CODY SHIMIZU

A look into my life, a journal to look back on, a blog for others to see.

My friends I’ve made through cycling will know that when I ride bikes, I wear baggy shorts over the cycling shorts. For those of you that don’t know in cycling we get to wear these nice padded spandex shorts that prevent our butts from getting too sore, now most people who race whether it be cross-country mountain biking, cyclocross (if you don’t know you should look it up, it’s a cool discipline of cycling), or road riding, people typically just wear their spandex cycling shorts and nothing else. Now with the exclusion of road racing I’m not a big fan of riding with just spandex shorts, I think it looks weird in my opinion. So, like many casual mountain bikers out there I like to wear some baggy shorts over my cycling shorts.

Lets start from the beginning

A quick background. I first got into riding my bike through commuting with it to my junior high, then my friend invited me to do the MS bike tour which gave me an excuse to upgrade from the heavy Walmart bike I was riding. After truly feeling the joys of what a real bike felt like I started going on rides with Redbike where I met Mark who introduced me into cross-country mountain bike races (typically lasts 1 – 1.5hrs, a 4-7 lap race on a course about 5km long with ~150m of elevation per lap consisting of double track and single track trails). When I first got into riding I didn’t even know about the existence of cycling shorts, so inevitably I wore my trusty cargo shorts, I could stock the pockets full of Clif Bars.

As I rode more and more I learnt about cycling and its culture around people, coffee, and style (yes people are very particular about style in cycling, especially socks). As my rides took me further and further my need for cycling shorts became more and more evident, but as an impressionable young kid idolizing the likes of Aaron Gwin, Stevie Smith, and Marco Fontana, all of whom who rock baggy shorts I didn’t like the look of just wearing spandex. I was a mountain biker, not a roadie. So I just kept rocking my cargo shorts over my cycling shorts, and eventually proper cycling specific baggy shorts.

As my cycling progressed I started riding with my local club (Juventus Cycling Club), and with the increased training more time spend on the road bike. For some reason, people couldn’t wrap their minds around how I still wanted to wear my baggy shorts while road riding. I got ridiculed. Often.

My choice to wear baggy shorts started off as a fashion choice, supposed to represent my identity as a mountain biker, but it meant so much more. As a young Asian kid growing up in Edmonton being different wasn’t anything new to me. In elementary school I didn’t even know what the concept of race was but all I knew was that I wasn’t like the others. That’s why I loved wearing hats and sunglasses, I didn’t know what it meant but it hid my black eyes and black hair, maybe they would accept me. But as I grew older, more aware of the world around me I wanted to be more comfortable with who I was. How different I was.

When people started asking me why in the world I would wear baggy shorts I started telling them it was a f*ck you to cycling culture. That just because “that what people do” shouldn’t determine what I want to wear. Also it was a little reminder of how fun cycling should be. As serious I was taking cycling, I saw the people around me and how up tight they were about the sport, how people should ride, what they should wear, how they should look, the baggy shorts reminded me to try and not get caught up in the toxic culture of cycling. At the same time sticking to my guts about the shorts I think I was just trying to prove to myself that being different is okay, no matter what other people think of you that shouldn’t change who you are.

I still remember a specific incident that I don’t think I can ever forget. When my cycling club was out in Penticton, BC for a spring break road training camp I had a big crash after hitting a big chunk of asphalt, my helmet was cracked in about 10 different places, I chipped about 3 of my front tooth, along with numerous road rashes, I was in a lot of pain. Thankfully after going to the hospital I miraculously didn’t have any signs of a concussion so I went out to buy a helmet determined to ride the next day. The next morning as we were all getting ready for the ride the other guys who were out in Penticton with the club was commenting on how I was still wearing my baggy shorts, albeit annoying it wasn’t something new, I shot back with a few come backs, but I’ll never forget what they told me “I hope you crash again”. They probably didn’t realize how traumatizing the crash was for me, maybe they didn’t mean to hurt me as much as they did, at least I hope so. But years later I still can’t forget. I don’t think I ever can.

As the years went along and I’ve had the opportunity to meet many great people of the Alberta cycling community, I’m still sometimes astounded about the comments I get just for wearing baggy shorts when I’m racing. People tell me how unprofessional I look, how it disrespects the sport, how stupid I look wearing it. I just don’t get it. Evan Guthrie a respected pro in the Canadian and international mountain bike circuit, rocks baggy shorts at nationals to a 5th place finish, yet the guy who gets pulled after 2 laps of racing wears baggy shorts and its disrespectful to the sport!? You’ve got to be kidding me! At cyclocross nationals in Winnipeg for the 2 years it was there a guy raced the elite race in a Hawaiian shirt and baggy shorts, the fans loved him. But when I do it I look unprofessional? I don’t get paid to friggin race, so why do you care? And if you think I look stupid keep it to yourself, like your parents should’ve taught you if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it!

To all the haters out there, forever enjoy seeing my ass through my baggy shorts.