Whilst the cycling world has been airing its dirty laundry in public I have been battling my own demons.

Is white Lycra appropriate for a middle aged man? When I first got my bike I took the family on a reconnaissance trip into Kuringai National Park to check out cycling routes. During the drive around we sat behind a rather large man on a road bike wearing white Lycra shorts. It left absolutely nothing to the imagination with bulges and overhangs and a padded arse that looked suspiciously like a rather large nappy!

I swore that black Lycra was the only way to go. Over a year later I have just bought some white Lycra bib shorts. They are not completely white, they are black on the bottom and white on the front,  but I am still not sure if this is really getting a little out of control. I got them to go with my G.S. Carpano, black and white Italian stripped retro jersey (It is a replica of a 1960’s jersey modelled on the Juventus football strip), which probably makes me sound even sadder.

I wonder if I have crossed over from being a slightly deranged middle aged man, to a truly sad git who quite frankly should know better.

Regardless of what I may look like, my new goal on the road is to ride my bike fast enough so I don’t have to sit behind any other cyclists wearing white Lycra.

I wonder what they would have made of a " decaf skim latte" and white Lycra?