On Cycling

Slack Blog: “The key to embarking on the journey to an urban cycling life starts with promptly ignoring Captain Spandex and his merry band of avid cyclists. Instead, seek out like-minded individuals who just get on with it and ask for advice about routes. Get a bike — any old bike — and start practicing. On weekends, in the evenings, to get your head around it. Astronauts need fancy gear and training. The rest of us just need practice and encouragement.”

The piece linked above gives great advice to anyone commuting to work on a bicycle, but I love the paragraph I pasted above. There is one thing about Americans that always feels funny when it comes to cycling. I see folks out on their really expensive bikes outfitted with spandex and all the fancy gear for their commute and I wonder why? European bike culture is so far ahead of ours and most commuters wear their work clothes when they ride. Oh, they also tend to ride very simple bicycles. Why is that?

Would you wear a full fireproof suit, helmet, five point harness to drive to work? Not likely. Why get all duded up for a bike commute?