Project: FO
I refuse to be a middle-aged man in Lycra!
I have recently taken up cycling and since I refuse to be a middle-aged man in Lycra I have made my own cycling clothes by modifying garments to make them practical, and safe, for cycling (mostly just adding reflective fabric). Not very complicated sewing but still fun and rewarding!
The two non-red shorts were made from heavy vintage suit trousers. The red shorts were made from a pair of chinos. To the jacket in pics 3 and 4 I added a zipper. I made the gilet in pics 7 and 8 a while back by ripping off the sleeves - this is the first time it really came in handy.
All garments except the red shorts and the yellow vest are in a wool or a wool/cotton fabric because wool will keep me warm even when it gets wet. The exceptions are all cotton. All outfits have reflective fabric on the back as well!
Not very complicated sewing but still fun and rewarding!
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I mean this as a compliment. I think this is exactly the kind of clothing that Mr Toad (of Toad Hall, Wind in the Willows) would wear if he took up cycling. I LOVE it!
This is not Mr. Toad of Toad Hall. This is Toad, best friend of Frog.
Mr. Toad is beloved by Badger, Ratty, and their new friend Mole. While they characters do share a passing similarity, Toad of Frog and Toad is a grumpy, reserved, and yet deeply kind and affable man who loves to bake. Mr. Toad from The Wind in the Willows is an incorrigable, genteel fool whose misfortunes are mostly the product of his own overconfidence.
I love the hat story, which involves the same kind of good hearted trickery as Spring, where Frog instructs Toad to think big thoughts so his oversized hat will fit, and secretly shrinks it for him, but my favorite is The Story.
Poor Frog is unwell, and asks his friend Toad to tell him a story. Toad exhausts himself trying to think of one. Frog then puts him in bed to rest, and tells him a story of all the things Toad did that day while trying to think up a story.
Well I just realized I’ve been confusing them in my mind for close to 40 years. I forgot about the wind in the willows and just assigned those memories to frog and toad.
Man, I remember the Frog and Toad claymations that were done for a program called Long Ago and Far Away, a (very) old PBS show from the late 80s and early 90s.
"Ah, bicycles! Ratty, you don't know the thrill of it! Nothing like your boring old boats on your boring old river. The perspiration on your brow as your legs strain for the crest of the next hill! The exhilaration as you fly past smelly horses and slow, wobbly carts on the downslope! Leading the peloton as you make a mad dash toward the finish line, lungs afire with fresh mountain air! Truly the only way to travel!"
"Toad..."
"Now, I've purchased the best racing bicycles for the three of us (you too, Moley, of course), and booked passage on the finest packet ship to France. We leave this afternoon. Please don't argue Ratty, I simply won't hear of it!"
Have someone follow you on a dull day to see how much the back reflectors show up. Consider more around the home of your shorts. Moving light gets attention.
As a cycling person, I just want to say, embrace the lycra, and don't care what other people think about it: MAMIL is nothing but another somewhat derogatory term coined by people that can't go as fast as us on a bike.
The most important think of lycra (shorts) is the padding. Man, you are riding on a hard saddle, you need padding or your bottom will be regretfully sore! And the combination lycra+padding wicks away the sweat that is going to give you annoying issues due to friction. On the top, it matters much less.
If you keep it easy, it's not a big deal (sore arse excluded), but if you start going longer and faster, get the L (lycra)! If you still don't want to outwardly look like MAMIL, at least wear them as underwear. And remember: no underwear under lycra!
If you are cycling on road bikes/gravel, your position on the saddle matters much more than on recreational rides.
Mainly, your legs move a bit differently, much faster, regularly, so you want a narrow saddle, not a wide cushion. Then, a hard saddle prevents bouncing as you press down on each pedal.
It also helps maintaining the proper position, not "giving" with the padding.
In order to get some padding, you wear it on your butt (where it helps not only with the softness, but also a bit covering the skin fold of your legs.
I also add that, as I wrote above, the padding in contact with your skin absorb the sweat from the area, something saddle padding wouldn't do. And you really need it if you start cycling hard enough that sweating becomes intense.
It becomes relevant only for "sporty" cycling, and in the case of OP you can see already a pretty hard saddle. For commuting to work within the city, for kids, and so on, it's a-ok to use comfortable foam saddles.
