Apropos of wearing loose clothing (well remembered, Senoufou!), it always amuses me to see these recreational cyclists round here, on our rough, twisty, hilly roads, on their jarring, super-light bikes with ultra-thin tyres, wearing skin-tight Lycra even in hot sunshine and shoes that you can't walk in when you finally manage to unhitch yourself from the pedals. For years I cycled to work and back, 22 miles a day, wearing trainers that slid nicely into my pedal cages with their adjustable straps, baggy cycling shorts in summer and jogging bottoms in winter (I'll concede that I wore thermal tights in extreme cold - down, girls!) and a fleecy top if needed. For longer rides something with a chamois-padded gusset was de rigeur. I hate tight anything about my person and would always rather be slightly cold than too hot. It's the honest truth when I tell you that not ONCE was I ever overtaken by a Lycra-alien! I always used 32mm touring tyres with good treads and I swore by my Brooks leather saddle. To a man or woman, I never see a single one of those Lycra dudes who ever looks anything other than thoroughly miserable. I really used to enjoy my bike-riding!

In a lot of sports you don't want your bodybits bouncing up and down, as this vertical activity is a waste of the energy needed for forward motion. Sprung saddles and shock absorbers on bikes are similarly a no-no if you want road speed. Bouncy boobs and dangly family jewels are similar liabilities, not to speak of uncomfortable. Such appurtenances may need some constraining, though most female athletes don't seem to have especially big breasts (so I'm told - naturally, I'm far too polite to look). There'll be lots of good technical advice out there, though I'm told that getting a correctly-fitting bra can be fraught, sports version or not.