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Cycling Clothes Defy Attempts to Move from Function to FashionAs sports gear goes, biking paraphernalia is not particularly fashionable.
This is underscored during the current Tour de France, starring Lance Armstrong.
Unlike so many other sports, in which form has become as important as function, cycling clothes have remained mostly immune to the allure of ready-to-wear trendiness.
Thus far, no one has witnessed a top cyclist in a time trial wearing a leather-look unitard.
There do not appear to be any do-rags hanging from beneath riding helmets.
There is nothing particularly attractive about cycling shorts, with their strategically placed chamois panels, and the problem with bike jerseys -- with their moisture-wicking capabilities, aerodynamic fit and back pockets for water bottles or energy gel packets -- is that they function as billboards.
There can be an unseemly number of brightly colored logos on a relatively small piece of spandex.
The only time bike clothes entice the eye is when they are worn by actual cyclists engaged in their sport.
As their powerful legs churn and their lean torsos bend low over the handlebars to cut better through the air, cyclists speed by in a rainbow-colored gust of wind. In those moments, they look like beautiful, graceful, high-velocity birds.
more: www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar... (293)
July 8, 2005 | Viewed 28,876 time(s)
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