Have you ever wondered how to look like a pro cyclist?
It’s not something out of nowhere. I believe this thought crossed to your mind before.
You saw those road cyclists with trendy road bikes in bike races, wearing stylish cycling outfit, sprinting to the finish line. – Did you admire them?
Or, you saw a road cyclist passing by when driving. – Did this catch your gaze?
Dang! Somehow, you wish you could look like a pro cyclist. To you, road biking is a lifestyle. It represents your social status. You look healthy and successful in life.
But, you kinda hesitate as you suck at cycling. So, how to look like a pro cyclist despite being terrible in cycling?
Well, you can pretend to look like a pro cyclist just fine, regardless of cycling skills.
Humans are VISUAL animals. We perceive what we see. Plus, it isn’t a crime to feign a pro cyclist. – So why not?
If you are ready, this post is for you. I’m going to share 10 silly tips on how to look like a pro cyclist.
1. Get a road bike
This is a no brainer. You can’t be a pro without a road bike, can you?
So, getting a road bike is the first thing to do.
Now, you have another concern. Well, road bike is freaking expensive. Look at the price of those high-tech carbon fibre and shiny titanium road bikes. – It’s just frustrating.
Remember, your purpose is to pretend to look like a pro and for showing off purpose. An AFFORDABLE one is all you need.
Because of this, you can consider a steel or aluminium road bike. – But, if you are really serious in road biking, then a carbon fibre or titanium road bike is for you.
It doesn’t mean you are a cheapskate. If a new one is still too much for you, then get a SECOND HAND bike.
Or, if you RARELY ride, you can rent a road bike at bike rental shop, too. – Of course, don’t tell anyone about this.
2. Helmet
You notice all road bikers wear helmets. The helmets come with various designs and styles. – And they look cool.
What should you do then? – Follow them and get a bike helmet, for sure!
What bike helmets should you get? You can get either a ROAD helmet or a COMMUTER helmet. They are about the same, with a slight difference in the shape of helmet.
But, I’d like to clarify that this tip is not really silly. Bike helmets protect our head. So it is an essential gear, rather than a decoration.
So, you need a bike helmet that truly fits your head and has the necessary features, such as safety standard, ventilation, retention, etc.
Remember. Don’t even think of borrowing from someone else. Here are why:
- Reason 1: The size might not be right. And this compromises the safety measures.
- Reason 2: You might get a “damaged” bike helmet. Bike helmets are designed to withstand collision ONCE. And after this, we should replace it even if we can’t spot any damage on the surface.
I have written a detailed post on how to choose the right bike helmet. You can read the post for more details.
3. Cycling outfit
Let’s be honest. We are attracted to road biking because of the stylish cycling outfit.
Look at the TIGHT cycling clothes, which expose cyclists’ body figure. My goodness.
Cycling clothes are just one part to consider. Check from your head to your legs. You have sunglasses (also the bike helmet), cycling clothes (top and bottom), shoes, and socks.
These things are a whole package to make you look SPORTY and OUTGOING.
You can’t afford to forgo anyone of this. Meaning, you have to make sure you have ALL of these when cycling or posting for pictures.
3.1 “Essential” gear
Let’s look the essential gear one-by-one:
- Sunglasses – The easiest one. Get any pair of sunglasses will do.
- Cycling top – Choose BRIGHT colour top, such as red, yellow, pink, white. Fluorescence is better, as this attracts attention and helps reflect light when cycling at night (though you won’t be cycling at night most probably, lol)
- Cycling bottom – You can consider DARK colour bottom, such as black, navy, etc. This is just a common fashion sense, as it creates distinction from cycling top for visual purpose.
- Cycling shoes – Although you can wear sneakers for cycling, wearing cycling shoes make you look more like a pro.
- Socks – Beware of the LENGTH of socks. The socks should be around your calf level. If the level is too high, you look like a footballer. If it is too low, you look like a jogger.
After all, you wanna look great after putting on cycling outfit. Remember. Cycling outfit is FASHION.
Try them all to make sure everything is matched.
4. Carry spare
Whether you know how to fix or replace a punctured tube or not, you can carry some basic equipment and a spare tube whenever you go cycling.
You want to send SIGNAL to others that you care about your bike. You take care of it and know how to fix it (even if you dunno).
Why? Because a pro cyclists should know how to fix a flat tyre.
Good news. You can fit these simple items in a small pocket:
- A small tyre lever
- Spare tubes
- A mini pump
- Tape
With that being said, I still recommend you to learn fixing or replacing punctured tube on your own. It’s much easier than you think.
So, you don’t really have to feign, per see, because you really know how to fix and replace this.
Let’s look at the video from Global Cycling Network on how to change road bike tyre road side.
5. Don’t apply sunscreen
Road bike, checked. Bike helmet, checked. Cycling outfit, checked. – Everything checked.
You really look like a pro cyclist, don’t you? Well, not yet. And you still miss something.
And that thing is every cyclist’s nightmare. – That is, TAN LINE.
You know we can get tan line due to prolonged sun exposure. And if we ride on the road too often, we get that ugly tan line. – Your arms, legs, and your face.
In other words, tan line shows how hardcore you are riding a road bike. While pro cyclists despise this, tan line is a “trademark” for amateur cyclist.
