Not for me, my niece is doing an hour a day M-F and I suggested it might not be a bad idea buying a few pairs of cheap shorts from decathlon or somewhere. She’s pretty horrified at this idea, saying the other women just use running pants (though the men are all dressed for the Tour de France). I’ve never set foot inside a spinning gym, I admit, but I wouldn’t do an hour on the turbo in normal shorts. What’s the, ahem, crack?

Is she uncomfortable? If not, why bother?

They’re not really bikes, and there’s usually more standing than IRL/on the turbo.

She’s only been once so far. Maybe unnecessary then?

Depends how hard she’s hitting it.

Most women (#everydaysexism) put in no effort whatsoever at the spinning classes I go to, so the type of clothes are pretty much irrelevant. They could do their workout wrapped in a 2,000 tog duvet and not overheat.

If she’s actually trying to get a decent workout though, then I find proper shorts a lot more comfortable as they don’t rub when they get sweaty.

Exercise bikes and spinning classes give cycling a bad name. Really; they must put more people off cycling than bad weather and traffic.