Bad news for MAMILs - 1 in 3 think cyclists should ditch Lycra before turning 40, says British Heart Federation survey (+ infographic)

Some horrible comment here about fat people in lycra.

I think the more fat people in lycra on bikes getting thinner the better.

Correct me if I am wrong ......... ok this is not accurate but roughly 65 miles on a bike burns the equivalent calories of 1 lb of fat.

If you are 5 stone over weight, 5 months later on a healthy diet and riding on average 40 miles a day with a few rest days you could be 5 stone lighter.

Easier said than done but not impossible. 20 mile cycling commute could be just what the doctor ordered.

CYCLING IS AWESOME - FAT - THIN WHATEVER YOU ARE, YOU SHOULD RIDE YOUR BIKE AND NOT CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT THINK YOU SHOULN'T

Let me know if I have got my statistics wrong.

Some horrible comments here about fat people in lycra. The people that made them I think should think about their negative outlook.

I think the more fat people in lycra on bikes getting thinner the better.

Correct me if I am wrong ......... ok this is not accurate but roughly 65 miles on a bike burns the equivalent calories of 1 lb of fat.

If you are 5 stone over weight, 5 months later on a healthy diet and riding on average 40 miles a day with a few rest days you could be 5 stone lighter.

Easier said than done but not impossible. 20 mile cycling commute could be just what the doctor ordered.

CYCLING IS AWESOME - FAT - THIN WHATEVER YOU ARE, YOU SHOULD RIDE YOUR BIKE AND NOT CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT THINK YOU SHOULN'T

Let me know if I have got my statistics wrong. I promise I am not going to make a info graphic

Due to the survey I've now gone out and bought a pair of lycra short one size smaller than usual just to piss them off.

Mamil and proud of it!

P.S. are the 1 in 3 those twits that walk around with the arse showing, like a rent boy on an aggresive advertising campaign.

The best way to decide: 1. Look into the mirror 2. Do I look like a sausage roll?
Yes: Maybe wear something less tight No: You're good to go!

Slow news day.

As a broke teenager, the only cycling shorts I could get were a pair of third? fourth? hand woolen cycling shorts with a chammy leather insert. I was so glad when I could afford a pair of lycra shorts. Now I'm a retired pensioner, I've no intention of giving up my lycra because a survey of faceless people think I should.

Top Tip.
Don't give a shit what others think or say.
Do what you want, when you want, how you want (providing it's legal...).

I'm a member of the BHF and I wish they wouldn't waste money - all donated remember - on this kind of tosh. It would be better spent on research into heart disease. By the way I am 67, and wouldn't wear anything else

I'm confused!! Why is that bad news for MAMILs?

If 1 in 3 thinks it's not ok, then surely 2 in 3 think that it is ok?!

So 66.66% of those surveyed are OK with wearing lycra over 40.

Sorry, I don't see the story here. Is this from the Daily Mash?

Is this an attempt to get more people wearing lycra? I cycle in jeans and a T-shirt normally. After this I'm tempted to get some lycra just to annoy the 1 in 3. Might wait until I hit 40 though.

Ah. The beauty industry. The people encouraging anorexia?

I'm 50 in a couple of months. Always wear lycra on the road bike and look good in it if I say so myself.

1 in 3 think over 40s should ditch lycra.

2 in 3 know over 40s should ditch lycra.

[[[[[ HUH! And one-in-one believes drivers (male & female) should stop carrying on like petulant children when using--or misusing--their vehicles on the roads. That would be another good way to "build cyclists' confidence" in the use of bikes as exercise and transport...I'm off message, of course, and more power to BHF's elbows, but their clothing survey is off message from them too....MAMILS? I see a lot of YAFIJATS on bikes (Younger Age Folks In Jeans And Trainers), but that's up to them, innit? Why add fuel to the fires of prejudice? OOOh! I could just spit, I could!
P.R.

I will continue to wear lycra until someone comes up with a better way of embarrassing your children than Dad-Dancing in your bib shorts.

Bonus points if you do it in front of their friends.

[I know, I know! They get to choose my care home. But not yet! ]

.... and being a MAMIL is something to be proud of.

I look dreadful in lycra, middle-aged middle you see, but I don't give a toss what others think of the aesthetic and I don't ride about admiring my reflection. I wear it because it is the most practical stuff to wear at this time of year for the sort of riding I do. (And I can be found wearing plus two and a cap on a bike at times, or in baggies and a lumberjack shirt when mttb'ing).

Any non-cyclists/mates who rip the piss out of the collapse of my once sporting physique are immediately invited to come for a 50- or 100-km in the Surrey Hills/South Downs of a Sunday morning to let their legs do the talking. Oddly, it has converted a few of the piss takers into enthusiastic cyclists and MAMILS themselves.

I don't tell beauty industry workers not to go around with an inch of makeup applied with a trowel so why the hell should their opinion count as to whether I get to be comfortable on my bike? Enough of the bullsh*t studies, puhlease!

I think I'd much rather see people (of any size) out cycling in lycra than some of the ridiculously tight/small clothing that lots of people seem to think is ideal for wearing out of the house.
I may not look fabulous in lycra, but I don't think I look as bad as half the people wandering the high street at the weekend

What percentage of the 1/3 of the surveyed who want to see Lycra dumped are lardarse couch potatoes who only ever shuffle between the sofa and the driving seat?

I wear lycra on the 17 mile commute to work as it the most comfortable and practical when either warm and sunny or raining like the apocolypse . I don't when only trundling to the shops.

It's no business of anyone else what I wear frankly.

What they missed was instead you need to take up golf and cricket and spend your leisure time walking around in a nautical blazer....because in no way will you look like a complete twat.

Better to live a healthy lifestyle in lycra and take the stick than die slumped over a dominoes pizza box in your fully stretched kappa tracksuit with blocked arteries.

Are we bothered what non-cyclists think about cyclists, of any age, wearing lycra? I think not. Cycling lycra is technical clothing - get over it.

If it was 1 in 3 regular cyclists saying cyclists should ditch lycra past the age of 40, then I'd take the survey a little more seriously.

But is there a correlation between people with excessive BMI and those saying cyclists over 40 should ditch the lycra? How many of those responding are regular cyclists? Does this survey not say more about the body image the respondents have of themselves?

I'm a long way past 40 but I've weighed the same and had the same 32" waist since I was in my early 30s. I race and can beat guys 20 years younger than me.

In any case, if some pudgy MAMIL wants to wear lycra while riding, so what? Lycra kit is practical.

Out of interest, what are the alternatives to Lycra?