Yes, fenders are terrific. It has rained in my part of Houston for about 28 out of the last 30 days. I still ride every day, and fenders have let me get home a little bit dryer and cleaner than I would otherwise. It is a shame that most 2007 road bikes are so poorly designed that it is difficult or impossible to fit full fenders.
If you are riding to improve your health, try to ride every day. Riding all day, just one time a week will leave you tired and sore, and do little to improve your health or fitness. Riding just 30 minutes or an hour, five or six days a week will greatly improve your health, if you stick with it, month after month. In six months, you will feel ten years younger and your doctor will think someone else took your lab tests.
Wear whatever you want to wear. I have BMX pedals on most of my bikes, as BMX pedals let you wear tennis shoes, running shoes, sandals or wingtip dress shoes. Sometimes I ride to work wearing a suit and tie (rarely these days, thank goodness). And, the rest of the time, I'm likely to be wearing cut-off jeans, an old tee-shirt and sandals. There is NO required "uniform" for riding a bike. (The folks who say "I could not ride my bike today, because my bike clothes were in the washer" are not actually cyclists...they are merely fashion models posing as cyclists).
Last edited by alanbikehouston; 07-20-07 at 10:19 AM.