When I started bike commuting, I wore work clothes. I had 4-5 pairs of khakis with chainring tattoos. I discovered I liked biking to work. And I liked biking fast.

So I bought a pair of mountain bike baggies. Very cool in the summer and dried out fast for the ride home. The liner was pretty light weight though and didn't keep the boys outa the way of the saddle nose and my increasingly big thighs.

So I bought a pair of nashbar shorts. During most of the winter, I wore them under windpants.

I finally just got used to it and started wearing them into my office, where I keep shirts, slacks and ties on the back of my office door, and shoes and belts in a file drawer.

Now I have several pairs of pretty decent bike shorts, and carried my stuff on a bike rack. I got more bikes. Besides my commuter, and my fixie winter commuter, I have a couple of goes-like-heck fun bikes. So I wore a backpack or a messanger bag. That was pretty sweaty.

So I bought a jersey. Now I could carry my keys, cell phone, money clip, and a spare tube with room to spare, even on the fun bikes.

There are reasons for bicycle clothing. The stuff works well for riding. Walking in to work in bike shoes, and the full lycra kit is still weird, but I love my ride more than I worry about that short walk.

Nowadays I'm trying some cold weather bike gear, hoping to cut down the giant wind resistance of the nylon windsuit over polypro that I wear during a MN winter.

I guess the next step is bibs huh.

To summarize, OK, I look like a bike geek, but the ride is worth it.