Swimming in Bike Shorts Gave Me a Whole New Lease on Summer
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My friend Cecilia once told me something I’ve never forgotten when referring to how she felt wearing abathing suit: “I look great either fully clothed or totally naked,” she said. “There’s no in-between.”
I know very few people who really enjoy abathing suit. Shopping for them is worse. Not just psyching yourself up to look in the mirror after hiking it up and snapping yourself in but also deeply and honestly assessing the comfort level: Is this going to ride up or down? Will it cut off precious blood flow to my left armpit? No amount of high waists or hipster cuts have ever helped. I could not be fooled. For me, all of it was always bad.
And then there is this wholeothercan of Lycra to consider: How will I feel walking from chair to pool or whatever body of water one is lingering nearby during the hottest months of the year, knowing all persons present can actually see me in this thing when I am not sure I want to see me in this thing?
I didn’t grow up hating my body, but I’ve still always felt more comfortable hiding it. Maybehidingis the wrong word —concealingis better — in a constantly rotating cast of printed vintage coats and collars buttoned up to the tippy-top. That’s where I’m at: wrists, ankles, earlobes. Nothing more. Diane Keaton was my person, as I suspect she likely avoided ever thinking about bathing suits in public, too.
I don’t feel the same way I used to when I was 22 and wildly insecure about everything, least of all my bare backside. But walking around in public in a bathing suit is on another level of anxiety and humiliation for me. The fact that I am not a very good swimmer is likely the result of spending as little time as possible when I was younger wearing something to swim in.
But somehow, if you are a woman in this world, you are seemingly obligated to find and wear what is essentially spandex underwear in front of the entire world when it is 300 degrees outside. And I deeply hate this.
Most of my life, this could be avoided by basically never going swimming. Easy-peasy. But then my daughter came along, and swimming was no longer optional. Shelivesto swim, casting elaborate tales of underwater sea creatures and fast-talking mermaids while giddily leaping into my arms every five minutes giddily. Who could say “no” to that?
I didn’t plan on wearing bike shorts in my mother’s community pool, but one day, I just did it. As I was leaving her house in my black bra top and bikini bottoms, yet again feeling a gruesome ache bubble up inside like a nefarious stomach flu, I stopped, went back inside, impulsively grabbed some scissors, cut a pair of black leggings I had thrifted in half, and wore them over my bathing suit.
Crisis and intestinal distress averted. Since this discovery, I’ve learned other people feel the same, stopping just short of wearing a full scuba suit at their community beach or pool. These are also my people. And recently, I connected with the designer Angelina Rennell of Beklina, who designed a bikini similar to the one I made up: bike shorts and a generous bra top. It’s cute, and I wish I’d discovered her sooner.
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But here I am anyway with a whole new lease on summer and swimming and just being in the world as I am. It’s so funny to even say it, but a basic pair of thrifted black bike shorts showed me how.
Christene’s favorite bike-swim shorts
For shorts, these are my favorites: not too short but long enough to cover what I like to cover (too close to the knee is less comfortable for me in the water). I don’t worry about the fabric too much — whether pairs lean more cotton or nylon, they still dry pretty quick. As a rule, almost any thrift store will have some secondhand black bike or workout shorts available in either men’s or women’s if you need something in a pinch.
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… And the bathing suit tops she wears with them
My bathing-suit top is (old) Zara, but this Left On Friday one and this Venroy options are similar. I have an assortment of black, navy, and colored bikini tops that I wear with my bike shorts, too. Also, my cover-up is my most favorite robe byBlock Shop Textiles(I travel with it too!)
More swimsuits we love
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