If you are a cycling enthusiast, you know that cycling isn’t just a mode of transportation, just a hobby, or even merely a form of exercise. Cycling enthusiasts understand that cycling is a way of life complete with its own philosophy and set of ethics. Cyclists are not just people who ride bicycles, they are a breed, a personality type. Cycling enthusiasts also know that good riding gear isn’t just the bike and every piece of gear and cycling wear serves a purpose specific to the sport from your helmet to your shoes.
What Is Cycling Gear?
When you are riding the wind on two wheels, what you’re wearing will affect the quality of your ride, and everything you wear serves two basic purposes: comfort and performance. The comfort of your gear isn’t just physical. It’s mental too, and knowing that you are wearing the best gear gives you satisfaction and peace of mind. Your helmet performs by protecting your head in a crash, it performs in in the way it feels, and it gives you comfort knowing you’re protected. Your socks and shoes serve their own purpose by keeping your feet comfortable, dry, warm, or cool depending on the weather, be it hot, cold, dry, or rainy. Your cycling jersey and pants or shorts perform by shedding the wind off of your body, wicking out perspiration, reducing friction and discomfort with your saddle, and protecting your skin in a fall, not to mention that they provide you with an outlet for expressing yourself.
Your Gear Is an Expression of Yourself
Appearance isn’t everything, but comfort is pretty high up on the list of things that matter to cyclists, and that goes for feeling good about what you’re wearing and feeling good to be wearing it. While you may not want to feel like you have to look good in order to feel good, and you shouldn’t, when you know that you look good you do feel good. Your gear doesn’t have to make you stand out to make you feel good, but it doesn’t hurt to wear a jersey and pants or shorts that make a unique statement about you and your style. When you pick out that jersey or those shorts or pants for the colder weather, don’t be afraid to find something that makes you feel good about yourself whether it’s a radical and colourful print or just plain and functional.
Make Sure It Fits Well
When you pick out your gear, make sure you can try it on if the merchant will let you because it’s more important that it fits well rather than just “fits.” A ride can get pretty frustrating when you’re constantly having to adjust your cycling wear or helmet straps and pads, or when your shoes don’t fit right. Not all merchants will let you try on their gear before you buy, so make sure you are absolutely certain about the sizes you choose or order and ask all the questions about fit, shrinkage, or stretching before you purchase.