I usually wear bike shorts on a ride over 10 to 15 miles, normal civilian clothes for shorter. If it is cold, I might wear cycling underwear or bike shorts under long athletic pants.
Originally Posted by
cyccommute
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That's not what I see here in Denver. There are some but most of the people I see riding are riding in bicycle clothes. That's certainly the case in the regular commuters I see on my commute. That includes the weird guy who rides an ordinary.
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I disagree with 3Speed on several topics, but when he said most of the people he sees in his City are not wearing bike clothes, that generally is correct. Madison WI is also my City so I see the same people. There is a lot of cycling near campus and a lot of people on the east side of Madison even use cargo bikes for their daily shopping. There are times in summer when I have to put a battery charger on my truck because I do not drive it enough to keep the battery charged up, otherwise the slow drain from electronics will drain my truck battery. But when I take my errand bike (a vintage Bridgestone mountain bike I bought at a garage sale) to the grocery store, I am wearing civilian clothing.
But beyond the urban area to the south or west of Madison, you see a lot of cyclists out for an exercise or training ride, they are almost always wearing bike gear.