General cycling things on the web last weekend.

Often I trawl through all the cycling blogs, but sometimes more interesting things can be found in the general press. So with this in mind I searched through the Telegraph online newspaper on cycling and came across a couple of articles that, I thought, were worth a comment.

First of all - "Celebrities on Bikes" 

To be honest I am still uncertain as to who half these people are - but I will put this down to my lack of "coolness" or it could be down to the fact that I am not in the habit of watching reality TV. Also I have to ask myself - are these people really that fashionable.

What I like most about this article though is that it promotes the "casual clothing" look of cycling. I am as guilty as much of the rest of us - I wear tight fitting clothes and whilst not wearing Spandex pants on the outside, I do have them hidden under my shorts. I actually think that one of the main barriers to getting people back on bikes, is that it is seen as too macho - if you are middle aged with quite a large spread, you are not going to want to be in the mix with a bunch of "athletes" in spandex. To me this is as much a barrier to getting people onto bikes as lack of bike lanes. In the context of this argument, I would also like to say that I tend to sweat like a recently arrested Bangkok hooker when I am riding my bike and I would hate for that sweat to be on my everyday clothes - but maybe there is a balance to be found - certainly on weekend rides. The other reason for spandex pants is these razor blade saddles - the idea of cycling for more than 10 minutes without some padding in my pants induces even more sweating in me! But what choice do I have? Guess I will have to have a big comfortable weekend saddle.


Second link is to the "Naked Cyclist Serenade the Queen" - no pictures allowed here!

This is just awful in my opinion, way to go guys – yes you did bring attention to cycling in the city etc. but you have also made cyclist look silly and created an even greater gulf between cyclist and those thinking of taking it up. I agree with the point they are trying to raise but why do it in such a hippy / naturist way – and please to God – make sure you clean your saddles before you go for another ride.