Loose Clothing?

[pooks]

On the Rivendell site they have an explanation of their approach to clothing.

It includes the following:

If you have any doubts that you can ride in normal clothing, consider that 200 million people worldwide do it every day. So it comes down to clothing for "serious, performance cycling," and that's when the clothing starts to look and feel funny. Based on the snug-fitting clothing of the famous comic book superheros, cycling clothing has continued to devolve to its current state, which is: Nobody in his or her right mind would wear the costume if they were the only ones.* That says something about it.

*Ain't that the truth!

We sell bike jerseys, and like them and wear them ourselves, when it’s appropriate or we just feel like it. The rear pockets are handy, but not essential, and a bag on a bike almost always carries whatever the pocket can carry, and does it better. Pockets are for getting at stuff while pedaling a bike that has no bags. Or, if you’re just going out for a short ride, a snack and a repair kit fit nicely in jersey pockets. Jerseys are good, but you don’t have to wear one all the time.

Starting now, we have our own line of bike clothing that doesn’t look like bike clothing, but works great for riding. It’s MUSA, and MUSA stands for Made In the U.S.A. So far the MUSA collection includes a top and two bottoms that are perfect for the cycling conditions for which they were designed, and don’t tag you as a cycler when you’re not around a bike. We’ll add to the MUSA ranges slowly as finances allow and there seems to be a need. Probably a rainshell will come next, or knickers.

Their clothes are baggy. The shirt is an oversized seersucker that is supposed to be very cool for summertime.

I'm just curious -- what do y'all think about it? Do you only ride seriously so are all about spandex? Or do you also ride recreationally and utility and still like spandex?

In a related aside, in an effort to find something longsleeved, lightweight and UV-protective I have worn one of my guide shirts (similar to this) over my cycling shorts and found it very loose and cool and comfortable, and it protected my arms really well. (It hasn't gotten hot here yet, though, so the jury is still out on how it will work in the heat of the summer.)

So, opinions? Anybody up for baggy seersucker?

By the way, I am not able to ride even short distances without padding, so if I were to wear regular clothes, I'd still have to have the padded underwear with it.