I loathe cotton t-shirts. Unfortunately , all the cool events I take part in give out free cotton t-shirts, so I have a whole drawer of them that I rarely wear. I may consider wearing one if the temp is appropriate (early fall weather is the most ideal, for me) but I hate how I sweat and the pits get discolored and the shirt sticks to me.

Check out Target or even Walmart in their exercise section. I got a nice t-shirt style wicking shirt at Target for something like $12 which isn't bad. I actually bought it because one day I had only brought my long sleeve jersey to work and it was way too hot to ride in it. I just rarely use it because I prefer to have something with pockets, since my compact frame bike has a very small frame-hung bikebag which won't fit some of the most important things (like car keys and $$ for ice cream rides).

Also, not all jerseys need to fit skin tight. The skin tight thing seems to me ideal if you're racing, but if you're not worried about time then whats a little extra flaping in the wind gonna do to harm you?

K.