Too often, “normal” is defined by what those masses of other people want and it keeps reminding me of that line from a Bruce Cockburn song, “…the trouble with normal is it always gets worse…”. You have defined it as what makes you feel good. That’s the bottom line, as well as turning the status quo on its head.

I can see how the word “normal” could rub someone the wrong way but that certainly doesn’t mean that what makes me feel normal is the same for everyone. I always encourage people to wear what they want and use the gear they want and the more options there are, the better. I agree that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for cyclists, nor should there be.

Personally, I don’t want to have to change the way I dress or what I am carrying because of how I want to get to work, whether that’s by walking, biking, driving or taking the bus. I would never wear a backpack or haul around a touring pannier if I wasn’t biking, so I needed a different solution. I know that backpacks and touring panniers work great for lots of people, and that’s great. They just don’t work for me.

Worrying about what to wear, or where to ride, or whether one’s act of bicycling to work and choice of clothing while on the bike, is acceptable to someone else, whether that someone else is or is not a cyclist, is confining and runs contrary to promoting cycling as liberating. Hence my analogy to cycling in a burqa, which has to be the world’s most stifling and un-liberating symbol of modern life (esp. for women), at least by our secular Western model.

What is riding a bike? Its simply riding a bike. The rest of the stuff is secondary and for most, optional. I don’t ride to work in lycra for any other reason than that it feels good to ride in lycra and to change into fresh work clothes at the office. Not to mention, it makes sense if my ride home from work is by way of every hill I can find. Well, I do make sure the jersey is a lot looser fitting than what I used to wear

Of course, it helps to be in a business made up primarily of coneheads, scientists, and other non-conformists. Rarely does a cyclist, even one dressed up like an industrial paint accident at a lycra plant (moi), get seriously razzed.

Vive la différence!

Its not clear to me why a cyclist wearing spandex is any more off-normal than a motorist in a yellow WRX or a red Porsche. Maybe cycling is the new normal and the choice between a pair of Assos bib knickers vs. George Hincapie’s subtle but effective cycling jeans is no different than choosing between a Guard’s Red Cayman or a dark blue Acura.

As far as baggage. Companies need to embrace cycling. The difference between Maria showing up with her “baggage” to stow and Maria’s colleague stowing a car in a 10×20 foot parking space is a fine point lost on me. I bet Maria is saving someone besides herself some money.

Seems there is a running subtext here lately. We are being encouraged to become “Copenhagenized”, i.e., ride slowly on bicycles, in our street clothing, on cycletracks, and forswear helmets. Sounds a little stifling to me. Kinda like a cycling equivalent of the burqa.In our quest to make cycling universally accessible, lets not also try to make it boring.

Well-said, Khal!