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Just ask coach and mountain bike icon Alison Dunlap. The 2001 XC World Champion made one of the most common slip-ups during her first major collegiate race: wearing underwear.

“This was the biggest event I’d done in my life, and I was scared out of my brain. Literally 10 minutes before the start, this guy I had the biggest crush on comes up to me and says, ‘I don’t know how to tell you this, but you’re not supposed to wear underwear under your bike shorts.’ Our shorts had white panels down the sides, so I’m sure he could see the color of the flowers on my panties. I was horrified,” Dunlap told Bicycling in a 2010 interview.

Whoops!

Dunlap actually ducked into a porta-potty and stashed her undies in her jersey pocket before dashing back to the start line. The moral of the story is: Confusion happens to the best of us. But we’ll spare you those uncomfortable newbie moments with this easy guide to wearing those padded bike shorts properly.