Cycling pants must be carefully chosen
Wearing a flashy cycling suit while cycling isn't about showing off—it serves a highly functional purpose, helping to reduce wind resistance, wick sweat, and offer protection. It keeps your body dry by being breathable and quickly removing sweat during rides.
Cycling pants must be carefully chosen. On long-distance rides, even the slightest discomfort can become serious. The padding in cycling shorts determines whether you can comfortably stay seated on the bike. Current cycling seat pads are made from various materials such as foam and silicone.
Let’s give you a quick rundown of the basics of professional cycling pants
1. Elastic fabric
Helps wrap around the muscles of the buttocks and thighs, offering a certain degree of protection for active muscles (similar to the function of compression tights used in running).
2. Tight-fitting design
Helps reduce wind resistance while cycling and minimizes friction between the inner thighs and the saddle during leg movement, protecting the skin of the thighs from chafing.
3. Built-in padding
Provides moderate shock absorption, distributes pressure evenly, and reduces discomfort and pressure during cycling.
4. Special fabric and padding materials
Made from special materials that effectively channel airflow, dissipate heat, and wick away sweat.
It’s not suitable to wear underwear under cycling pants
The purpose of wearing cycling pants is threefold: to reduce wind resistance, increase comfort between the buttocks and the saddle, and minimize friction.
The reason for reducing friction is that during long-distance cycling, prolonged skin contact with pants can lead to varying degrees of inflammation or other skin issues. The material of cycling pants is designed to effectively reduce friction. Wearing underwear underneath negates this effect by blocking the friction-reducing properties of the cycling pants.
Additionally, underwear is usually made of cotton, which has poor sweat-wicking capabilities. The combination of moisture and high friction is harmful rather than helpful to the body.