Cycling is a sport steeped in history and culture—but that culture is ever-changing. Consider this: A decade ago, gravel cycling didn’t even have that title, and certainly wasn’t the behemoth that it currently is. The “spirit of gravel” wasn’t hotly debated. Fifteen years ago, there were plenty of riders on record saying disc brakes would never make their way into road racing or cyclocross—and look at the peloton today!
To show just how much the sport keeps changing—and what cyclists new and seasoned should understand about the sport—we rounded up cycling myths that need debunking and turned to data and experts to disprove those misconceptions about our sport.
Myth 1: You Have to be a Certain ”Type” of Cyclist
Marianne, Mathieu, Wout, Lucinda, Tom, Pauline: Put ‘em on a t-shirt for being multi-disciplined athletes.
Seriously, though, let’s go through them: Marianne Vos is a multi-time world champion on the road, cyclocross course, and track. She’s got the gold from the road and the track at the Olympics. Tom Pidco*ck is the Olympic and world MTB champion. He also is a decorated road racer and cyclocross world champ. Pauline Ferrand Prevot holds multi-time MTB, cyclocross, and road world championships. Lucinda Brand has the credentials of cyclocross world champ and decorated road racer. Wout van Aert, ditto. Even Mathieu Van der Poel is a road, cyclocross and (slightly less successfully) MTB star.
These days, the only “type” of cyclist you need to be is one who loves to ride their bike.
Furthermore, a look at these riders also shows that you can switch disciplines over time, depending on your preferences and what sparks joy for you. Vos has gone all-in on cyclocross in the past, and now toward the end of her career, she primarily focuses on the road. Ferrand-Prevot says this is likely her last year of MTB, though she plans to continue road racing. Van Aert and Van der Poel came up in cyclocross as junior and U23 phenoms, but in their elite years, have cut their seasons short to accommodate road racing.
Want to swap your gravel bike for a track fixie? You can always change your mind... and your bike.
Myth 2: It’s Totally Fine to Hang Out in Your Kit After a Ride
Nope, nope, nope. Here’s the deal: During a ride, your nether regions are rubbing against your shorts, you’re sweating, and—depending on the type of ride—you may be adding water, mud, or dust into the mix. Perching on the saddle and pedaling causes friction between your skin and shorts, even if your shorts and saddle are perfect for you. This means you’re getting tiny little microtears in your skin—while also sweating and creating a warm, damp environment for bacteria to proliferate.
When you finish a ride, getting clean and dry down there is key to avoiding saddle sores, rashes, and other fun bacterial/fungal situations. We’re not judging if you hang out with friends for a few minutes postride in kit, but if you’re planning a postride lunch or hopping onto a work call right after a ride, it’s time to switch to clean clothes.
In other words, shed that chamois ASAP postride. At a trailhead? Take 10 seconds and drop trou (without flashing the parking lot) rather than getting in your truck and driving home sitting in your sweaty chamois.
Myth 3: You Need the Most Expensive Gear
As three cyclists proved at Unbound this year, you don’t need the priciest bike to do the greatest adventures. They finished the 200-mile gravel race on sub-$200 beach cruisers from Walmart. It likely wasn’t super comfortable and it definitely wasn’t fast, but they managed.
Beyond that, though, bike technology has gotten so good in recent years that even the cheaper components and frames are typically pretty high quality. “I’m excited to see Shimano, SRAM, and even Campagnolo coming out with what I see as high-quality, modern parts at more realistic, attainable prices,” says The Ride’s Ben Delaney. “Yes, the lower-priced options will be slightly heavier, but it’s made to last, and it’s almost identical to the higher-end options. In the case of SRAM’s electronic parts, the cheaper models are simply made with more metal rather than plastic or carbon.”
The same is true for bikes: The aluminum models that brands are putting out now share similar geometries to their higher-cost carbon counterparts, just with a slightly heavier weight.
Myth 4: No Riding in Underwear—Ever
Let’s get this out of the way: You aren’t supposed to wear underwear with bike shorts that do have a chamois (that soft padding that kind of resembles an adult diaper). The chamois is designed to be a smooth, friction-fighting, bacteria-trapping layer between your nether regions and your saddle. Underwear throws that off and adds seams that can cause more friction and tiny tears that lead to saddle sores.
But like almost every rule, this one is made to be broken. Ultra-endurance cyclist, Lael Wilcox has proven this edict wrong time and time again, undertaking her huge exploits (most recently, a ride around the world) all sans chamois and with underwear.
Plenty of mountain bikers opt for regular underwear with their baggy shorts, skipping the chamois entirely. Loads of people manage to commute by bike on a daily basis in their street clothes, which include underpants and skip the chamois. And while we hate to admit it, there are plenty of people out there who simply feel more comfortable wearing their underpants with their chamois.
If you’re someone who isn’t experiencing chafing or saddle sores while wearing underwear on the bike, keep doing you.
