Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for April 08, 2022

Don’t get me started on the fanny pack.

Afterwards, Dad will ask, “Why you crying?”

At least Dad’s bike doesn’t attack him all the time.

Should have been a bright neon color strip

He looks more like a space alien than someone about to go on a bike ride…

I remember when all you needed was ordinary clothes and a pair of bicycle clips round your trousers.

I like Dilbert’s “Bicycle seats are uncomfortable”… solution: “Dorky pants”.

I’d laugh too, really. Except — and I am all-too-unfortunately NOT making this up — I looked out the bus window day before yesterday when we were moving through the downtown, and the police were zipping a bicyclist into a body bag. The downtown’s congested, and traffic CAN’T move fast. Inference is that he hit his head. He wasn’t wearing a helmet.

Well, he has a point and he’s being safe.

and the helmet was designed after a long study of woodpecker heads – and how they withstand the pounding… I am sure that it was government funded, too.

Don’t be like Jef the Cyclist in PBS.

No elbow and knee guards??

Betcha he breaks both arms and both legs!!

The comics are well staffed with “men-children”: Calvin’s dad, Adam@Home, Dagwood Bumstead, etc.

Share the road, Dad. And don’t ride on the sidewalk.

I used to cycle to work, around 37 miles (60km) total. The endless comments I would keep reading about the ‘ridiculous’ clothing cyclists would wear, did they think someone like myself was ‘popping to the shops’, or wearing it to pretend we were ‘tour de france’ riders?

This was a form of transport and a quite energetic (and potentially exhausting) one. I and plenty of others doing the same, were wearing what was practical for us; that some morons who did no more exercise than getting to and from their car, thought otherwise, wasn’t going to change it, or convince me that somehow a 3-piece suit was ‘more normal’.

Remember this the next time she asks if this makes her bum look big……

The only time a helmet helped me was from an Aussie Magpie swoop.

Cycling gives middle-aged men a reason to wear Spandex.

I am sorry for dad.

Squirting them with his water bottle is proof positive that silliness is hereditary. Dad inherited it from Calvin.

HAH! Down here (Oztralia) we refer to blokes like him as a MAMIL (Middle age male in lycra)

Cal “bowling ball” crack is a hoot. Heh heh heh, I said “crack” heh heh heh

The inference is that he squirted one of them with his water bottle…

I have actually forgotten how to ride a bike.

I agree with Mom and Calvin. Those outfits look ridiculous.

Or just, y’know, maybe not dress like a doofus…?

Nope. Still ridiculous. Not sorry.

She should be happy is he is keeping fit

Sigh, so silly. How about all the camo some wear everywhere, instead of for hunting? How about yoga pants in the grocery store? How about pajamas at Walmart? How about speedos anywhere? We cyclists only where cycling clothes while cycling, where they are needed. Rigid lasted shoes for support, toe clips for reliable attachment to the pedals, padded lycra shorts for comfort and to eliminate chafing, fitted and colorful shirt to reduce drag and increase the likelihood of being seen by myopic drivers, a helmet because something (usually driver induced) head banging could happen and glasses to protect from wind, bugs and road debris.

Don’t let Pastis see you!

The only thing worse than Jef the cyclist is a wannabe Jef the cyclist…

So Calvin was amused by the helmet, but not the bike shorts?

I referred to today’s strip last year as an example of how Mom is non-supportive of Dad’s hobby of cycling.

I had the distinct pleasure of catching up to a guy in a convertible who cut me off on my bicycle while I was commuting to work and soaking him. His girlfriend (I assume) in the seat next to him thought it was hilarious.

BTW – this was in Massachusetts, some 30 years ago. I wouldn’t advise it in a place like present-day Florida.

My theory is that those who do not wear a helmet have nothing under their skull worth protecting.

cyclists are such dweebs

I remember reading a pretty anvilicious book in elementary school where the narrator’s brother refused to wear a bike helmet because he thought it made him look stupid. The book was about the narrator and her family coming to terms with his death from a bike accident.

Tie Calvin with a leash to the side of the bike and run him into a coma. The world will thank him.

Relax Dad, being laughed at builds character.

Actually I’ve often wondered how those half clam shells are suppose to protect your head if you fell off a bike.

Squirting water bottles have their uses. My back window doesn’t have a wiper so I discovered it is much faster to just squirt my water bottle on it to clear the frost and get going on cold dark and late nights after work. A coworker who noticed thought it quite inventive.

How that outfit took, I’ll never know. I used to love the old ways…getting hit by cars, landing on my head, broken appendages… Built character, they said.

Now I want a crossover with Jeff the Cyclist from Pearls.

Just sweat on them

Spandex should be illegal for people with a certain BMI, plus or minus!

The one thing Calvin and his mom can always agree on is making fun of Dad.

Nothing like going for a nice bike ride. I might go on one today!

I have never seen anything so ridiculous looking as myself when I wore spandex

Hope those “no helmets for me” characters are at least planning ahead enough to be organ donors.

Love the Mom’s smile in the first panel!

https://dilbert.com/strip/1994-07-18

There is nothing ‘practical’ about clothes without pockets.

Perhaps he should wait until the dizziness from the blood loss goes away.

A few years ago, I started adopting bicycling attire like Dad. My family at least understands it’s for practical reasons. We also watch the Tour De France every year too, so they do get it.

Calvin’s dad is a mega-dork!

As his bicycle helmet saved by son’s life when he was hit by a car, I have mixed feelings about this poking fun at bicycle safety equipment. The helmet broke, but his skull did not. The only reason why non racing cyclists need these helmets is because they are riding where cars are endangering them. Our experience has brought this fact to light. Please consider poking fun, instead, at the car drivers who look really stupid not knowing how to use their turn signals.

the helmet is the only reasonable looking thing.