Guys wearing yellow jerseys



I_ride_my_bike

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Jan 4, 2006
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I don't know why, but I just have to laugh every time I see a cyclist dressed in all the proper pro gear (which is ok) but when I see these guys wearing yellow jerseys I just have to laugh. C'mon now, what you think your a tour de France champ for wearing a yellow jersey? The reason I bring this up is because I see alot of guys wearing yellow. I really doubt these guys love the colour yellow. They just want to pretend they are champs in their own little world.
 
I wear yellow for visibility. At 350 pounds, I pretty much look like a school bus when I ride. And I have rarely had people drive as if they don't see me.

My real favorite is hi-viz, but they are sometimes not as easy to find in my size.

Just because The Tour de France uses yellow in a special way, doesn't mean that it is precluded from every recreational rider. Otherwise, then why not eliminate white (best young rider) and green (points leader)??? And why single out the Tour de France? We should also eliminate pink (The Giro d'Italia leader's jersey) along with any other professional bicycle race's special jersey's colors.

The truth is that the jersey's color only has special meaning only during the specific race. Even professional teams sometimes have to change their jersey color if they match too closely the race's leader's jersey (I believe it has happened for teams that have yellow team colors in the TdF). If pros don't hold themselves to some ridiculous avoidance of yellow, then why should amateurs?

Also, I have a Postal Service jersey (my only team jersey) I hope to some day shrink enough to fit into... and frankly, I have it because I have worked for the sponsor for over 20 years... So, there are people that wear "race" kits without pretense of being racers... and wear yellow just because...

If it makes you feel good to ride faster than me, please do. But I don't wear what I do out of any illusion of being fast. Even if I wore a Professional style Yellow Jersey, it would be in tribute, not that I thought I was fast...

I am easy to pass... I am the fat old guy on the 1986 Schwinn touring bike. I'll pretend to ride hard if it will make you feel better.
 
Wow....and to think all I think about when I'm ridin' is my ride and how nice it is to see so many other folks out on their bikes.

For the really shallow folks in the audience:
  1. Saunier Duval wore yellow. Did you guys rip them, eh?
  2. Yellow is a high visibility color for humans, and it's been shown that it does increase a bicyclist's safety.
  3. I'll bet the majority of riders ride, in part, to get away from judgemental assholes who seem to think bicycle kit is some personal statement.
  4. The TdF is one race. It ain't cycling. I see people wearing pink kit, too.
  5. Maybe it's possible that those wearing yellow kit or team kit are showing their support of cycling. More power to those folks for that. What would it say about the cycling fan base if no one bought team kit, eh?
  6. I haven't read anything about pro riders being bent about non-pros in yellow jerseys and Discovery kit, so since y'all ain't pros and ain't won ****, perhaps you ought to stow the petulant little judgements.

I have one team jersey, a 7-11 jersey, but I don't think I'm part of the team. I do think it's a classic looking jersey. I've got an all yellow long sleeve jersey for the visibility and for when temps are cooler. I guess those are the only bit of kit that would insult your delicate sensibilities.

Hows about you guys post what you wear and what you ride, so that everyone else can pass judgement on you, eh? Nothing hurts cycling as much as elitist ******' attitudes like yours.
 
dgregory57 said:
I wear yellow for visibility. At 350 pounds, I pretty much look like a school bus when I ride. And I have rarely had people drive as if they don't see me.

My real favorite is hi-viz, but they are sometimes not as easy to find in my size.

Just because The Tour de France uses yellow in a special way, doesn't mean that it is precluded from every recreational rider. Otherwise, then why not eliminate white (best young rider) and green (points leader)??? And why single out the Tour de France? We should also eliminate pink (The Giro d'Italia leader's jersey) along with any other professional bicycle race's special jersey's colors.

The truth is that the jersey's color only has special meaning only during the specific race. Even professional teams sometimes have to change their jersey color if they match too closely the race's leader's jersey (I believe it has happened for teams that have yellow team colors in the TdF). If pros don't hold themselves to some ridiculous avoidance of yellow, then why should amateurs?

Also, I have a Postal Service jersey (my only team jersey) I hope to some day shrink enough to fit into... and frankly, I have it because I have worked for the sponsor for over 20 years... So, there are people that wear "race" kits without pretense of being racers... and wear yellow just because...

If it makes you feel good to ride faster than me, please do. But I don't wear what I do out of any illusion of being fast. Even if I wore a Professional style Yellow Jersey, it would be in tribute, not that I thought I was fast...

