The big change comes if you enter the arena of indoor cycle racing – this is a serious decision, and one where tenths, even hundredths of a second can mean the difference between glorious gold or loser silver – and this means totally stripped down equipment as well; fixed gear bikes, so no freewheeling, just a single gear to remove all unnecessary weight and less chance of mechanical failures! And cycling shirts, in the conventional sense, may not be good enough for track racing. They’ll be okay for building up endurance, but if you want to improve on your lap times, you should think about wearing the same gear you would use for actual racing. The indoor specialists tend to wear cycling clothing that incorporates both a cycling shirt and cycling shorts into a single skin suit. Skin suits reduce the drag that would be involved when using the baggier types of cycling shirts. This can make all the difference in a competitive event.

Olympic Champion Victoria Pendleton

All the serious contenders on the world competitive stage are wearing the one piece skin suits, as well as more aerodynamic helmets, and the bikes they ride are designed to be light and aerodynamic also. Like motor racing, a lot of thought goes into the engineering of these bikes and the riders, in order to squeeze out maximum speed and power for indoor sprint racing.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics saw the GB Team flying around the track to take a record-winning haul of cycling medals. This was possible because of the rigorous training, supreme talent, hard work and the application of the right kit, and this includes the use of the best clothing – though of course, all teams do use skin suits to grab a few hundredths of a second advantage.

One of the great success stories of 2008 was the awesome Victoria Pendleton (above, photo from Wiki), who became the Individual Olympic Women’s Sprint Champion. She was already the British and World Champion for sprint cycling for 2007 and 2008, and has achieved champion status again this year!

Perhaps the biggest name to reach wide public acclaim because of Beijing is the cycling power-house Chris Hoy. He was the first British Olympian in over a century to win three gold medals at a single tournament, winning Individual Sprint, Team Sprint and Men’s Keirin golds!

So there are great rewards to be had from doing the right training and using the right equipment and clothing. Just remember though, that these guys are really travelling when they race, and a collision can mean serious injuries. Whether you’re wearing cycling shirts or skin suits, you don’t get much protection when you hit the track at upto 70km/h, as you can see from Chris Hoy’s terrifying crash at Copenhagen in February this year. Thankfully he’s fine.

Obviously the professional racing cyclists wear specialized cycle jerseys to display which team they ride for, and also to advertise their team sponsors. But if you just like to hurtle along normal streets in town, you may be better off wearing a cycling shirt as many of them are made in a vast array of eye-catching and sometimes garish color schemes. This is a good thing if you are riding in busy towns with a lot of traffic on the roads – basically you want to be seen by other road users. So if you are not a racer, think of the bright colors as a safety feature.

A quite separate advantage of wearing cycling shirts is that they are tailored to be longer at the back than the front. You will be leaning over most of the time if you are riding at speed, and will prefer for your shirt not to slide halfway up your back. The front is normally fastened using a long zipper, and obviously you can adjust this to where you want it, to cool down if you’ve been training hard or the weather is very hot.

On the subject of comfort, many cycling shirts these days are made from Hi-Tec fabrics which allow breathability. In other words, like specialized garments that runners wear, the material wicks away moisture from the skin surface of the wearer, and so these shirts help to keep you comfortable and dry.

Cycling jerseys generally have pockets which are on the rear; heavy items can get in the way if the pockets are on the front of the shirt. Some have multiple pockets, some have zips on the pockets, which are the ones I prefer as things don’t fall out of them!

If you are cycling in colder weather you can wear long sleeved cycling shirts, some of which are designed to keep you warm, with elasticated cuffs and waistbands, and the all-important moisure wicking ability.

So the main tips (and reasons)  for getting a cycling shirt are to decide on long or short sleeves; aim to buy a jersey that wicks moisture away from your skin, as it will keep you so much more comfortable during rides which require periods of high and low intensity. And use a cycling shirt that allows you to be highly visible to motorists – bright yellow, green or red are good colors to try.