Fashion Sense

If you see a group of guys wearing skin tight clothing in a variety of flamboyant colors, and these guys are primarily discussing clothes, shopping and other people’s body parts, you are probably looking at a group of cyclists.

In my normal life, I am the least fashion conscious person I know. Blue jeans, which ever T-shirt my hand happens to fall on first, tennis shoes and I’m ready to go. My goal when I go clothes shopping is generally to spend the last amount of time possible in the store. I want a shirt. There’s one. Let’s go. It isn’t so much shopping as getting and then getting on with my life that I’m interested in.

And yet…

Here I am hanging around with a very fashion conscious group of people. There are people who have multiple bikes and select which kit they will wear based on how well the colors harmonize with the color scheme of the bike they are going to ride this day. (Note that I am not criticizing this, I am merely stating that it’s antithetical to how I normally operate.)

I have actually shopped for a new jersey. I mean, I have gone through and looked at all the options and carefully considered which one might suit me best before buying one. (This may sound to you like a thing that normal humans do, but, if so, then I am not a normal human, because I don’t normally do this.)

I have some jerseys and a jacket with the Seyboro Cyclists colors and logo, and I actually got excited because we were going to place another other and this time we could finally get *gasp* VESTS! Can you believe it? Something appears to have gone wrong with my brain. I am excited about getting an article of clothing.

Who knew that this cycling thing would affect so many aspects of my life? I have become a clothes horse. I put a lot more thought into what to wear on a ride than I do into what to wear to work.

Gloves with fingers or not? Should I wear tights or regular shorts? Maybe I should buy a pair of those bib shorts…I wonder if I need a new jersey? Hm…maybe I should wear my new vest today…(Okay, so that last one hasn’t happened yet, but it will. Trust me. Just wait and see.)

I even find myself wondering which pair of socks to wear on a ride, for crying out loud.

(You have to understand that, in my normal life, all my socks are white so that I can just grab any two and put them on. It turns out that all white socks are not identical. Who knew? So sometimes people notice and ask me why I am wearing two different socks. It’s usually news to me that I am. I’m not saying this is the way you should live your life, I’m just saying it’s the way I live mine.)

All of this is just an unexpected consequence of taking up cycling, and I just had to comment on it.

See you on the road.

If I can figure out what to wear, that is.