[Closed] Does it happen to all of us eventually?

There won’t be any lycra going on, obviously (nobody deserves to see that),

They all say that...

I had one in my 40's, after being knocked off 3 times I sold it.

60 now and won't be going back 🙂

E bike in a few years time, after ridiculing them mercilessly in the past.

This is how it starts!

Once you realise how quickly you can get out and back and you don't need to clean your bike abd kit and drive then it all makes sense.

Then you decide that you need road cycling kit and none of your mtb kit is suitable.

Then you get into marginal gains and before you know, you've gone full pkw and everybody knows you should never go full pkw

Happened to me 6/7 years ago. Swore I wouldn’t wear Lycra. Obvs, now I won’t ride on the road without it..

They all say that…

There really won't. I'm possessed with enough self-awareness not to leave the house looking like a sex offender.

I don't eat cake either

And all rides will still be ending at the pub, not a coffee shop

I'm not really cut out for this, am I?

I put some road tyres on my gravel bike, (for the turbo trainer ;))

I did consider buying a road bike to be honest, then realised that I much prefer riding off the beaten track and doing silly stuff, so I bought a Stanton Frame and I'm building that into a bike instead.

My wife bought me one. Quite a nice one. I was trying to keep up with her on my mtb, it didnt take long before that was not possible.

I hate riding it on UK roads, too much traffic and crap road conditions. Even in the Cotswolds its only just OK. God knows how people put up with the traffic in busier parts of the UK. However, we did some riding in the Dolomites and Corsica and it was good there. Empty roads, climbs that took 4 hrs and views that were amazing.

But I would rather ride my MTB. I enjoy spending the time with my wife riding and its a good alternative to the spin bike when the off road trails are under water.

But I still ride in baggies and often take my camelbak.

If my wife didnt have a road bike then I wouldnt be riding one.

Yes... but only VERY short term... I've owned 4 now...

I've never done more than 5 rides on any of them before selling.

I don't mind riding on the roads, i don't mind long road rides, i don't mind traffic.

I bloody hate riding road bikes though.

Nowdays it's a HT on semi slicks and baggies 🙂

I was expecting an Al Bundy thread.

The ageing process takes a terrible toll on us. MrsPJM assures me that if I turn a bit Daily Mail with age she'll book me in to one of those nice weekend breaks in Switzerland, apparently I don't need to pay for a return ticket.

I'm not sure how to bring up the subject of road bikes with her though.

You will look more of an idiot in baggies on a road bike than you will in lycra 🙂

You will look more of an idiot in baggies on a road bike than you will in lycra

That's open to opinion for sure.

@binners the roads around Rammy are not great for road biking right now - not just the degraded surface, but more the 18 inch wide strip of deep leaf and runoff goo in every gutter narrowing the road and the clearance for traffic. Let Spring come round before you judge.

And the answer to your title question is "yes" (assuming you are asking whether everyone who gets a road bike and swears off lycra caves in eventually).

You will look more of an idiot in baggies on a road bike than you will in lycra

I seriously doubt that Molls.

I don't care, anyway. I'm not leaving the house wearing lycra. Simple as that. I don't think anyone should, if I'm honest. In fact, in a lot of cases it should be a criminal offence

51 now - have never ridden a road bike and never will. Mtb, singlespeed, ebikes all good with me - but road bike - just not my cup of tea I’m afraid... Good luck to you though if it will increase your enjoyment all’s good!

I tried lycra. I felt like I was in a dream, the sort of dream you have where you turn up to work in your underpants as you forgot to put your trousers on.

Also, they have no pockets. So I had to bring my camelbak along.

The whole aero thing makes me laugh. You can spend loads on a road bike where they make it all aero, even the wheels and spokes. Forgetting that there is a fat un-aerodynamic middle aged bloke sat ontop of it.

@savoyad - I'll bear that in mind, cheers. I'm planning on using it for the commute as I'm working over in Horwich at the moment. Not in any mad rush to start, to be honest. I was planning on waiting until we've a bit more light, as I'm not keen on the idea of riding on the roads in the dark, given the percentage of absolute bell ends in cars who's stupidity could potentially kill me

I’m not leaving the house wearing lycra. Simple as that.

Trans. I will only wear lycra on the turbo to start with.

No and I cant see it happening, our daughter wanted a gravel bike so had to buy her own and its not stored with the proper bikes. 😉

Gravel bikes provide the alternative 🙂
Also never seen in lycra, but still people make hilarious jokes about it! Cyclist! Lycra! HAHAHA! It's a wonderful world full of wonderful people! I'm delirious.

You won't like it - you have to stay on the left.......

I love riding a road bike*, I just don't like riding them very much on roads near where I live, I.a. in Leeds. Lakes, Yorkshire Dales, Peaks, Alps, Pyrenees it's amazing. Especially on a warm summers day. Lycra is sooo comfy as well. Even for my 43 year old, 100kg, 36" waist frame....

