In some cases, these definitions may be all too true (think the guy who went out and bought a Madone in Discovery colors, a full Tour de France yellow\u00a0Discovery kit and rides down the local multi-use trail at 5\u00a0MPH once a month) but in many cases, I contend that such anger is misplaced. \u00a0There are a few times, however that being a fred is just plain fun, and a few times it's outright rude or inexcusable.<\/p>\n
The “fred” situation<\/h2>\n
Pulp Fiction introduced us to “The Bonnie Situation” which, in short refers to a condition in which you find yourself engaging in something that could spell disaster should a third party actually witness you doing it. \u00a0In a way, this is much like a 15-year-old surfing unscrupulous internet material and hoping his mother doesn't wander in to put away the laundry, but the same treatment can be applied to engaging in “fred” type behavior.<\/p>\n
Depending on the rider, how closely they stick to tradition or even how daring a personality they are, you'll hear many different arguments both for and against the use of different pieces of kit. \u00a0Velominati, in particular, has several thoughts on this.<\/a> \u00a0“Wear what you want” is a common theme, involving supporting your favorite team, matching your kit to your bike or simply liking the design of a particular bit of kit you may have in your closet. \u00a0Similarly, there are definitely folks on the other side of the fence saying “don't wear it if you didn't win it” for national or world champion jerseys, or “if you're not on the team, don't wear it” with respect to pro team wear. \u00a0And since there are valid arguments on both sides of the fence, it falls to you to exercise some caution and<\/p>\n Similarly, there are definitely folks on the other side of the fence saying “don't wear it if you didn't win it” for national or world champion jerseys, or “if you're not on the team, don't wear it” with respect to pro team wear. \u00a0And since there are valid arguments on both sides of the fence, it falls to you to exercise some caution and judgment while choosing your kit for the day. \u00a0The degree to which you go to avoid any potential cycling fred situation is only as deep as your own care for others' opinions of you.<\/p>\n I typically only consider the “Fred Situation” each time I sort through my substantial closet, attempting to choose my kit for an impending ride. \u00a0These days, it's not so hard: I generally either ride in our current team strip, a Vie13 house kit<\/a>\u00a0or one of our old team kits. \u00a0In the past, there were significant times when I could consider joining the ranks of the cycling freds. \u00a0Actually, pawing through my closet today reminds me that I still have a large potential to fred at any given time: \u00a0there's the Irish, Luxembourg, Swiss, Belgian and British national champion jerseys, the Kelly Benefit jersey, Garmin and Radioshack jerseys, Colavita, Kenda, and other continental team jerseys, and of course, the local shop kits all hanging side by side. \u00a0But even with all these potential train wrecks looming close at hand, applying a little common sense and humility can prevent any snickers, smirks or outright ridicule on your next ride.<\/p>\n To prevent yourself from unknowingly jumping into a “Fred Situation” ask yourself the following: WHO<\/strong><\/em> (am I riding with,) WHAT<\/strong><\/em> (kind of ride am I doing,) and WHY<\/strong><\/em> (am I going on this ride.)<\/p>\n What<\/strong><\/em> kind of ride you're embarking upon is the single most important thing to consider. \u00a0Group rides can be\u00a0dangerous places to bring out your fancy kit: the potential to step on someone's toes is higher, especially if it's a training ride of some kind. \u00a0It would be embarrassing to show up in a US national champion kit, only to have a US National Champion on the ride with you. \u00a0But knowing the group well can afford you the ability to show up in said\u00a0US Champions kit and get a compliment or two, or a good natured ribbing, depending on your group. \u00a0There are some places where strict rules must be followed, however; do not EVER<\/span> show up at a sanctioned race in anything other than team kit or plain kit. \u00a0Not only is it poor etiquette\u00a0to show up at a race sporting a national or world champion jersey, it is often illegal and could get you DQed from the race. \u00a0If you didn't win it, don't wear it. \u00a0A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into winning that jersey, and buying it off Amazon doesn't give you the right to wear it in competition. \u00a0Common sense here folks. \u00a0If you think it might cause a problem, best not to wear it.<\/p>\n Who<\/strong><\/em> you are riding with is probably the second most important thing to ask yourself. \u00a0Are you riding alone? \u00a0With a group? \u00a0Choose your attire based upon who's going to be riding with you. \u00a0If you're out for a hammerfest with your teammates, don't be a goof and wear the US champion's jersey. \u00a0Not only will you look a little out of place, but your teammates will probably find it necessary to attack you unmercifully and drop you like a stone. \u00a0In theory, you SHOULD be wearing your team kit anyway, but that's just my thought. \u00a0Should you be out riding with your casual Sunday group or alone, you're in the perfect place to fly whatever freak flag you wish. \u00a0Feel like sporting Fabian's Swiss cross on your solo ride through the muddy backroads? \u00a0Go for it…the only people who will care will be the cars who pass you too closely.<\/p>\n Why<\/strong><\/em> you're riding is a very ethereal kind of question. \u00a0It intertwines itself into the previously mentioned questions and can almost be inseparable from them. \u00a0Generally, WHY is a great way of qualifying your answers from the previous two questions you've asked yourself. \u00a0But sometimes, there are days which you just decide you need to get out of the house and hit the road; maybe to destress, to think, or just clear your head<\/a>. \u00a0When you've got no objective, or your only objective is to be solitary and impress nobody but yourself, pull on whatever you like and zip it up. \u00a0Nothing can lift spirits (or make you feel like your cycling heros or cycling heroines<\/a>) like riding in your favorite piece of kit.<\/p>\n Nobody is perfect, and everybody likes to have a little fun. \u00a0Occasionally, you'll commit a fashion faux-pax and you'll show up wearing the wrong thing. \u00a0It's ok though (as long as it's not a race.) \u00a0The more comfortable with your own inner cycling fred, the more congenial everyone else will be with it as well. \u00a0Laugh about it. \u00a0“I went dumpster diving at Boonen's chateau and swiped his old cocaine smeared jersey” could be the perfect retort to a snide “when did you win THAT?” \u00a0Remember, it's not like there aren't thousands of football fans out there wearing Tom Brady jerseys, right? \u00a0You're not all that different from those football guys, except that most of them weigh about 300 pounds and make the sofa their permanent home. \u00a0But I digress…<\/p>\n Except in the few cases where rules must be followed (i.e. racing) you shouldn't be afraid to wear what you wish. \u00a0I mean, really, when was the last time one of the riders in the group stopped you, pulled out his best Samuel L. Jackson voice and laid this upon\u00a0you:<\/p>\n You got to appreciate what an\u00a0explosive element this Fred situation is. If he comes\u00a0home from a hard day's\u00a0training and finds a bunch of amateur cyclists\u00a0doin' a bunch of amateur cyclist\u00a0shit\u00a0on his tarmac, ain't no tellin' what he's apt to do.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Are you a cycling fred? Do you even know what a “cycling fred” is? Learn what it is and how to avoid getting the “cycling fred” tag stuck on you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,26],"tags":[79,60,187],"yst_prominent_words":[3734,3728,3724,3735,3733,3738,3730,3722,3721,3736,3732,3723,3729,3719,3725,3737,3727,3731,3726,3720],"wppr_data":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/jerseys.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9476,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/9476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/jerseys-233x300.jpg\" "\\"Cycling")
<\/p>\nHow to avoid being a cycling fred<\/h2>\n
Accepting your inner cycling fred<\/h2>\n