My Concessions to the Bicycle

In the past, I've expressed my view that an effective transportation bicycle is one that "allows us to be ourselves" - meaning that we should not have to change the way we dress or lead our lives in order to ride it. Recently a reader called me on this, asking the following (edited) question over email:

You write that you do not believe in compromising personal style when it comes to cycling for transportation and I am wondering just how far you take this idea. Have you really never made any compromises in your wardrobe in order to commute by bike? 

That is a good point, and I did not mean to imply that I never compromise on my clothing choices in order to cycle for transportation.

For one thing, I have stopped wearing high heels since I began cycling. While I know that many women find it perfectly natural to cycle in heels and I admire this ability, I myself cannot do it in a way that makes me feel safe and comfortable. I was willing to give up heels, because my relationship with them was already waning - the bike was simply the last straw. Throughout my late teens and all of my twenties, I pretty much wore 3-3.5" heels all the time. In fact, my body got so trained to the resulting posture, that my lower back would hurt when I would attempt to wear flat shoes! The wisdom of having done that for so many years is a separate topic, but either way - I somehow grew out of it, or maybe just became more messy/natural over time, and gradually lost the addiction to towering footwear. My point being, that by the time I gave them up altogether in order to feel safe on my bicycle, it no longer felt like a sacrifice. 10 or even 5 years ago it would have been a problem, but not now.

Another wardrobe adjustment since I began cycling, has been my choice of skirts. I wear almost exclusively skirts and dresses, and they vary in design. I have always favoured "a-line" styles, which flare out at the bottom, over "pencil" styles, which fit tightly around the knees. I do own a couple of pencil skirts and skirt-suits that I am fond of, but I cannot wear them on a bicycle at all, as they constrain both my pedaling and my ability to mount the bike. Hiking the skirt up does help, but it wrinkles the fabric, shows my underpants to the world, and is just generally too much hassle for me. So I have mostly stopped wearing pencil skirts, favouring a-line, pleated, flared, fluted and full styles instead. I also cannot wear super-mini skirts on a bike, because somehow the hem tends to catch on the back of the saddle when I dismount. Again, not really a huge sacrifice, as I've mostly stopped wearing mini skirts anyway.

And finally, on the hottest days of summer, I seldom wear solid pastel colours since I started cycling - especially blouses - because they show sweat stains. Instead, I opt for florals, paisleys, stripes, or some other pattern that disguises sweating. It's a useful trick for cycling in extreme heat and humidity while still wearing work clothing.

While I do make some compromises in the way I dress in order to ride a bicycle comfortably, I feel that they are relatively minor and don't sacrifice my sense of individuality. It's one thing for someone like me to stick to a-line skirts and to stop wearing high heels when I was already in the process of abandoning them. But it would be another thing to suddenly start wearing pants, sneakers and neon windbreakers in order to commute on a diamond frame roadbike. It's basically a difference between making compromises "within your stylistic comfort zone" vs. changing your style entirely. So the next question is: What if wearing high heels is super-important to someone and they view it as a crucial part of their identity, yet they cannot cycle in heels? Well, if they are absolutely unwilling to give up the heels, they have two options really: to make an extra effort to get comfortable cycling in them, or to choose other transportation options. Riding a bike is not for everyone and it can't be forced if other priorities overshadow the desire to cycle.

But on a separate note, it is worth considering that style evolves. Our choice of clothing is a function of how we live our lives, and the way we dress can change over time - influenced by a myriad of factors. Who is to say that cycling cannot be one of them? I am curious to see how something like that would play out in the wardrobe of, say, a corporate lawyer or a diplomat. Could be interesting!