My commute will stay predominantly off road on my gravel bike though. Still nice and fast but much less nob heads.

*MTB will always be best though.

However, we did some riding in the Dolomites and Corsica and it was good there.

I’ve only driven, not ridden, in Corsica, but even from inside a tin box the native driving was pretty terrifying.

Lovely roads, proper scary drivers.

road tyres on my gravel bike

denial

I've got into it increasingly over the last year or so. Mainly for the convenience and general fitness, but I do enjoy taking the bike to the lakes or bowland and doing a big day out as well.

No need for lycra, got some well fitting baggies (plenty of pockets) and a padded under short, perfectly comfortable and don't flap about. A close fitting top is a good idea though.

I have just ordered some SPD's though, don't know how I'm going to get on with them having never ridden clipped in.

Plus I've entered the ronde van calderdale 😲 Bitten off more than i can chew there I reckon.

I tried lycra. I felt like I was in a dream, the sort of dream you have where you turn up to work in your underpants as you forgot to put your trousers on.

Also, they have no pockets. So I had to bring my camelbak along.

Pockets are in the jersey, and that's the perfect place for them. You're not carrying much anyway.

Lycra is the right tool for the job. It take time have the confidence to stroll into pubs and cafes wearing it, I'll give you that, but eventually, if you ride road enough, you'll succumb, and then you'll start to question why you don't wear it on the MTB.

Welcome to the dark side.

Go ride a bike on roads or paths, or trails. Don't concern yourself over what the bike is called, or what you're wearing as long as its comfortable and keeps you dry/warm/protected.

All the rest is just about how you view yourself by comparison to other people. It's nonsense. Ride fast and far, or bimble and dawdle. Your choice to make, on a different day.

I have bikes. Lots of bikes. Thin tyres, big tyres, suspension or not. A bike for all occasions: they're all still just a bike.

No and I cant see it happening, our daughter wanted a gravel bike so had to buy her own and its not stored with the proper bikes. 😉
Posted 26 minutes ago

Proper lol!

It take time have the confidence to stroll into pubs and cafes wearing it, I’ll give you that, but eventually, if you ride road enough, you’ll succumb, and then you’ll start to question why you don’t wear it on the MTB.

He probably rides an aero bike though.

and then you’ll start to question why you don’t wear it on the MTB.

No, I really won't.

you’ll succumb, and then you’ll start to question why you don’t wear it on the MTB.

Nope, never have never will.
Once upon a time we all used to think clips & straps, caliper brakes, skinny wheels, long stems, QRs... etc etc etc were suitable for MTBing too..

You can spend loads on a road bike where they make it all aero, even the wheels and spokes. Forgetting that there is a fat un-aerodynamic middle aged bloke sat on top of it.

I know this is all being discussed in a light-hearted way, but I think the whole point is that those of us whose body shape contradicts the function of the beautiful aero bike between our legs, keep using the bike until there is no longer any contradiction.

If it wasn't for my road bike(s), I would be seriously obese. When my dad died in 2015, I was 95kgs. And while I am again too heavy for my liking (85kgs), the bike has meant I have been a svelte 76kgs. And when I am at that low on the scales, I don't feel at all embarrassed in lycra.

Surely that's the whole point of gravel bikes. You can buy yourself a road bike but still kid yourself that you are a gnarly off road dude at heart because just occasionally you leave the road for a moment. Worked for me anyway 🙂

I'm about as likely to leave the house in a ball gown as lycra roady gear. It's just not happening, because I'd look equally as ridiculous in both

Get ready to be shocked at how hard a road bike is to pedal uphill

Then you get into marginal gains and before you know, you’ve gone full pkw

I've never associated pkw with marginal gains.

Anyway, you'll be clad in lycra as soon as you realise how flappy MTB gear is at road speeds, and how pointless it is to pretend you still identify as a roadie.

Footnote: 'PKW' is?

Binners, I feel exactly the same. I'm picking up my first road bike at the weekend, I've not told my riding buddies yet and am wondering how long I can keep it from them. Or if they'll still associate with me after the discovery. I wouldn't blame them.

Definitely with you on the lycra, at least they'll be 2 of us in baggies out there

well fitting baggies

denial

it's just bike riding and I'm always happy when riding a bike.

Footnote: ‘PKW’ is?

Pro Kit Wa...lly*

*word changed for innocenct eyes.

I don’t eat cake either and all rides will still be ending at greggs, not a coffee shop

Binners, I fixed this for you

I'm in the same boat - ended up with a road bike about 5 years ago. Living in a part of the country that is inherently crap for mountain biking, it was becoming more of an effort to get out riding.

