Pushing Pedal Pushers

Those of you who spend time with me are aware of my fondness for rolled up slacks. I get the occasional confused look and I thought I'd set the world straight. Like Morty Seinfeld's beltless trenchcoat, I consider rolling up pants to calf length something of an invention and certainly a fashion statement. After all, who doesn't want to look like a pirate or a beachcomber?

For a fashion statement, pedal pushers are abysmally practical. I arrived upon the idea while working at Albertsons. I had amassed a collection of khaki pants for the job and with summer's onset I found my acquisitions unsuited to cart duty on hot summer days (in Dana Point this means the low eighties). When I returned to air conditioning's frigid embrace, my slacks easily reverted to their intended conformation. The following summer I did a fair amount of yard/handiwork and found that unlike shorts, pedal pushers provide serviceable knee protection.

While accumulating slacks I had let my shorts dwindle, so roll-ups filled a role soon necessitated by the Davis heat. Perhaps more importantly, the switch to bicycle transport made "pedal pushers" a foregone conclusion. Even in winter the threat of a gear snag mandates at least one leg be rolled up.


So in Davis I am not the only one with rolled up pants. The style has come to distinguish the ever-widening fixie circle. However, fixed-gear bike riders have an unnatural relationship with shoes and so my gears, backpack and especially my sandals mark me an outsider to the trend. Personally, I think sandals lend pedal pushers an elegant visual effect.