first of all, where i live, the temps are in the 80s during our rides. i ride once a month with an informal cycling group, no pros. all cool guys. the ride leader is a cool, nice guy.
i’m often the only triathlete that rides with the group and have been riding with them on and off for about a year.
why today, does he decide to require that i wear a shirt for all future rides? i asked him this, telling him it’s hot and i like to ride shirtless. he replied that it’s a “safety issue and about decorum.”
i agree with you and in the future i will wear a shirt. but i just wanted to know what the real reason is. one of my friends that rode with me today says the leader is jealous because he’s not ripped like me (seriously).
but i will comply with his rule. why didn’t he tell me this over a year ago when i first started riding with the group? shirtless?
Wow! Riding shirtless. For some reason that strikes me as hilarious. Maybe it’s a Canadian thing - I have never seen someone riding shirtless here, even on hot summer days. It always amazes me how many race photos I see from events in Forida, Texas, etc where lots of the men are wearing no shirts. Maybe I’ll try it this afternoon (it’s currently a little over freezing, raining buckets).
one of my friends that rode with me today says the leader is jealous because he’s not ripped like me (seriously).
I just LOVE your posts…seriously
“Ripped like me” … good stuff. I’d pay to have the transcripts from those group rides : )
please explain the “decorum” thing. i can’t even understand the “safety” issues of not wearing a shirt. he was going on about visibility. well, i have a few black tri shirts i used to wear that aren’t very visible.
is this some obscure roadie requirement that goes along with shaving?
Sure, it is about decorum. But it is also sensible. If you know of any triathlete who is recovering from melanoma, ask him/her whether you should wear a shirt. I wish I had the sense to wear a shirt when we as lifeguards spent over eight hours a day in the sun (then our only ‘protection’ was baby oil mixed with a iodine).
Perhaps I am overly sensitive from a visit to the dermatologist two days ago where two more basal cell cancers were detected.
if you c-r-a-s-h-e-d, think of the road rash. Think of your skin rubbing and tearing across pavement… yeeeeooooow!
I still have a mark on my skin from where I crashed/road rash last summer, and I had a long sleeve shirt on. It looks like a birthmark… without the shirt it probably would’ve been a whole lot worse.