I use the road bike to get out during the week & it is good at what it does. I just think of it as training and exercise - it's not that often I come back from a road ride thinking how enjoyable it was; like I generally would do with a mountain bike ride. But, again that is probably a result of living in pretty much the flattest part of the country & not having the greatest scenery (bar the fantastic sunrises/sunsets...).
There's also the convenience factor of not having to clean all the mud off the bike & associated clothes/shoes etc.

Never mind all the lycra nonsense Binners ,what bike have you got?
🙂

I like a gentle ride in the hills & quiet countryside on my road bike as a de-stress every now & again. Sometimes its just nice to spin the pedals and not spend half an hour washing sh1t off your gear. I don't use it that much, but I'm glad to have a road bike.

Always wore lycra on mountain bikes, cos the whole gang of us always have, so no issues there for me.

Lycra ain't the best look, and im unlikely to pop to shops in it. But If you are going on a longish road ride where any kind if speed is involved I'd definitely be wearing it. It's not that it makes you go faster, it's that it doesn't flap around. If I'm going for a Pootle on the gravel bike then obviously this isn't an issue.

Addressing the no pockets..there are pockets on jersey, and you can use a saddle bag. I have no idea what you'd need to bring on a road ride that required a backpack. That said I have no idea why people on mtbs can't venture outside for 90 min without carrying one either.

It’s weird that as a 47 year old roadie and mtb’er my wife takes the mickey out of me more when I’m in my baggies. She thinks I look like an old man trying to dress young (ala Kevin the teenager)
Whereas she thinks I look decent in lycra. Then again I’m 67kgs....
(This place is weird, I remember a thread a year or so ago with similar comments to Trimax’s about roadies having 6kg bikes but all being overweight). Very strange. I have a 6.5kg bike and an aero bike.
Damascus, what’s this about not cleaning the bike and kit after every ride?? Blasphemous!
Saxonrider PKW is Pro Kit Banker (obviously replace the B) It’s a roadie thing, if you’ve not been paid to wear it, you’ve not earned the right....most people couldn’t give a flying fig but for some they find it amusing.

He probably rides an aero bike though.

That's just the roadie equivalent of those of you who went out and bought a 150mm+ trail or endure bike and live nowhere near anything vaguely MTBish. (Yeah, sure, it gets used once a year in the Alps and for those regular trips to Wales that you make every month. Or three times a year, or whatever. Other than that, you traipse around Swinley, Cannock or Sherwood Pines on it.)

😀

Never mind all the lycra nonsense Binners, what bike have you got?

A Trek Madone 3. It's new to me. A few years old but in great nick. In fact, its absolutely pristine. Road bikes don't get the same punishment as mountain bikes, do they?

I do worry about the combination of slender, lightweight carbon frame and my pie and beer fuelled bulk

my wife takes the mickey out of me more when I’m in my baggies.

Mine gets disconcerted when I* put arm and legwarmers n before bibshorts and shirt. I have now overshared. Not that I've been on a roadbike since September.

(*Yours loves it, obv)

I've a road bike, but it's almost exclusively for indoor rollers. While I quite like the idea of a nice summer ride on it, the same conditions that make a road ride nice are the same conditions that make a mtb ride nice, and at that pont there's  no competition

I’m about as likely to leave the house in a ball gown as lycra roady gear. It’s just not happening, because I’d look equally as ridiculous in both

You'll look ridiculous in baggies on a road bike. You'll look ridiculous in baggies on a mountain bike. You'll look ridiculous whatever you wear on whatever bike. All cyclist look ridiculous and anyone who thinks they don't is wrong.

one the nice things about road riding is it's generally less faff than mountain bike both before and after a ride.

And all rides will still be ending at the pub, not a coffee shop

Whereas a nice cold beer at a country pub halfway round a sunny road (/Grrrravel) ride is quite nice.

Road bikes don’t get the same punishment as mountain bikes, do they?

Mine does as I also ride it off road all year round and the last few months of rain have the bike and me being covered in mud every ride.

All cyclist look ridiculous and anyone who thinks they don’t is wrong.

While this is indeed true, there are degrees of ridiculousness. And there is a point where ridiculous crosses a line into visually offensive. the sight of me in lycra would most definitely fall into that category.

The sight of pretty most anyone in lycra is firmly in that category, but some are more self-aware than others 🙂

A Trek Madone 3. It’s new to me. A few years old but in great nick. In fact, its absolutely pristine.

Nice one.

You're lucky Binners, staying in a lovely area with those 'flexible' working hours,you can suit yourself when to go for a pootle.
I think you'll get hooked. 🙂

While this is indeed true, there are degrees of ridiculousness. And there is a point where ridiculous crosses a line into visually offensive. the sight of me in lycra would most definitely fall into that category.

