Dude, you said that on the Internet. Hlaf the world has already heard it.

By this time Tuesday we will all be getting ads for "Chessmasters---the clothing you need when you need to mate--your opponent."

Nah .... he is just an old man who has to yell at clouds or his head will explode. He is a good guy.

If you had to ride a recumbent all the time, you'd be upset too.

Re: cotton---I used to ride 100 percent in cotton---or nothing above the waist. Cotton is fine if you keep moving because a lot of sweat can evaporate. However, if you stop, the cotton gets soaked and heavy quickly, and if there is really high humidity it doesn't wick well. Once you stop, ..... after a really hard effort I could wring half a gallon of sweat (about three pounds) out of a cotton T. Without that 15 mph average breeze the cotton wicked Zero.

I stopped wearing cotton--and stopped riding hard ..... either or both work. if you live in even a slightly dry climate or one which isn't really hot while it is humid and vice versa, cotton is okay.

But that is what I have found, and what I chose to do. The rest of you---who cares?

I don't ride a recumbent all the time, but when i do... I wear non cotton undies and lycra swimming jammers. Chafe free for two of three PBPs

On the upright, I find the same getup tolerable for twenty or thirty miles. But different people seem to have different tolerance for pressure and chafing.

Rear pocket jerseys are useful on bent or upright. I can't use the center pocket on the bent, but the outer ones are great for bars and such. Also, when getting off the bike for water, jersey pockets are great for carrying water bottles, freeing up the hands to open doors and such.

Cotton tees and cargo shorts are pub crawl and coffeeneuring getup.

I wasn't even talking about you actually. In fact I'd rather not. i thought you'd put me on your ignore list ages ago. That would be the best solution for you I think.

Cotton really doesn't work well for sports clothing. It doesn't wick sweat away at all IME. But hey this is BF!

Now you're just lying. You complained about people jumping on you in the shoes thread. I'm literally the only one who responded to your posts in that thread, and that was because you jumped on me for saying I don't wear cycling shoes on platforms.

I took you off the ignore list because I saw a quote of yours on another subject that was really good. You're just insufferable on this one subject. Otherwise, I like reading your posts and discussing stuff with you.

I wear cotton tshirts some and also "performance" synthetics. I think you've got it about right, cotton works best as air conditioning if you're riding fast. It's probably not what I'd wear on a hilly ride on a hot day because it's too slow to evaporate. It's actually pretty great on a really hot day if you ride a flat route fast. I try to avoid hilly rides on such days as I'm not really trying to make myself unduly miserable.

Butt cleats to keep you from slipping off your chair.

Actually I jumped on you (if that's what you want to call it) for ranting at some other poster who just pointed out that everyone up until that point had suggested literally anything other than cycling shoes. It's just funny on a dedicated cycling forum that's all. As far as I know I've never actually complained about anyone not wearing cycling gear. There is one other guy who goes out of his way to snark at anyone who DOES wear ANY form of cycling gear. I'm sure you can guess who that is, lol. It doesn't bother me what other people wear, but when they start talking **** about cycling wear I can't help myself commenting. Again this is not you I'm referring to. I understand the reasons why you don't wear cycling gear and that's perfectly fine. Please don't take it too seriously, you seem like a decent guy. A bit quirky with your choice of wear and favourite 52-11T gear for riding along, but a decent guy nonetheless!

Kum ba yah, man! We'll agree to disagree on what you did on the shoes thread. That other poster was both lying about the range of recommendations and was really quite nasty in how he was referring to people who don't wear cycling gear. I think you missed how insulting his post was, just assuming that people who don't wear cycling gear are somehow deficient as cyclists.

We all have our quirks, what I like about bf is getting the perspectives of people who ride differently than I do. You'll notice, I hope, that I'm just as intolerant of people who make fun of people who don't ride like I do, either. I got pretty mad at people who were ridiculing men for shaving their legs even though I've never even considered doing that, for example.

No worries. I find other perspectives interesting too. Cycling is a far more varied sport/hobby than most others I can think of.

First, they came for the poseurs, and I did not speak out - because I was not a poseur.
Then, they came for the Freds, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Fred.
Then, they came for the recumbent riders, and I said, "hell yeah."

Friday morning I wanted to test out a new fixed gear build for a longer ride. It's a modified track frame, so no bottle bosses.

Benefits of proper cycling jersey: carrying capacity and ventilation.

Carrying capacity: Tire levers, co2 inflator and spare tube in the left rear pocket. Phone and snack go in right rear pocked. Filled water bottle goes in the center pocket. You can't do that without wearing a purpose-made jersey unless by adding bags/packs and other paraphernalia.

Ventilation: While you can find dri-fit and mesh shirts, most won't have a full length zipper. Adjusting the zipper position can add quite a bit to comfort, depending on the situation.

There are other lesser benefits for cycling jerseys like fit, gripper elastic lower hems, logos and affiliations and, of course, crisp tan lines.

To add to Phil's post

Adaptability to weather conditions:

I long distance ride and temps from morning to evening can vary quite a bit. I use arm sleeves, lycra skull cap and knee warmers, as well as a thin shell layer and shoe covers along with my cycling shorts and jersey. This modular approach allows me the minimal amount of "baggage" to be able to adapt from morning chill, mid day sun and even brief showers. They work, are light weight, fold small and avoid the redundancy of having to bring multiple clothing items such as long sleeve shirt/short sleeve shirt, pants/shorts.

To answer the OP's question, posed in the thread title: "Does Clothing Matter?"

Yes. Try going a day without it.

Still at it, huh?

Well, it is said that: "Clothes makes the man (and in a pc world, the woman, too)"

Only a day ??...I've gone 15 years without a cycling jersey, without bibs and without clipless shoes.

I'm sure the people of Recumba are lovely. Also, my understanding is that if you park one of those contraptions on your roof, you get really great TV reception.

Woosshhh!

A bit off topic: I have retired the majority of my cotton Ts except for indoors. Outside, I only wear performance T’s which are odor resistant. I use these for hiking and working out in the hot sun. They wick like crazy and dry in a snap. Love them.

They would work for cycling too if you didn’t mind the flapping and lack of pockets.

Uh, no. Clothing. Just clothing.

But, golly, aren't you just so proud of yourself.

When you take yourself too seriously, you take everything too seriously.

Im heading out for a serious road ride on my serious bike, and I’m wearing serious clothes. Seriously. Later, I might jump on one of my mountain bikes and good around, in a seriously fun manner, wearing baggie cargo shorts and a t-shirt, most likely with a beer theme. Serious fun all around. Conundrum: that mtb I mentioned has clipless pedals but I’ll probably be wearing Merrell hiking shoes. Will it be considered a serious ride or a mixed-media enterprise? Beer for everyone!

Serious cyclists take everything seriously.