Bike Tires.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
Many cyclists have trouble with discomfort from the saddle. I wonder how many keep the saddle horizontal and then fine tune it to tip slightly forward or slightly backward. Most of the cyclists weight is on the "sitz" bones, the hip joint area.
The industry wants to come up with one gimmick after another. So why don't they make an improvement that is long overdue: make seats narrow, medium, and wide for different bodies. Actually some of the saddle manufacturers are doing that -- they even have you sit on a pressure sensitive pad that records your width.
It would help if that were as standard as the size of your shoes.
After a ride around one of the cinder cones (on dirt roads) N.E of Flagstaff I put the bike away as usual. Few days later one tire was flat other still good. Upon examination had at least 50 goatheads in each tube less tire. More Stans in flat one, aired up and good to go!
When new to biking, assumed padded shorts only way to go. Wore them 2-3 times and threw out. Regular shorts or pants work for me. Lucky to no have saddle/butt issues.
A fresh crop is released in September, isn't it? So by spring they have spread out, gotten their tips broken off, gotten surrounded by dirt, etc.