Apparently I’m still stuck in the 1990s when it comes to the mountain bike gear I own – I ride a 1999 hardtail Trek 7000, I rock fingerless gloves, and I still wear lycra bike shorts on trail rides. Gross, I know but I guess I wasn’t paying attention when mountain bikers decided to go baggy and full fingered.
Scott Condon wrote about his own upgrade from lycra to baggy shorts (with built in spandex) on The Vail Trail recently and I realized I must be one of the last to make the switch. In the early days of mountain biking dudes wore jeans and flannel out on the trail; in the 1990s riders became more sophisticated and roadies who crossed over brought lycra shorts to the scene. Today it seems the downhill and freeride guys dictate the fashion and I for one support the move to baggy shorts.
Lately I’ve been wearing nylon shorts over my spandex and it’s been working pretty well. The only complaint I have is that my outer shorts get caught under my seat nose after getting back in the saddle after a steep descent. I suppose baggy shorts made specifically for biking take this into consideration somehow, I’m just too cheap to buy anything official yet.
The road cyclists seem to be holding onto spandex and lycra for now so I guess I’ll hold on to all my tight shorts and jerseys for (infrequent) road rides. We asked singletracks users what they wear when they ride and here are the results (more than 100 responses total):
37% Baggy shorts plus t-shirt
25% Baggy shorts plus jersey
24% Spandex plus cycling jersey
7% Gym/workout clothes
6% Other
4% Jeans and flannel
Okay, so I’m not alone in wearing spandex on the trail but it’s becoming less common. What do you wear when you ride?