I am easy to pass... I am the fat old guy on the 1986 Schwinn touring bike. I'll pretend to ride hard if it will make you feel better.

+10.
 
I wear the jersey and shorts from my local bike shop. I do not race, although the LBS team races. Does that make me a laughingstock. :rolleyes:
 
I_ride_my_bike said:
I don't know why, but I just have to laugh every time I see a cyclist dressed in all the proper pro gear (which is ok) but when I see these guys wearing yellow jerseys I just have to laugh. C'mon now, what you think your a tour de France champ for wearing a yellow jersey? The reason I bring this up is because I see alot of guys wearing yellow. I really doubt these guys love the colour yellow. They just want to pretend they are champs in their own little world.

Is yellow out of bounds just because it's the same colour a the leader of a bike race around France? Is green (TdF Sprint) therefore banned... or pink (giro leader)... or white (TdF Youth leader)... or polka dot (KOM)... or coloured stripes (World Champ)... or Red (Tour of Benelux GC)... or Blue (Benelux points)... or Purple (Giro points)... Orange (Vuelta KOM)... Gold (Vuelta Leader)... so what am I allowed to wear????

Black!!!

Hey, that what I wear anyway... OH! silly me that's the colour for LAST in the Giro d'Italia!!! Don't want to look like a pro looser.

Please Mr I_ride_my_bike tell me what colour would NOT make you laugh at me (or is it just Yellow?). While you're about it be kind enough to tell me what colour bike I should ride.
 
I got a yellow shirt at Walmart like 8 bucks. its made out of recycled something

or other. :D
 
I have a non team cycling outfit that fits nice, however its hot and impractical. I only bought to complement a new roadbike I bought. As if the roadbike required me to wear proper attire. For the past couple of months I have been wearing either a t-shirt with either swimming trunks or shorts.I like to ride to swimming holes and friends houses. My riding experience has led me to conclude I'm more at home on the bike looking like I'm ready to get off the bike. For me the bike is more a mode of transport than sport. I just happen to be a strong rider. Again not so long ago I flirted with the illusion that I had to look like a racer to ride a bike. Wear whatever you feel comfortable wearing.
 
*I prefer "Camo" as to not be seen. That way no one ridicules me and I don't have to resort to ass kicking.

*note sarcasm
 
chainstretched said:
I find red also works quite well for visibility. No doubt yellow is highly visible.
One of my other thoughts... I just ordered two new jerseys, one in in hi-viz yellow and one in red.

However, I enjoy seeing a variety of kits... I don't see many cyclists around here, but I do enjoy it when I see someone with a pro jersey... or anything else regardless of color.
 
Somehow I just don't believe these reasons for buying yellow jerseys. Visibility? yeah ok, there are lots of great looking jerseys with discreet reflective striping that will offer mucher better visibility than yellow. As for people spending over $100 on jerseys plastered with corporate logos, you people are stupid. I saw a guy wearing a $120 T mobile jersey and I just had to laugh. He spent good money to freely advertise for a multi billion dollar German telecomunications giant. The corporations love the fact that people are spending money to advertise for them (very bizarre concept in the ad world) but as long as there are people with ego's who want to pretend to be pros, then there is good money being made selling products that advertise various corporations (most of them which have nothing to do with cycling) I don't know whats worse, that or all those guys walking around with those lame Hollister T shirts. Hey look I got a Hollister shirt, I'm just as unoriginal and dependant on whats popular like the rest of you! lol
 
This is my T-Mobile jersey and actually an original. but didn't cost me a penny.
I have never worn it so I don't know how that fits into your philosophy of proper cycling etiquette.
I won't debate style as I let my legs dictate if I am stylish or not.
 
jhuskey said:
This is my T-Mobile jersey and actually an original. but didn't cost me a penny.
I have never worn it so I don't know how that fits into your philosophy of proper cycling etiquette.
I won't debate style as I let my legs dictate if I am stylish or not.
Hey if you got if for free thats cool, I just don't understand why there are people spending big money on jerseys with corporate logos. Atleast this jersey for you has some meaning which is why you aren't wearing it and I respect that. I don't respect posers trying to act cool. Thankfully you are one of the few noble non show offs out there.
 
I_ride_my_bike said:
Hey if you got if for free thats cool, I just don't understand why there are people spending big money on jerseys with corporate logos. Atleast this jersey for you has some meaning which is why you aren't wearing it and I respect that. I don't respect posers trying to act cool. Thankfully you are one of the few noble non show offs out there.


