Someone comes to you a half hour before the race and says I'm from the future and as it currently stands you, having trained hard and with your GF/wife/whatever and friends looking on, will get second place by a half second. He leaves and you look in your bag and find a skinsuit and know it will cut more than that amount of time off.
Looking the part and "growing" the sport through cooler clothes: Second place. Dressing for performance amidst looking dorky: First place. It's not silly, it's a real question.
No, you misunderstood me... or now that I look at it, my post was rather vague...
Anyway, I personally never wore a skinsuit. I was never fast enough for that to matter and in the Expert ranks, even in the top 3, the times were rarely that close. However, if I felt that wearing one would have put me on top of the podium (or hell... even
on the podium), you're damn right I would have, looks be damned...
What I meant was I think outlawing them is stupid as well as the arguement for doing so.
There's been a similar arguement off/on about clipless pedals in BMX...
No... I never understood not wearing armor either... but that seems to be mainly an Aussi thing... although since the Aussi's are among the top of the heep, they have a lot of copy-cats. Me, on the other hand: cycling shorts & jersey; V-Top pants; Dainese jacket; full-length pants and moto jersey (keeps the armor in place); FF helmet. Hot as hell sometimes, but a whole lot more comfortable than a cast... BTDT.