Hey, its Friday, how do you like that?Here in the processed meat of the North American sandwich (were the deli ham, Canada and Mexico are the bread) its also the start of a three-day weekend! See, this coming Monday is the day we used to call Columbus Day:But colonialism is bad, bad, bad, and so now its Indigenous Peoples Day:Though there is a loophole, and if youre Italian you get to call it Italian Heritage Day:[Classic Cycle]And to a lesser extent if youre a cyclist you can always claim youre celebrating the tubing and not the explorer, though in the current climate Id say youre on shaky ground there:See, the whole Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day thing is very much bound up in the right-wing-versus-left wing-culture wars, so taking the tubing stance will fail to ingratiate you with either sideand speaking of wings, is that the Columbus birds right one, or does it have two heads and one of them is napping?Anyway, to paraphrase that Shakespeare guy, a holiday by any other name is still an excuse to fuck off, so please note that I wont be posting on Monday in observance of Indigenous Columbus Italian Tubing Day and will instead be engaging in concomitant off-fuckings.(And yes, I briefly considered asking the AI to generate an image for Indigenous Columbus Italian Tubing Day, but I was afraid to see the result.)In the meantime, since its Friday, lets dip into the mail bag, shall we?Dear Tan Tenovo,I am emailing you because in the last 2 years, I have noticed a new subspecies of roadies in Prospect Park. I see them mostly on weeknights or on Sunday afternoons. They ride in most of the normal road-approved threads (300$ brown bibs, Fizik shoes, hyundai colored kaask helmet) on their industry-standard 30mm-tire plastic aero bikes but then, bizarrely, they chose towear a T-shirtover top. I feel like this wardrobe decisionmerits its own subspecies of road cyclist, but ultimately, as the boss, you get to make the call.In myopinion, this whole subgenre of road riding has its roots in the sort of weird inbetweenphase of grvl. Just before, or mayberight as it was getting huge in, like 2019. I certainly think the first person I ever saw do it was Taylor Phinney in an EF Education First YouTube video. But then again, what do I know, Ive basically only been around the block once. Anyway, I find these guys ridiculous, so if you want some photos of them when Im in the park, Ill happily send. Otherwise, feel to send this straight to the trash.Sincerely,Young Man PetersonAs cyclings leading anthropologist I found this fascinating, and I feel it warrants further analysis, for I too have observed this phenomenon. Now, to be clear, wearing a t-shirt with Lycra shorts is nothing new. In fact, this is something the Fredliest of Freds have been doing for decades:Basically, it was run-of-the-mill dork behavior, and therefore it was completely normal to see people on the bike path wearing t-shirts and Lycra half-shorts and running shoes stuffed into unfastened plastic toe clips.However, as the letter writer observes, this current strain of t-shirt wearer does appear to be something relatively new and completely distinct from the aforementioned species. Furthermore, 2019 does indeed appear to be the inflection point, and I also first noted it around this time and in a similar milieu. Specifically, thats the year I went out to Eroica California, where I was put up in sort of an Influencer house, and among the people staying there were Gus Morton:[From here]And Sami Sauri, shown here executing a flawless Jesus Carry:While I may have had some idea that Gus Morton was malnourished ultra-endurance cyclist Lachlan Mortons brother, for the most part I really didnt know who these people were. However, it was immediately apparent by the manner in which they failed to engage with me or even look anywhere near me that they were extremely and almost painfully coollike Jesus-carry-your-bike-and-give-camera-directions-while-making-metal-horns-and-wearing-a-cowboy-hat cool:So as both cyclings leading anthropologist and an uncool person I resolved to learn all I could from their behavior, and when we all headed out for some kind of warm-up ride or something I noticed that Gus and possibly Sami wore t-shirts:Naturally I didnt ask them why they were wearing t-shirtsyou dont ask cool people why they do things, you just dont, plus even if I did ask them theyd have just looked right through mebut my sense was that it was born of a level of insouciance an uptight person like me could only dream of possessing, and a way of saying, This ride is hardly worth my time.But surely on the day of the event they would wear proper jerseys, right? Hardly! Heres a photo from the ride, with Jrs Trli circled in green:Do you see what theyre wearing? Shirts. In fact Gus Morton is wearing a shirt so hard hes got his bibs up over them:Its a statement of both commitment and defiance, as if to say, I am wearing a shirt and not a jersey so emphatically Im locking it in under my bibs. Its basically a clipless shirt.Then theres me bringing up the rear:Not only am I wearing a jersey, but Im wearing my own jersey:Naively I thought having your my own jersey was cool, but in retrospect its like wearing your own bands t-shirt, and between that and the cheap Chain Reaction bike I was riding its no wonder they wouldnt look at me:Also, my jersey could not have been more out of touch with the nascent gravel zeitgeist (or GRVL ZTGST, which sounds like the name of a gravel apparel company). I mean where were the earth tones? Did they even use indigenous peoples dye?!?By the way, thats from the website of the people who made the shirts they were wearingand I know this because they were selling them at the event, and I even bought one for my wife, since obviously they were extremely and almost violently cool, plus I figured maybe shes appreciate a unique garment from a ZERO WASTE STUDIO, WITH A BOTANICAL, HOLISTIC AND ANCESTRAL APPROACH. But she did not appreciate it and never wore it, and in fact I ended up rescuing it from that garbage bag full of clothes you fill up every couple of years and donate to the local whatever as I was about to haul it to the local whatever. Now I wear it as an undershirt, and I think some of you were even disturbed by it in a recent photo because you thought it was my chest and that I had a skin condition:I dont wear it by itself because its too small for me, plus its got moth holes:It is really comfortable though, because merino is truly the greatest. (Unfortunately the moths agree.)In any case, thats how I became attuned to the look, and like the letter writer Ive been noticing it more and moreand I do get it. Sure, part of it is probably them saying, Im just doing laps in Prospect Park, not the big Fred ride to Bear Mountain. Im not even trying! And yes, maybe they want to spare their expensive PNS jerseys the unnecessary laundry cycles. But wearing a loose-fitting t-shirt can feel liberating, and I too am sometimes tempted. (I mean specifically when Im on a road bike and otherwise wearing bike-specific clothesobviously when Im just riding in regular clothes the t-shirts a given.) However, I rarely do, becauseyou know, pockets:[Not that kind! I mean the ones in the back.]Lets just say Im headed out for my usual easy 20-miler. At a minimum, I need to carry the following on my actual person:KeysPhoneWalletAdditionally, I may want to carry a mini pump if one wont fit on the bike. Additionally additionally, if Ive been working on the bike recently and think I may need to make adjustments, Ill carry a multi-tool in my pocket so I dont have to keep going into my saddle bag. (And again, were talking specifically about rides on road bikes and in cycling-specific clothes. If Im on a regular bike in regular clothes I just carry what I need in my pants pockets.)Now, I realize that part of what makes the whole t-shirt look possible is the advent of the side-pocket bib short, which is also born of the GRVL ZTGST:I have a couple of pocketed shorts like this thanks to Pearl Izumi, and the pocket is handy, though I wouldnt want my phone and my wallet and my keys in there. Plus, bro with the expensive new tattoo he carefully chose so it would look old like he got it on shore leave 1950s is obviously having trouble accessing the pocket due to his multiple rings. And while I dont wear multiple rings myself, what if I decide to start?Okay, AI, lets have it:So weird.So what have we learned today? Well, nothing, as usual. However, it just occurred to me that I actually pioneered the hanging-down-bib-shorts-with-t-shirt look way back in 2008and on a cyclocross bike, no less!Hey, maybe Im cooler than I thought.