Thursday, January 4, 2007

The Black Badge of Courage

Bicycle commuting is hard on trousers.  The inside of the right leg of every pair of pants I own eventually looks like this:



100_1196_2



Some looke even worse.  Some of my pants have distinct chain ring prints, others have little tears in the cuffs from chain ring teeth, a few have matching grease stains on the left leg from our tandem, but they all have some sort of black stain down near my ankle.  I buy my pants at thrift stores because I can't bear it when an expensive pair gets stained.  Some of these stains are so bad my own mother is ashamed of me.  She says she didn't raise her son to dress like a hobo. 



I call these stains Black Badges of Courage.   They are preventable, but I think subconsciously I like having them there.  They give me a subtle but macho sense of pride that I find mildly satisfying.   They're a permanent reminder of the battle bicycle commuters bravely fight every day.  You can even find us bragging about them, and showing them off, amongst ourselves. 



I could wear cycling clothes on my commute, and then change when I get to work.  That would be an easy way to keep my pants clean, but it's a terrible idea. Dressing in lycra for your commute tells passing motorists that you're hard core, a pedalhead out for a training ride.  There are worse things to be called, but that's not the point.  Your co-workers will believe that your special wardrobe is a prerequisite to commuting by bicycle, and when they see you retreat to the bathrooms every morning to change your clothes they'll decide that bicycle commuting is too much of an inconvenience. 



You should dress like an ordinary person for your commute.  The clothes you wear on your bike should be the same clothes you wear at work.  The only exceptions are a helmet and some sort of high visibility jacket.   You'll also need something to keep your right pant leg from flapping around in the chain.   I've been using the same metal clip for this for eleven years.  It was a gift from a friend.  It works really well, but only if I remember to put it on. 



When passing motorists see me on my commute they see a guy in khakis and a casual shirt and think "He's one of us, only he's on a bike.  Gee, that looks like fun.  Maybe I should try that."   See, it's that simple to share the commuting message and you just might earn a Black Badge of Courage. 



3 comments:

  1. I agree with the idea, but I will continue to wear my lycra on the daily commute. I have worn civilian clothes for commuting, but each time I end up with in-grown hairs that make me wonder how much of an inconvenience the changing clothes really is. I wish I could do it because I like your ideas, but there's no way!

    ReplyDelete
  2. @sans
    To support the cause you could wear lycsa under your khakies

    ReplyDelete