Myth 5: Cycling Advocacy Is Pointless
Here, we turn to long-time cycling advocate Ash Lovell, Ph.D. She’s the Electric Bicycle Policy & Campaign Director at People for Bikes and says that the numbers back up the fact that advocating for better, safer cycling works at every level.
“Bicycle advocacy has a tremendous influence on the future of bicycling in the U.S., as evidenced by recent wins, including $45 million in federal funding for bike infrastructure through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $7 billion in state and local funding that voters have approved for bike improvements since 2022, $112 million in state and local e-bike incentives passed nationwide since 2022, 3,000 miles of recreational trails that were opened up for bike and e-bike access in 2023, and local initiatives like Measure HLA that are compelling cities like Los Angeles to build complete bike networks,” Lovell says.
“The key to success is focusing your efforts on effective advocacy tactics,” she adds. “The most successful advocates focus on building broad coalitions, honing their messaging, engaging their communities, and fostering relationships.”
To be successful at cycling advocacy and safe riding, you could ask your town council to add a protected bike lane or BMX pump track to a public park, or even start at your own workplace asking for better bike storage and a shower for bike commuters.
Myth 6: All You Need to Do Is Ride
Riding consistently is the first step to building cycling fitness, but you’ll eventually hit a fitness plateau if you don’t have any structure to your training. “As you train more consistently and become fitter, the stimuli needed to maintain or improve fitness will increase,” explains cycling coach Peter Glassford. “Since many adult cyclists can’t add more time to their rides, this is where you could take your usual 20-mile route and add intervals, or make it hillier, or more technical or ride with friends to add some social time and competition.”
Ryan Thomas, head coach at the Road Cycling Academy, adds that just riding is great—but if you have goals in cycling, you’re going to need a plan. “Often when people just ride without a plan, they’ll gain fitness but not necessarily take their performance to the next level,” he says. “I notice that often, people without any structured plan will just ride at a moderate pace that feels like they’re pushing themselves, but that pace won’t help you make gains on the bike over time.”
If you fall into this category, he suggests creating a goal for yourself, whether that’s riding your first century solo or signing up for a gravel grinder that’s five months away. Then, find a training plan to help you get there. “If you have an actual goal or you have an event coming up, it’s a lot easier to follow a structured plan to hit that target,” he says.
Myth 7: You Have to Have a Certain Body Type to Be a Cyclist
Cycling has a bad reputation when it comes to body type. Ask someone to describe a cyclist and often, you get a description of a skinny (usually white) man, possibly with burly quads, definitely lacking upper body definition. But while yes, plenty of pro riders are quite lean, you don’t need to have a single-digit body-fat percentage to be successful.
“Often, the image we see of a cyclist is a lean, muscular person,” says Marley Blonsky, co-founder of All Bodies on Bikes. “But it turns out, cycling is great for people of all sizes and shapes.”
Blonsky is a self-described “fat adventure cyclist,” and her exploits on the bike show that every body is a cycling body. She’s raced at Singlespeed Cyclocross Worlds and Unbound, she commutes by bike, leads group rides, and champions the sport at any level.
Myth 8: Riding Less Than 20 Miles Is Pointless
First of all, riding any amount is awesome—both from a physical and a mental health standpoint. “If you haven’t been training, even a mile will stimulate your body to adapt,” says Glassford. We also know that even a short time spent in nature or a short duration of exercise can have huge benefits in terms of stress reduction.
Added to that, 20 miles is an arbitrary number to begin with. (Ask a Canadian or European rider if they care about hitting 20 miles! They likely have a similar threshold in kilometers, but the point is that 20 miles is a made-up target.)
“Additionally, 20 miles can mean a lot of different things,” Glassford adds. “The terrain, type of bike and your focus for the session would determine the benefit and load of a given distance. A 20-mile ride on flat terrain might take 60 to 90 minutes, which works out to a pretty typical ride duration for the average cyclist who trains five to eight hours per week. And 20 miles can be a big day! A 20-mile mountain bike ride on trails or technical gravel ride with a lot of climbing could easily take up to three hours.”
Myth 9: If You Can’t Ride Long, You Should Ride Hard
A lot of cyclists assume that rides need to fall into the long or hard category—bonus points if you do both in the same ride. But all that pushing can lead to burnout and overtraining, or at minimum, a plateau in results. A good training plan will include some longer rides and some rides with intervals, but will also have rest days and shorter, easier rides to give your body the recovery time it needs.
“People want to feel like they’re pushing themselves,” says Thomas. “But that’s generally the opposite way to make improvement on the bike. You need those easy rides and recovery days in a training plan if you want to see results.”
Molly Hurford
Contributing Writer
Molly writes about cycling, nutrition and training with an emphasis on bringing more women into sport. She's the author of nine books including the Shred Girls series and is the founder of Strong Girl Publishing. She co-hosts The Consummate Athlete Podcast and spends most of her free time biking and running on trails, occasionally joined by her mini-dachshund.
