. What if my bike broke down for some reason and I had to wait for a couple hours in Corinth for her to come get me? I did not want to do that in stretchy lycra.
When I first got my road bike, I was opposed to cycling clothes on principle. They seemed frivolous and, well, they were made of lycra, which real men didn’t wear. I tried mountain bike shorts. For those uninitiated to bike fashion, road bike shorts are the tight-fitting lycra or spandex jobs with padding where it counts, while mountain bike shorts are more like normal-looking shorts with padding where it counts hidden underneath.
In time I found the reason not many people wore mountain bike shorts for hours on end while pedaling a bicycle: The extra fabric bunches up after a while and chafes in places you don’t want chaffing. (I’m probably getting “real man” demerits for whining about chafing)
When I tried on my first pair of real, disturbingly tight bike shorts in the store, I was amazed by the padding, but also looked in the mirror and instantly regretted every cookie I had ever eaten. Cycling shorts: they’re comfortable, they’re funny looking and they’re a great appetite suppressant.