I'm as bad a show off as anyone, I just do it in different ways. Just a week or so ago I was starting up a short but steep hill. I normally grind up this incline since it is only 10 miles into my ride and there are much longer hills ahead.
Just as I approached the hill two women came out from a driveway and staring walking up the hill. It looked as though they were out for exercise.
Without hesitation I went into "attack the hill mode" and blasted past them.
They weren't even that hot and probably not at all impressed with my dynamic speed and power.
Why do I do these things?
Big Dog syndrome!
 
I don't think much about yellow because it's so common, but IMO a genuine World Champion is the only one who should be wearing the rainbow jersey in public.

And while I don't begrudge anyone wearing the polka dots, you better be able to climb better than me or you may get laughed at.
 
I_ride_my_bike said:
Somehow I just don't believe these reasons for buying yellow jerseys. Visibility? yeah ok, there are lots of great looking jerseys with discreet reflective striping that will offer mucher better visibility than yellow. As for people spending over $100 on jerseys plastered with corporate logos, you people are stupid. I saw a guy wearing a $120 T mobile jersey and I just had to laugh. He spent good money to freely advertise for a multi billion dollar German telecomunications giant. The corporations love the fact that people are spending money to advertise for them (very bizarre concept in the ad world) but as long as there are people with ego's who want to pretend to be pros, then there is good money being made selling products that advertise various corporations (most of them which have nothing to do with cycling) I don't know whats worse, that or all those guys walking around with those lame Hollister T shirts. Hey look I got a Hollister shirt, I'm just as unoriginal and dependant on whats popular like the rest of you! lol
Your mistaken hypothesis is that people buy them to pretend to be professionals. There may be a small percentage out there that do that, but it is a very small percentage.

The truth is that most people that buy the team kits buy them for the same reasons that people buy Dallas Cowboy jerseys, New York Yankee caps, or hockey jerseys, etc... that is to pay homage to the people they admire in professional sports.

The difference is that people who watch cycling actually engage in the sport in a very public venue. Therefore outsiders (and apparently some insiders) it is seen as pretentious. In reality, it is no more pretentious than wearing a Yankees cap while playing a sandlot baseball game...

I admit that in the case of cycling, the team kits should be extremely inexpensive since we should get a discount for wearing advertising, but that isn't the way it works. In fact, have you seen the cost of Rock Racing kits?

But then again, thinking about it, in wearing a Yankees cap, you are advertising the Yankees... talk about a major money making corporation!!!!!

Now, if professional cycling clothing was impractical for amateur use, such as Nascar drivers' clothing would be for amateur driving, then I think I would tend to agree with you. However, since professional cyclists wear clothing that is perfectly suited for amateur cyclists, then I see no reason why we shouldn't pay tribute to our athletic idols by wearing our super hero costume of choice while riding. Of course, I am too cheap to do so.

I'll stick to wearing a variety of bright colors, including yellow.
 
huboon said:
And while I don't begrudge anyone wearing the polka dots, you better be able to climb better than me or you may get laughed at.
I have thought of wearing polka dots, but if I did, it would be intentionally trying to be humorous ...

I have actually thought that an interesting jersey would be a red jersey with white polka dots... an anti-KOM. That is one I could wear. :)
 
jhuskey said:
I'm as bad a show off as anyone, I just do it in different ways. Just a week or so ago I was starting up a short but steep hill. I normally grind up this incline since it is only 10 miles into my ride and there are much longer hills ahead.
Just as I approached the hill two women came out from a driveway and staring walking up the hill. It looked as though they were out for exercise.
Without hesitation I went into "attack the hill mode" and blasted past them.
They weren't even that hot and probably not at all impressed with my dynamic speed and power.
Why do I do these things?
Big Dog syndrome!
I must admit I do the same thing which makes me a hypocrit for criticizing others for being a show off. Usually when I approach a long hill I normally would walk up, if I see someone along that hill I feel the need to ride up it. Once I reach the top I think to myself "who the hell did I just try to impress?" lol
 
huboon said:
I don't think much about yellow because it's so common, but IMO a genuine World Champion is the only one who should be wearing the rainbow jersey in public.

And while I don't begrudge anyone wearing the polka dots, you better be able to climb better than me or you may get laughed at.

Why are we so preoccupied with what other cyclists wear? Do football supporters, or any other sports enthusiasts have a problem wearing cup or tournament winning team colours? My Masi has small rainbow stripes on the frame.... is that OK?
 

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