MetaChat - This is why biking is good for your legs (Sartorialist link)

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17 August 2010

This is why biking is good for your legs (Sartorialist link) →[More:]

DISCLAIMER: Yes, I know she's not wearing a helmet.

Sartorialist even noted the fact that he'd love to see a well pulled-together and safety-conscious riding outfit, including a helmet that didn't look silly / dorky / out of place. Whatever.

I'd also like to leave aside the whole "objectification" debate, if I may.

As a woman who bikes, I love this woman, a lot. I celebrate her strength and moxie. I dig her shape that says "you don't have to resemble a bag of broomsticks to be drop-dead gorgeous". I am seethingly jealous of her lovely hair. I dig her cute little skirt, and slightly-scuffed-but-entirely-proper ballet flats (which match her cardigan in both style and colour), and most of all that awesomely practical, adorably comfy/savvy and correctly-fit city bike with the step-thru frame. I *heart* her purse, and the fact that she's got a bike basket for it to ride in. I fervently wish that on the best day of my life I looked even half as well put together and sexy as she does on that bike.

If I could articulate what I think of when I look at this photo (besides wanting a poster print of it for my livingroom, that is), I'd say that it gives me hope. I would like it if more people on this side of the pond had the knowledge and infrastructure available to them to treat riding a bike as this lady seems to: as a comfy, practical way to run errands around town, and not some Dangerous Extreme Sport, or some kind of Lifestyle Statement, or whatever. I think there are towns (Portland comes to mind) where this is becoming more the case every day.

yes, I realise that in many places in Western Europe, seeing a lovely girl riding a bike in heels and a skirt is an everyday, nay, multiple-times-per-commute occurrence. NYC, not so much, which is why this gives me hope.

This concludes your PSA for today.

post by: lonefrontranger at: 15:36 | 8 comments

Agreed, on every count. I am a woman who does not bike, but this picture rocks. And makes me want to bike.

posted by jeoc 17 August | 19:25

Gorgeous photo.

I would like it if more people on this side of the pond had the knowledge and infrastructure available to them to treat riding a bike as this lady seems to: as a comfy, practical way to run errands around town, and not some Dangerous Extreme Sport, or some kind of Lifestyle Statement, or whatever.

I wish it too, but I can't imagine ever feeling comfortable as a bike rider in NYC (never mind that I haven't ridden a bike in years). Being a pedestrian is scary enough!

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 17 August | 20:22

In other news, I can't read The Sartorialist, because I look at all the beautiful, well-dressed people and feel depressed about my lame wardrobe.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 17 August | 20:35

In other news, I can't read The Sartorialist, because I look at all the beautiful, well-dressed people and feel depressed about my lame wardrobe.

that's too bad, TPS. I love the Sartorialist because he takes photos of old people and young kids and folks of all shapes and walks of life who just happen to be rockin' some nifty style. It gives me inspiration that if I shine my shoes, choose good fabrics, and spend $20 to get a good piece properly tailored, that there's hope for even me.

posted by lonefrontranger 17 August | 22:13

For me, the Sartorialist might as well be taking picture of Mars. It's just so far from anything that I understand that I just sort of look at the pictures and say, "OK".

posted by octothorpe 17 August | 22:23

In other news, I can't read The Sartorialist, because I look at all the beautiful, well-dressed people and feel depressed about my lame wardrobe.

Word. It's a great picture, but sometimes the "look good on a bike" kudos (which I feel like are everywhere lately) just serve to give me yet another space where I feel like I have to look good. In other words, you mean to tell me I am supposed to also carefully select my outfits and such when I'm exercising? Is it ever ok to just dress functionally?

I'm generally not a fan of criticizing *anyone* that cycles, no matter what they're wearing. I commute to work by bike every day, and I'm clad in a helmet and clipless shoes/pedals and spandex, so I probably look like one of the Dangerous Extreme Sport cyclists we're all supposed to hate. But for me (riding almost 11 miles each way, and with access to showers and a locker room at work so I can get changed there), spandex and all that is more comfortable, functional, and just makes more sense. I have to fight the urge to try to be like another girl in my building that rides and that has a much shorter commute and wears all these cute hipster little denim skirts or short shorts or whatever and always looks adorable.

That's not to say I don't also just hop on my bike when I'm in jeans or whatever to go to a bar or run errands, but the majority of my miles are in padded shorts and a sports bra. I have bad tan lines (including ridiculous ones from my cycling gloves) and sweaty hair and zits on my forehead from the bike helmet. And that's ok too.

posted by misskaz 18 August | 09:34

For a while I was wearing ballet flats while biking. They came off my heel just like in the picture. Then my shoe flew off when a colleague opened her car door onto me. :(

(AND my front wheel is out of true)

posted by halonine 18 August | 10:41

I'm reminded of this flowchart.

posted by knile 22 August | 22:19

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