I've been a bus/bike combo commuter for approx 12 years now. Beginning around age 16ish - which is when I was really looking for independence from my parents. In my province I very well could have completed the first driving test in the graduated license system at that time, but I was pretty against it. In Grade 9 civics, I memorably did a class presentation on a local LRT project (and yes - it's still in the works) that began with "I don't ever want to drive". Unfortunately, as an adult I have had to persue my drivers license. I only drive when my options are quite slim, and I do in fact hate it!! So yes, here are my various bike thoughts and some personal references.
Keeping this brief for now - but everytime I ride, I ride with the intention to wear something comfortable yes, but also something that is not designed to optimize riding. Lyrca has a place, and it's not in my commute, or my fun rides, or even a ride where I really push myself. I actively try to center the joy of riding, and the mental peace it brings me, the sense of freedom over anything that tells me I need to be sold bib shorts, carbon wheels, or 400 dollar glasses. I know people that have improved as riders on beaters, in jeans.
Particularly I try to embody an image on my bike that offers annecdotal evidence that the car driving office worker can just ride a bike too. Wear the suit jacket, skip the helmet, speak to the huge array of benefits. It's become some kind of deeply engrained personal mission to just making biking more standard in the communities I live and work in. Offering a living example often feels like one of the psychological impacts I can have on the people around me. Obviously, safe bike infrastructure is huge in order to get people choosing the bike over a car, amoung other things like a local riding community, access or knowledge of repair, general road safety knowledge (if you've seen people drive personal vehicles around each other, you know this knowledge is regrettablly uncommmon), bike access, safe and effective locking options or sharing options etc...
I'll come back to this later, but for now the video below from Houston Wilson offers some really impactful commentary towards this and describes some of my feelings quite well, while also providing some really amazing sports history.
To start to map out another paragraph I'll need to come back to again, one of the great aspects of riding a bike and making it one of the primary modes of trnasportation is the inherehent convivality of the tool. Bikes, most at least, continue to be truely modular tools where parts can be upgraded, exchanged, and repaired with relative ease. Modularity is one of the most elegant forms of design supporting multiple diverging avenues for customization and repair. Some bikes on the market have hit what Illich called the second watershed - but most that are purchased by the average person continue to be convivial.