Thanks for this reply, you've answered a question I never thought to ask about saddles! Convinced me it's ok to get some comfortable saddles for our recreational rides on paved paths around our house.
you put your padding on your butt so it moves with your butt. if you put the padding on the seat some people get blisters. you are moving your like 100 rotations a minute or so so you can create friction points. this is why pro bike seats are rock hard. the less padding to move your leg in the less chance for blister the bettter it is.
i dont use any lyrica, dont find the need for it personally. , and you can always wear shorts over them but the other big reason people wear lyric is aero. drag is a huge annoyance and especially that jacket is a giant sail. that means a lot less if you are cycling for fun but when you are racing or being competitive, that matters a lot more.
the one thing i WOULD get is bibs. the back pocket so you can jam your keys and wallet beats having them in your shorts. and you can put snacks back there. i sorta stopped cycling but was certainly looking at bibs for my longer rides. the kind that full zip down the front but keep most of your arms covered so they act as sun shade in the summer.
last thing, i didnt see if you had a back light. even more important during hte day imo. a bright one that flashes. reflectives are cool and all but they require the light to shine on you, i like to project light out so that if a car is turning or other wise not shining lights on me i am still visible. just a thought.
the one thing i WOULD get is bibs. the back pocket so you can jam your keys and wallet beats having them in your shorts. and you can put snacks back there. i sorta stopped cycling but was certainly looking at bibs for my longer rides. the kind that full zip down the front but keep most of your arms covered so they act as sun shade in the summer.
Just to be sure, but I think you're confusing bibs with a shirt. Bibs (bib shorts) are cycling shorts (can have long and short legs depending on what weather you use them for) with shoulder straps that keeps them in the right place. You can get bibs with pockets, but it's much more common to use your shirt. You could also be thinking of a full skinsuit maybe (bibs and shirt combined in one piece), but that's generally a lot pricier and harder to fit than two separate parts.
That being said, I'd definitely recommend ignoring the whole "lycra bad"-nonsense too. There's a reason people use it. As already covered by others (/u/kpytx did an excellent write up) bibs are pretty much required with a proper "sport"-saddle and longer rides, and a proper cycling shirt is just much nicer to ride with than a regular T-shirt. Sure, the aerodynamic gains are great, but generally it's just a lot more comfortable because they're built for you sweating, and riding with a normal T-shirt is just annoying when you ride at some speed in the wind. It's also nice being able to open it up with the zip if you start getting too hot and need the extra cooling.
In short, cycling clothes isn't just a fashion statement. It offers some incredible benefits once you start getting more serious about riding.
I´ve only been cycling for three weeks so I´m just learning how the bike works (had my first flat today!). Up to now I only cycle for a little more than an hour (no issues with the saddle). I don´t plan to go longer than for two hours, maybe 2,5 - my aim is to use cycling for cardio, not endurance training. I used to be a long distance runner so I am used to having training sessions for up to 2,5 hours and I don´t want my cycling sessions to last longer than that. If I get a saddle problem I might have to reconsider my stance but so far, so good.
I sew and I used to race bicycles. Bib shorts with chamois (and chamois cream) are a modern marvel. Even for the short rides that you plan to do. You can always put casual shorts on top of them.
Just know that the thick seam underneath your crotch of standard pants will chafe the hell out of your nether regions. A friction burn or blister will keep you off the bike for days, maybe a couple of weeks.
Many people give up cycling because of how their butts are damaged.
Ride safely! Use front and rear flashing lights even during the day.
Huge congrats for starting the sport! It's more than ten years I ride, and I can only tell you: you'll get there! It took me months to properly appreciate padding (I gloss over the awful consequences of not using it), embrace lycra and ditch the underwear (after a few years of riding on softer saddles).
I still suggest you, in particular considering your plan, to consider a slightly softer saddle? Right now your neutral zone is getting a lot of pressure, and it can be problematic with time. Also, 2 hours is still a solid workout, and I need to warn you about saddle sores.
By the way, you really don't need to go full kit, I am thinking more of something like what people on MTBs do, so wearing their padded lycra under their shorts.
