One of the misconceptions that kept me off a bike for a long time is that you have to be an athlete with buns of steel in order to be a cyclist.The biggest perpetuators of this myth are athletes with buns of steel, which makes it difficult for us buns-of-oatmeal types to get a word in without feeling inferior. Case in point: My triathlete compadre, Team Fast Lane head coach Scott Kelly. It’s certainly not that my friend would ever deliberately make anyone feel inferior, but he’s not a commuter. He gets on his bike to work out and compete. For getting around, he’s in his Honda. He and I talked this morning before he set up at the Outdoor Retailers show in Salt Lake City.

Scott wears Skins compression wear on his bike, and he can pull this off, even at the age of…well, much older than I. That said, they leave nothing to the imagination. They are not the kind of thing in which I would want to appear at the office or in a restaurant. Even if my buns were much more metal than they are today, it’s just not appropriate. Lycra is for races. What’s a commuter to do?

Enter the urban cyclist. That’s what I am–am urban cyclist. Apparently I’m a growing market. Good to know. An urban cyclist rides her townie to the grocery store and the laundromat and the office. She goes into these places and needs to be appropriately dressed. This is especially important when commuting to work. She also needs not to be walking around bowlegged either from bulky butt padding or from riding around with nothing at all. Oh, and sometimes, the urban cyclist is a he.

I’ve been perusing ads for skorts and padded skivvies in preparation for spring, and I have a few ideas. Skorts are good for errands, but the unpadded variety will leave me saddle sore. A knit dress can be pulled on over the lycra after a more serious ride, but that still leaves me exposed during my trip and may have me frightening my colleagues in the office unless I put it on outside. What about shoes? Helmet hair? And what about carrying all this stuff?

These are the questions, I find, that keep people driving. I invite your comments about what you have tried on your commute, both the successes and the failures. Do you wear cycling gear under your office clothes? Change when you get to work? March around in the stretchy stuff? When next we meet our heroes, I will have more recommendations, stories, product reviews, and hopefully further progress toward a galvanized behind.

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