Why do cyclists have to wear all that lycra?

[aponi]

I thought the OP was referring to questions asked by non-cyclists, not by budding cyclists or people otherwise genuinely interested.

I don't think I've ever been asked point-blank why cyclists wear so much lycra, but I've certainly heard lycra ridiculed a million times in anti-cyclist posts. It never fails - any article writing anything at all about cycling, whether it's positive or negative, about commuting or racing or little old ladies, will get a rash of comments saying something like "what the bleepitybleep do they think they're doing out there anyway, wagging their fat fannies in multicoloured shiny condom suits* "

*the epithet of choice in Norwegian

^^this