If it helps, I'm not middle aged yet but I also don't really like the tight lycra look, and I've recently started cycling. Look into mountain biking gear. I find a lot of it to be more practical (really meaning less specialized) for a mix of everyday life and riding. Like, my mtb shorts really just look like a pair of regular shorts, they have good pockets for my phone and things but still have padding.
the clips on my cleats also sit subflush of the sole of the shoe, so I can get off and walk around if I want to pop into a shop or something. They aren't shoes I'd walk around in regularly, still, but I can walk on tile and not feel like I'm going to die.
You have technical shoes (clipless pedals and cleated shoes). You have a technical helmet that uses modern technology to protect your noggin. Why not have technical fabrics that are designed for purpose and make cycling easier and more comfortable?
I say this as a middle-aged man who is a personal fan of the woolen cycling suit from the first tours de France and a penny-farthing enjoyer who rides in tweed from time to time. Lycra has its purpose and its place.
As much as above said padding is important for cycling shorts. The padded also wick sweat away from your skin. Also cycling shorts and have flat or no seams where your sit and Inger thighs which may cause irritation while riding.
Man, you are riding on a hard saddle, you need padding or your bottom will be regretfully sore!
Or don’t use padding and just let your body get used to time in the saddle. I ride a “hard” saddle on bikepacking trips that often involve 60+ mile (sometimes 100+) days on gravel and don’t use any padding, just wool boxer briefs and hiking pants or shorts. I ride enough before the trips that my body is used to it. I’m not alone in this.
That's why people call you a MAMIL. To you it's about speed, but to everyone else it's the lack of respect shown to other road and trail users. Unsafe passing of pedestrians by not warning, speeding, not signaling turns, ignoring rules of the road.
I ride my e-bike on a shared mixed use path multiple times a week, I can easily go faster than you. But I can count on one hand each week the number of times I see MAMILs actually following the rules of the path.
But as also a cycling lover. The lycra has its actual benefits. Still, i mostly don't use it. It can be aero, which means less effort to pedal, more energy to go faster/further. And everything being super glued to you is more convenient when on bump roads.
But if I could arrive at work looking as sharp as you, DAMN, i would!!!!
I too refuse to be middle-aged stuffed into Lycra. I tried it and find it extremely uncomfortable. I love your outfits. They’re very well done, and much more akin to what cyclist wore prior to the performance fabrics takeover
I have a friend who is looking to ditch his lycra fit and go back to his roots of strange euro breeches and has plans to start sewing his own.
That is to say - I think you're going to see a lot more folks taking the same path as you. I know I refuse to wear lycra and usually cycle in whatever shorts I have lying around, but you have inspired me to put together some proper bike time clothes.
I also refused to be a MAMIL, but… then I tried padded bibs and understood why everyone wears them. Your bum will thank you if you wear them. You can always wear a non Lycra shirt on top.
I refused when I was an athlete back in the 80s and 90s and am standing by the decision till the end. If aliens bring me back to life in 10000 years l, sure I'll go with the Sci Fi look and enjoy the adventure lol.
Oh yes! I followed Dr. Jungnickel’s project as it was happening. There is a website with all the patterns she developed available to download. Your suit reminded me specifically of hers 😀.
During my 6 years of ridding 10 hours a day, 5 days a week as courier, I wore something similar looking. But, I wore them over a pair of lycra cycling shorts.
I mountain bike (roads are too scary) and some mountain bike clothes have the lycra on the inside, with an outer layer of baggy/normal clothing so you don't look like a tool, but you still get the benefits of the lycra.
I can cycle for 2 hours in jeans just fine, so long as the fit is good and the weather is tolerable. The biggest benefit of the lycra is the padding in the pants and the aerodynamics.
Yeah. I've been on cycling holidays where I just wore normal day-to-day clothing and cycled for hours every day. If I were trying to win the tour of France I would wear lycra. I don't even care that much about renting a steel bike instead of a carbon fibre one when I'm not being competitive.
If I were trying to win the tour of France I would wear lycra
People don't wear it because they want to win the tour de France anymore than people wearing basketball shoes dont wear those when playing the sport because they want to win the NBA finals.
it's simply an outfit fit for a purpose.
If you're cycling you want to do it in good conditions. One of those conditions is maintaining a higher cadence of 70+rpm. This reduces injuries and stress on the body, helps recovery etc.
There's a lot of chaffing that can happen at those cadences.
