We nearly always want what we don’t have. Women with smaller breasts have a tendency to dream of browsing the DD+ section, and those on the bigger side would often like to deflate their frontal region. At least occasionally when heading out for a ride.
Whatever cup size you’re filling, most female cyclists will have come across the odd boob related nightmare. Even women with fairly little lady lumps will recognise some of these ride destroying boob ordeals…
Turning into a strip-o-gram when climbing in the heat
You’re riding up a climb, the sun is beating down on you, sweat is trickling from your helmet and into your eyes. And all the men around you are unzipping their jerseys to let what little wind there is cool them down. You look on enviously for around fifteen minutes, gasping for air and imagining how much difference that little breath of cool breeze would make. Eventually, you unzip your jersey to reveal whatever bibstrap/sports bra combo you’ve got going on and immediately feel like a paid for party guest.
However much you KNOW you’re not doing anything wrong by cooling yourself down when it’s hot, and that any undue comments are a reflection of the speaker’s warped idea of women being sex objects AT ALL TIMES, you still somehow feel a bit like it’s you that should cover up. Even though no one with a penis has to.
Bib straps that just don’t know WHERE to go
There are so many different bib strap types now. Some go around the boobs, some go between the boobs, some sit on top of the boobs (if you’ve got just the right size and shape of boob). A little continuity wouldn’t go amiss, or just more good designs from people who actually ‘get’ women’s bodies (we vote a stretchy full body, with no zip – Giro have got it spot on in our minds).
Being told ‘proper female athletes have such low body fat percentage, they don’t have any boobs’
Brands like to use this one when explaining why their kit doesn’t accomodate for boobs. There are a few flaws in the argument:
- athletes bodies vary depending upon their discipline
- athletes bodies vary depending upon their genetics
- most of your customers are not pro athletes
Weightiness
Boobs aren’t exactly light, so for starters, they’re not beneficial in that whole power to weight battle. More pressingly, it can take a bit of work to get your bike set up right so they don’t cause neck and back pain, too.
Comments from men
Like, I don’t know… You go for a bike fit, wearing a sports bra and bibs because THAT’S WHAT WOMEN WEAR TO CYCLE INDOORS, and later receive really pretty inappropriate messages from someone who is meant to be a professional. If you’re thinking that one sounds particularly personal, you’d be right.
Men: do you frequently have to deflect comments about the fact that we can see 00 AND 7 suspiciously clearly in those shorts? No? Well, we can. We just don’t vocalise it. Because that would be weird.
