Why would a man with no current
girlfriend be shopping inside a Victoria's Secret store? And why would he
buy this bright pink thong?
The answer is simple: RAGBRAI. Several members of my team for RAGBRAI and
I are going to participate in Thong Thursday this year. It's an
unofficial tradition that maybe 5% of the riders do. During the Thursday
ride, riders wear a thong on the outside of their cycling shorts. The
more visible and brightly colored the better. Lots of people get lots of
laughs about it, especially for the males who do it.
Maybe it's a play on the fact that riders traditionally don't wear underwear underneath cycling shorts - underwear causes comfort and chafing issues that we aren't going to get into here.
OR … maybe it is just some clean fun for a whole bunch of people who take a week of vacation to celebrate cycling culture by taking part in the largest touring ride in the country.
I am a member of a team / charter group for RAGBRAI called Lost and Found Adventures. The group is about 100 people each year. I have ridden with this group for each of the three years I have done the full week ride. This year will be the fourth year I'll be with the group. Over the years, quite a few people come and go. About half the group will be new each year. The other half are regulars. We come from all around the country. I've gotten to know quite a few of them fairly well. There isn't a unifying theme amongst the group like there is with some other groups. There are people young and old, male and female, groups of friends, whole families, and any other combinations you can think of in our group. The different types of people you find in our group are a decent sample size of the types of people in RAGBRAI as a whole. We have people who will leave on the day's route at 4:00 AM. We also have people who will leave for the day at 8:30, the last possible time to gets your bags onto the group's truck. Some will party deep into the night, while others will be snoring away by the time daylight fades.
The idea to join the Thong Thursday crowd started last year with a few of the regulars. They were a group of three teenage girls and the mother of one of them who formerly acted as their chaperone. The girls are all over 18 now and were acting a lot more independently last year. On one of the days, I rode primarily with the mother. The girls had decided not to ride with her that day, so I did. On Thursday morning, as I was packing up my camping stuff, I saw the girls and the mother all had on thongs on the outside of their cycling shorts. I burst out laughing at the sight of it. As far as I remember, no one else in our group had ever participated in Thong Thursday before. They convinced a couple other female members of the group to do so as well. They razzed me about why I wasn't doing it. I let them know that they have to give the guys a bit of advanced warning if you want us to participate. It's not as if I can just go into a Ziploc bag and just pull one out. So they gave me a year's notice and told me that I had to participate this year.
All of that led to me being in a Victoria's Secret store on Sunday. When I told her what I was doing, the store clerk told me I was silly. But that's okay. I got a bright, shiny pink thong made from 83% nylon and 17%(!) Spandex. I am all ready to go for Thong Thursday, 2013!
It was a little weird to me the first couple of times I wore cycling shorts in public in 2008. It feels like you are totally exposed. You get the feeling that everyone is looking at you. Of course, most of the time people aren't paying that much attention. Still, there's a good reason why most cycling shorts are black: it hides details better. After the first couple of times, the embarrassment went away.
By the end of the first month or so, if I was driving back from a ride and really wanted chocolate milk for a recovery drink, it wouldn't bother me at all to stop at a grocery store while still in my cycling gear. Once I got Scooby, this changed even further. Now, when I get back home from a long ride, there are a few things I do almost every time. 1st: bring the bike in and put it away. 2nd: take off my cycling shoes. 3rd: put on an old pair of running shoes. 4th: take Scooby outside on a cool-down walk. Finally: ditch the cycling outfit, shower, etc. Many of my neighbors have seen me in my cycling outfit. It doesn't bother me at all.
Maybe it's a play on the fact that riders traditionally don't wear underwear underneath cycling shorts - underwear causes comfort and chafing issues that we aren't going to get into here.
OR … maybe it is just some clean fun for a whole bunch of people who take a week of vacation to celebrate cycling culture by taking part in the largest touring ride in the country.
I am a member of a team / charter group for RAGBRAI called Lost and Found Adventures. The group is about 100 people each year. I have ridden with this group for each of the three years I have done the full week ride. This year will be the fourth year I'll be with the group. Over the years, quite a few people come and go. About half the group will be new each year. The other half are regulars. We come from all around the country. I've gotten to know quite a few of them fairly well. There isn't a unifying theme amongst the group like there is with some other groups. There are people young and old, male and female, groups of friends, whole families, and any other combinations you can think of in our group. The different types of people you find in our group are a decent sample size of the types of people in RAGBRAI as a whole. We have people who will leave on the day's route at 4:00 AM. We also have people who will leave for the day at 8:30, the last possible time to gets your bags onto the group's truck. Some will party deep into the night, while others will be snoring away by the time daylight fades.
The idea to join the Thong Thursday crowd started last year with a few of the regulars. They were a group of three teenage girls and the mother of one of them who formerly acted as their chaperone. The girls are all over 18 now and were acting a lot more independently last year. On one of the days, I rode primarily with the mother. The girls had decided not to ride with her that day, so I did. On Thursday morning, as I was packing up my camping stuff, I saw the girls and the mother all had on thongs on the outside of their cycling shorts. I burst out laughing at the sight of it. As far as I remember, no one else in our group had ever participated in Thong Thursday before. They convinced a couple other female members of the group to do so as well. They razzed me about why I wasn't doing it. I let them know that they have to give the guys a bit of advanced warning if you want us to participate. It's not as if I can just go into a Ziploc bag and just pull one out. So they gave me a year's notice and told me that I had to participate this year.
All of that led to me being in a Victoria's Secret store on Sunday. When I told her what I was doing, the store clerk told me I was silly. But that's okay. I got a bright, shiny pink thong made from 83% nylon and 17%(!) Spandex. I am all ready to go for Thong Thursday, 2013!
It was a little weird to me the first couple of times I wore cycling shorts in public in 2008. It feels like you are totally exposed. You get the feeling that everyone is looking at you. Of course, most of the time people aren't paying that much attention. Still, there's a good reason why most cycling shorts are black: it hides details better. After the first couple of times, the embarrassment went away.
By the end of the first month or so, if I was driving back from a ride and really wanted chocolate milk for a recovery drink, it wouldn't bother me at all to stop at a grocery store while still in my cycling gear. Once I got Scooby, this changed even further. Now, when I get back home from a long ride, there are a few things I do almost every time. 1st: bring the bike in and put it away. 2nd: take off my cycling shoes. 3rd: put on an old pair of running shoes. 4th: take Scooby outside on a cool-down walk. Finally: ditch the cycling outfit, shower, etc. Many of my neighbors have seen me in my cycling outfit. It doesn't bother me at all.
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