I think close to half the riders I see during rush hour in the morning are in Lycra. Most of the non-Lycra contingent are indistinctly dressed. They could be going to work, they could just be riding. Of course the Lycra riders are indeterminate too and I think I see fewer of them in a typical evening than in the morning so some must just be out for a ride. There are typically a couple dozen bikes parked in the racks around my building. The riders I talk to tend to wear Lycra if they are going over about 10 miles and tend to wear ordinary clothes if under about that distance, a very unscientific survey on my part. I have a friend who sometimes rides the 5 miles from the train station on a folder like me and sometimes rides about 30 miles each way from his home. He follows the pattern, work clothes on the folder, Lycra on the road bike. But as I ride to and from work and on days when I drive it is relatively rare to see cyclists dressed as if they worked at places like my job and seem to be on their way to/from the job. Not every area has enough examples of such people to be sufficient inspiration.

Chicago summers can be as brutal as Chicago winters. The heat and humidity season is not as big a part of the year as it is in more southern climes but when it hits there is little difference in either parameter between Chicago and Austin. Phoenix can get 10-15 degrees warmer. It's not nearly as humid though. I can bike at 2-3 times the speed I can walk and generally get no sweatier than my friends and I do during our after lunch walk because of the self generated breeze. If I push for all I am worth I can hit 4 or 5 times my walking speed but I will be completely soaked. So I can avoid the need to shower and change by restricting my speed.

Ken