When I first stared riding and posting here, I had a hand-me-down ca. 1990's GT steel mountain bike that was for someone 6' or taller (I'm 5'6 with very short legs), a pair of lightly padded danskin cottony/spandex compression (?) shorts - well, they were black and looked like the real thing - and a sort of wicking fabric t-shirt and work gloves cut off at the fingers for bicycle gloves.

I was (am) the Salvation Army Thrift Store model of cyclist.

What's important is that you are RIDING. The rest will come.