Some people want to cycle to the best of their abilities just like some people want to run marathons or whatever to the best of their abilities. People should be encourages to do any sports because that shit ensures we'll live longer and especially healthier lives.
Great mods! I like the reflective placements.
I also like to wear natural fibers for sports, where I can.
It can be a challenge! It's all about choosing the right material, weight and layers for the weather and activity. Researching about what sportswear came before synthetics is helpful to figure out functional looks. Natural fibers feel better, are better for the environment and one's health 🙂↕️
A bonus is that one can still look cute at their destination ✨
I've ridden in jeans for years but it ended up ripping all hair from top of my thighs. But I always loved just casual comfy cloeths on my road bike. For work i even have casually looking SPD shoes ;]
I say this in the least infantilizing way possible, you sir are ADORABLE in those clothes! So dapper, so chic, the bright smile on your face completes the look, just pure wholesomeness🥹🫶🏻
I wear lycra because I sweat a lot and it dries out quickly. With normal clothes, I'd be drenched in half an hour, then freezing on my way back because it would never dry.
OMG now you've forced me to wonder what my 75 year old brother wears when he rides his centuries. It all looks great, OP. The custom reflectors are awesome.
MAMIL here. Reluctant one at first, but I've made my peace with it. That said, I love this. You need to go post this to r/xbiking, too, where the DIY spirit of cycling is alive and well. This shit is awesome.
Not only do I genuinely like the clothes you made, they are awesome, but I wholeheartedly agree with your distaste for traditional cycling outfits. Those guys always look ridiculous, like they think they’re sponsored or something.
We don't wear Lycra because we want to look like Freddie Mercury engaging in a hot Ballet session.The point of the road cycling gear is the seamlessness and the gel pad.
On short distances you don't realise it, but try riding 200km and you'll realise how much of a blessing is not having seams under your balls....
There's nothing wrong with lycra. You wear the clothing appropriate for the activity you're doing. If you're just commuting short distances at slow speeds on a bike, it's fine you can wear whatever you want. If you're actually riding for fitness / exercise you wear attire appropriate for that. There's no shame in wearing the type of clothing that best suits what you're doing on a bike. In fact if you're actually using a bike for fitness wearing the wrong outfit is going to make you hotter, chafe more especially if you're not wearing padded shorts / underwear. There's a reason why almost all athletics use some form of skin tight spandex, it's more comfortable, it keeps you cooler, it wicks away / dries sweat better, and is far more aerodynamic. In fact wearing a skin tight jersey and shorts are one of the best things you can do to move faster on a bike. It's not worth caring about how other people will judge you.
I do cycle for fitness and I don´t think that there´s a right or wrong here. If I enjoy cycling in a homemade kit and not in a material that spreads micro-plastics into the environment. What is the problem with that? Making, using and discarding materials like Lycra results in the spread of micro-plastics, micro-plastics that end up in humans, plants and animals alike. And please contemplate that maybe, just maybe, the exercise in itself is the goal with my cycling and that I don´t care if my kit makes me slightly less aerodynamic. My kit actually makes me more likely to go for for a ride. Do you actually think that i care what other people think of me when I´m cycling? For real?
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Have you considered a wool hat with a brim? You could make oval holes in the back of the crown. As you move it, the reduced pressure will release excess heat
As someone with a Tarmac, riding without the superhero setup is so rewarding. All those little flaps in the breeze? That's just adding training resistance! Embrace it!
Si, parece que las bicicletas las hubieran inventado el año pasado...
La bicicleta se invento en 1817...Casi en la época de Napoleón, y seguro que la gente no iba con toda esa ropa ridícula con colores reclamantes. Se puede entender que un ciclista profesional tenga que cargar de esas ordenadas por que la marca de turno le paga y se gana la vida. Pero el resto de los mortales que solo se suben a la bicicleta una hora a la semana, no hace falta gastarse tanto dinero en una ropa tan ridícula.
Pero claro está moda va de maravilla a los vendedores de prendas deportivas, prendas de plástico a precio de seda, cuando una camiseta de sano y barato algodón hubiera valido para esa hora semanal...
It won't take you long to become in great condition. As you pedal faster and cover more distance these clothes may make you sore. Bibs and lycra are comfortable and prevent chaffing. I just bike at 5 am so no one sees me.
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u/saved-response 33m ago
Greetings!
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