Originally Posted by
livedarklions
Yeah, yeah, know the party line. I just don't subscribe to much of it.
I don't race, but I ride many, many miles in aero position, and quite fast. For some reason, I don't chafe in my cargo shorts.
As a kid my friends and I would ride all day - almost quite literally, we'd take packed lunches and head out and not return home until light was fading. Many hours were spent actually riding as opposed to simply hanging out. Normal clothes. No chafing. We also spent much of our time barefoot (South Africa) and could walk and run on terrain most would wish shoes for so obviously we can get used to something by toughening up our skin in exposed areas through repeated use.
All that said, yesterday on my Sunday team ride we averaged 36km/h (22.4mph) for 118km (73mi) with 1300m (4267ft) climbing and breakaway and sprint speeds of up to 63km/h (39mph). I defy anyone to wear cargo shorts on rides similar to that and faster and honestly say they are truly comfortable. This doesn't mean not possible, it certainly is if one was stubbornly opposed to alternatives for personal reasons that they do not have to justify, we wear what we like and shouldn't be judged on it, but it just won't be as comfortable as it could have been if so desired.
Edited to add: I have experience in this comparison. As a young aspiring racer, I wore out my two pairs of cycling shorts at the time, cheap chamois was wrecked and so removed. I wore normal underwear instead beneath the lycra. I did this for a good couple of years before I could afford new shorts - more because I spent what income I had on bike parts first! I got 'used' to it. I preferred the lycra still because it still felt better training and racing in hot South African weather and...aero. But I may as well have been wearing cargo shorts or similar in terms of padded comfort because it didn't exist.
Even so, when I got another pair of padded shorts, I found them much more comfortable. As a kid we preferred no shoes as I wrote above. But that was just lazy kid stuff. Shoes are still more comfortable on rough terrain. Putting up and making do for whatever reason is perfectly fine if that is what we want to do but doesn't mean that there aren't alternatives that are more comfortable should we decide to use them at some point.