Clearly, if you adore tan line, you can choose not to apply sunscreen purposely.
This seems like a dangerous tip. Yes, it does. But, I stand corrected. You can skip apply sunscreen ONCE IN A WHILE.
If you cycle quite often, you need to apply sunscreen. After all, skin PROTECTION is the utmost importance. You can’t forgo skin health over sun tan.
6. Feign confidence
“Fake it till you make it”. You often hear this from self-help gurus.
Sometimes, I wonder if this really works. I mean, how to feign confidence but in fact if I was scared as hell.
Until I realize this (and I’m still working on it): we can control our expression.
When it comes to riding a road bike, you might be embarrassed because you are comparing yourself with the pro road cyclists. And this upsets your self-confidence.
So, to look like a pro cyclist, you need to LOOK confident, despite you have nothing to support yourself.
Here’s what you can do for real.
No matter how clueless you are, DO NOT show your emotions on your face. No laughing, no frowning, no eye-widening……
When you remain emotionless, people think you are being serious.
This makes you look unapproachable, which is what you want, to avoid being asked about cycling related questions.
And if someone asks you, try to give some excuses to avoid the questions or give indirect / general answers.
7. Social media
You always see your friends posting gym photos on social media. Then, you admire them as they work so hard to stay healthy.
The truth is, you don’t even know if they really work out at the gym. Who knows they go to the gym just to take photos for social media?
Social media is a double-edged sword. You think it is toxic, which only shows the “glamorous” side of the users. But, it also means you can use this to make you look like a pro cyclist.
It’s easy. Whenever you go cycling, don’t forget to take pictures of you and your road bike. Next, UPLOAD the pictures on social media with cycling related HASHTAGS.
This is still not enough. Try to upload your cycling BLOOPERS, such as sun burn or tan line.
These make your riding session much more convincing. That’s because only pro cyclists can relate to these……
Besides, why not join some cycling groups on social media? Your followers get the updates you share.
You can share some random cycling stuff even if you have zero interest. But, the truth is, your followers THINK you care. – And this is what you care about.
8. Stop by café / grocery stores
Obviously, you need to stop by café or grocery stores to buy food or drink, or even use the bathroom.
But, even if you don’t need these, you can still stop by. At least allow yourself to take a break from cycling.
Food or drink is not the main thing you want. What you want is to let the customers in the café or grocery stores to notice you as a pro cyclist. – Of course, with the gorgeous cycling outfit.
After all, it might look creepy if you keep loitering without buying anything. Buy some cheap snacks and coffee to make it look natural.
You want to do this as if you don’t care about public attention, which in fact you do. That’s what make you look like a pro cyclist.
Oh, don’t forget to take pictures and upload on social media!
In short, you try to be “HIGH PROFILE” to remain as low profile. – I hope this makes sense to you.
Having said that, make sure you lock your road bike properly. Bike theft is real. You don’t want to risk losing your bike for the sake of acting to look like a pro cyclist.
9. Avoid group riding
This seems controversial. I mean, come on! We want to get public attention. And yet, avoid group riding?
Sounds absurd, right?
Let’s think about it. Public attention is what you need to make people think you are a pro cyclist. Most of the time, they perceive as it is and won’t question you.
That’s not the case for group riding. Group riding seems simple, but there a lot of traps, which you can get busted.
Not convincing? You are dealing with REAL pro cyclists. They know everything about cycling. The moment when you speak, they know whether you are being real or acting.
Even if you don’t speak at all, your every movement could betray you. Hence, you could be “caught” without knowing, at all.
Besides, there are many things to learn when group riding, such as group riding etiquette, hand signal, etc. And these are all traps, if you know nothing about these……
If someone asks you to join any group riding, you can give some random excuses to decline the invite.
Well, if you want to be a real pro cyclist, then you absolutely can join them. And get ready to learn and have fun!
10. Strike bike related conversation
Why is World Cup one of the biggest events in the world, just like the Olympic Games?
So many football fans love watching football. And do you think they all know how to play football? – Certainly, no.
Despite this, you can feel their passion for football. They talk about football and they STAN certain footballers or clubs.
To you, they truly love and know a lot about football. Sometimes, you dare not challenge their standpoint……
So, you can use the same way to make you look like a pro cyclist. When chatting with someone, just RANDOMLY and INDIRECTLY throw some cycling info.
You can talk about bike race updates or any cyclist gossips. It doesn’t matter if you know in details or intend to join any bike race. – Guess what. You don’t have to prove at all.
The fact that you raise these when chatting shows you know about cycling. And the most important thing is, others “feel” your passion for cycling.
However, you can only do this to non-cyclists. You can keep bragging and they won’t even dare to challenge you.
Final thought: how to look like a pro cyclist
Pretending to look like a pro cyclist isn’t hard. After all, you don’t need superb cycling skills and knowledge.
If this is your guilty pleasure, then why not? You won’t hurt anyone. Indulge yourself to be a “shallow” person and have fun pretending to be a pro cyclist!
Of course, this won’t last. You still haven’t experienced the real moment of cycling.
Having said that, why not put your effort in mastering cycling skills? By that time, you don’t even have to ACT because you truly are a REAL pro cyclist.
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