{"id":266638,"date":"2026-10-09T15:11:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/09\/humongous-columbus-among-us\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T15:11:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:11:26","slug":"humongous-columbus-among-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/09\/humongous-columbus-among-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Humongous Columbus Among Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hey, it\u2019s Friday, how do you like that?<\/p>\n

Here in the processed meat of the North American sandwich (we\u2019re the deli ham, Canada and Mexico are the bread) it\u2019s also the start of a three-day weekend! See, this coming Monday is the day we used to call \u201cColumbus Day:\u201d<\/p>\n

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But colonialism is bad, bad, bad, and so now it\u2019s \u201cIndigenous People\u2019s Day:\u201d<\/p>\n

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Though there is a loophole, and if you\u2019re Italian you get to call it \u201cItalian Heritage Day:\u201d<\/p>\n

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[Classic Cycle<\/a>]<\/p>\n

And to a lesser extent if you\u2019re a cyclist you can always claim you\u2019re celebrating the tubing and not the explorer, though in the current climate I\u2019d say you\u2019re on shaky ground there:<\/p>\n

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See, the whole \u201cColumbus Day\/Indigenous People\u2019s Day\u201d 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 side\u2013and speaking of wings, is that the Columbus bird\u2019s right one, or does it have two heads and one of them is napping?<\/p>\n

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Anyway, to paraphrase that Shakespeare guy, a holiday by any other name is still an excuse to fuck off, so please note that I won\u2019t be posting on Monday in observance of Indigenous Columbus Italian Tubing Day and will instead be engaging in concomitant off-fuckings.<\/p>\n

(And yes, I briefly considered asking the AI to generate an image for \u201cIndigenous Columbus Italian Tubing Day,\u201d but I was afraid to see the result.)<\/p>\n

In the meantime, since it\u2019s Friday, let\u2019s dip into the mail bag, shall we?<\/p>\n

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Dear Tan Tenovo,<\/em><\/p>\n

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 to\u00a0wear a T-shirt\u00a0over top. I feel like this wardrobe decision\u00a0merits its own subspecies of road cyclist, but ultimately, as the boss, you get to make the call.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In my\u00a0opinion, this whole subgenre of road riding has its roots in the sort of weird inbetween\u00a0phase of grvl. Just before, or maybe\u00a0right 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, I\u2019ve basically only been around the block once. Anyway, I find these guys ridiculous, so if you want some photos of them when I\u2019m in the park, I\u2019ll happily send. Otherwise, feel to send this straight to the trash.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/em><\/p>\n

Young Man Peterson<\/em><\/p>\n

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As cycling\u2019s 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:<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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, that\u2019s the year I went out to Eroica California<\/a>, where I was put up in sort of an \u201cInfluencer\u201d house, and among the people staying there were Gus Morton:<\/p>\n

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[From here<\/a>]<\/p>\n

And Sami Sauri, shown here<\/a> executing a flawless \u201cJesus Carry:\u201d<\/p>\n

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While I may have had some idea that Gus Morton was malnourished ultra-endurance cyclist Lachlan Morton\u2019s brother, for the most part I really didn\u2019t 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 cool\u2013like Jesus-carry-your-bike-and-give-camera-directions-while-making-metal-horns-and-wearing-a-cowboy-hat cool:<\/p>\n

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So as both cycling\u2019s 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<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Naturally I didn\u2019t ask them why<\/em> they were wearing t-shirts\u2013you don\u2019t ask cool people why they do things, you just don\u2019t, plus even if I did ask them they\u2019d have just looked right through me\u2013but 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, \u201cThis ride is hardly worth my time.\u201d<\/p>\n

But surely on the day of the event they would wear proper jerseys, right? Hardly! Here\u2019s a photo from the ride, with J\u00f6rs Tr\u00fcli circled in green:<\/p>\n

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Do you see what they\u2019re wearing? Shirts<\/em>. In fact Gus Morton is wearing a shirt so hard he\u2019s got his bibs up over them:<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a statement of both commitment and defiance, as if to say, \u201cI am wearing a shirt and not a jersey so emphatically I\u2019m locking it in under my bibs. It\u2019s basically a clipless shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s me bringing up the rear:<\/p>\n

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Not only am I wearing a jersey, but I\u2019m wearing my own<\/em> jersey:<\/p>\n

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Naively I thought having your my own jersey was cool, but in retrospect it\u2019s like wearing your own band\u2019s t-shirt, and between that and the cheap Chain Reaction bike I was riding<\/a> it\u2019s no wonder they wouldn\u2019t look at me:<\/p>\n

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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 people\u2019s dye<\/a>?!?<\/p>\n

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By the way, that\u2019s from the website of the people who made the shirts they were wearing\u2013and 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 she\u2019s appreciate a unique garment from a \u201cZERO WASTE STUDIO, WITH A BOTANICAL, HOLISTIC AND ANCESTRAL APPROACH.\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

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I don\u2019t wear it by itself because it\u2019s too small for me, plus it\u2019s got moth holes:<\/p>\n

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It is really comfortable though, because merino is truly the greatest. (Unfortunately the moths agree.)<\/p>\n

In any case, that\u2019s how I became attuned to the look, and like the letter writer I\u2019ve been noticing it more and more\u2013and I do get it. Sure, part of it is probably them saying, \u201cI\u2019m just doing laps in Prospect Park, not the big Fred ride to Bear Mountain. I\u2019m not even trying!\u201d 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 I\u2019m on a road bike and otherwise wearing bike-specific clothes\u2013obviously when I\u2019m just riding in regular clothes the t-shirt\u2019s a given.) However, I rarely do, because\u2026you know, pockets:<\/p>\n

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[Not that kind<\/a>! I mean the ones in the back.]<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just say I\u2019m headed out for my usual easy 20-miler<\/a>. At a minimum, I need to carry the following on my actual person:<\/p>\n

Additionally, I may want to carry a mini pump if one won\u2019t fit on the bike. Additionally additionally, if I\u2019ve been working on the bike recently and think I may need to make adjustments, I\u2019ll carry a multi-tool in my pocket so I don\u2019t have to keep going into my saddle bag. (And again, we\u2019re talking specifically about rides on road bikes and in cycling-specific clothes. If I\u2019m on a regular bike in regular clothes I just carry what I need in my pants pockets.)<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n

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I have a couple of pocketed shorts like this thanks to Pearl Izumi<\/a>, and the pocket is handy, though I wouldn\u2019t want my phone and<\/em> my wallet and<\/em> 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 don\u2019t wear multiple rings myself, what if I decide to start?<\/p>\n

Okay, AI, let\u2019s have it:<\/p>\n

\"Helmeted<\/figure>\n

So weird.<\/p>\n

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 2008<\/a>\u2013and on a cyclocross bike, no less!<\/p>\n

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Hey, maybe I\u2019m cooler than I thought.<\/p>\n

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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey, it\u2019s Friday, how do you like that? Here in the processed meat of the North American sandwich (we\u2019re the deli ham, Canada and Mexico are the bread) it\u2019s also the start of a three-day weekend! See, this coming Monday is the day we used to call \u201cColumbus Day:\u201d But colonialism is bad, bad, bad, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":266639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6804],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-266638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}