The sight of pretty most anyone in lycra is firmly in that category, but some are more self-aware than others 🙂

Who really cares what you look like? As someone said up the thread, it's about the best clothes for the job. I find Lycra to be more comfortable for longer road rides - less seams to dig-in or chafe, and also the flapping issue. Never really had a hang-up about Lycra, as "back in the day" plenty
of mountain bikers wore it too

A Trek Madone 3.

Pronounce it "mad one" if anyone asks.

Don't bother with the intermediate step of lycra shorts and shirt Binners, just make the

Baggies ➡ one piece aero skinsuit

in a single hop.

"I’m about as likely to leave the house in a ball gown. . ."

Who really cares what you look like?

Me. Not to any kind of serious degree. Just to the sartorial level where people don't point at me and burst into hysterical fits of laughter

Never really had a hang-up about Lycra, as “back in the day” plenty of mountain bikers wore it too

I didn't. And I'm not about to start now

Don’t bother with the intermediate step of lycra shorts and shirt Binners, just make the

Baggies ➡ one piece aero skinsuit

in a single hop.

Plus a nice hat to complete the outfit.

There won’t be any lycra going on, obviously (nobody deserves to see that), but is this a natural side-effect of the ageing process that you just have to accept?

Just go on Zwift where no-one can see your bulging Lycra and everyone's avatar is a paradigm of muscular perfection. Over 100kg with a pot belly and bingo wings like a wingsuit flyer? No problem, on Zwift you'll look like Anthony Joshua 🙂

It happened to me. It didn't last. The roads are a scary, spikey place to be. See you back on the trails in a year or so.

Embrace the Lycra. It makes a real difference. I just bought some cold weather bibs and a jacket from Decathlon and it is amazing how comfortable a 60mile ride can be.

Boris Johnson and Jeremy corbyn have road bikes binners.
Just saying.

The whole aero thing makes me laugh. You can spend loads on a road bike where they make it all aero, even the wheels and spokes. Forgetting that there is a fat un-aerodynamic middle aged bloke sat ontop of it.

It is possible to lose the fat. What would you wear to play football, or cricket, or golf or...? You get the idea.

I bought a road bike, used it for the Ride to the Sun, hung it up for 6 months then sold it. And I sold the lycra too.

Still need to sell my roadie helmet too.

Your dead to me.

Footnote: ‘PKW’ is?

FKW spelled incorrectly?

I do worry about the combination of slender, lightweight carbon frame and my pie and beer fuelled bulk

Nice - just don't even think about giving those seatstays a gentle squeeze between thumb and forefinger, or you'll be too scared to ride it

Trek Madone 3

Oh, you'll enjoy the geometry on that, nice race geom rather than sportive. Hope you are flexible and have a strong core.

By 'flexible', do you mean wobbly?

I rode mountain bikes for nigh-on 30 years before my (then 8 year old) son started to want to do road riding some 3 years ago. He had the first road bike in the garage, but mountain bikes just weren't cutting the mustard for me riding with him and his friends, so I bought my first shortly after stating that I would never, ever go down the road-cyclist route.

Well, 3 years have now passed and while my son and I still own (and ride) our mountain bikes, 90% of our time in the saddle is now on drop-bars. The bike store itself is testament to this - one MTB hanging up for each of us, but there are far more skinny-tyred bikes hung up on the dark side of the room...

And lycra? Yup, wear it every ride and wouldn't consider doing otherwise. I even wear the same kit for MTB now, with the addition of a pair of baggy shorts as a nod to my former life, but like so many others have concluded before me, there's a reason why cyclists wear such bloody awful looking clothing!

The rides are quite different - MTB is now more relaxed with more titting about, where the road rides tend to be a "get on the bike and ride for several hours" sort of rides, but I enjoy both and gain a lot of satisfaction from their very different fitness requirements.

I quite like enjoying debunking the prejudices of both sides of the cycling world too. Mountain bikers can be very fit indeed, but often seem to struggle on the continuous endurance of the road bike (unless they are marathon riders in the first place, of course!). Also, you'd assume that a mountain biker would be a more skilled bike handler, but anyone who's ever watched a mountain biker trying to hold a wheel during their first group ride will confirm, there's more to it than you'd expect. And if you've ever watched a road rider at a bike park.... 🙂

Get out there and ride and don't worry about what or where you ride. Enjoy it all!

@Esme: Nice! You don't post for months, then have me searching for the mind bleach! 🙂

I'm 60 and I've got a singlespeed, a hardtail, a trail bike, a gravel bike, a Brompton and a road bike. They're all great, because bikes are great. My favourite is usually the one I'm riding at the time. At one time or another I've worn Lycra on all of them, because Lycra is sensible attire for riding a bike. So @binners, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.

I’m 60 and I’ve got a singlespeed, a hardtail, a trail bike, a gravel bike, a Brompton and a road bike.

Your username is a lie. Where is the unicycle?