I grew up with cycling as our family's only privately owned form of transport...

[an uncle on the estate did drive a transit van for dodgy dealings
out in the countryside...]

So I've only ever cycled in my normal day to day clothing...

In my 20s I even took on my dad's old national service demob long overcoat, and cycle clips...

At 49 I was cycling in baggy cotton trousers and steel toe cap boots,
and still beating lycra clad wannabes
on short sprint race challenges from traffic lights...

That was a deliberate defiant 2 finger salute to youth and faddish bike culture fashions...

My secret weapon was core body and leg muscle built over years of gym weight training..
and a lifetime cycling for transport rather than weekend sport & lycra fashion parades......