Cyclists: The greenest people alive?

Ironing clothes is possibly the most mundane and unnecessary of activities on the planet. If you don't believe me, ask yourself this: why do we iron our clothes?
I was in the military for a number of years and I can assure you I have spent hundreds of wasted hours over these stupid devices, flattening my clothes. Because thats all they do - remove creases. Surely if EVERYONE stopped ironing then we wouldn't give a continental hoo-haa about the patina of the fabric we wear?

I delved deep into the origins of this wasteful task and discovered that people started rubbing fire-heated metal devices over their clothing for one purpose only: to either remove or kill bugs and spiders from the various folds within the washed fabric. Now that makes perfect sense to me. I would rather take the time to flatten out my clothes and shoo out a black widow spider from the crotch of my jean-pant than have the liquid heat poison of spider venom punctured into my scrotum. Just saying.
Blantyre Piddlington (circa 1788) shows a helpless tick who is boss when she fries the little crawly with her new coal-powered "Steel Boxer 170"iron. 
But this is a classic example of where evolution failed us. Whilst technology moved forward and we were able to increase the effectiveness of the actual fabrics and washing process (thereby denying Brutus the Baboon Spider of safe sanctuary in the shadowy folds of my undergarment), the human race then diverting ironing into a fashion practise. "Flat clothes", we obviously said, "are here to stay!"
What were we thinking? A standard 1600W steam-iron uses about 0.13kWh of electricity over a 35 minute ironing session. Thats enough electricity to...um...keep Pofadders lights on for about...er...3 minutes (although I'm not exactly sure. But some electrical engineer out there could work this out using the formula below:)

Go on - try it. No one in Eskom has even seen this formula, let alone apply it!
Irons also blast out heat at a rate of 110-180 degrees celsius...in nearly every household...nearly everyday! And no-one even mentions the impact this has on climate change! Next time you comment on how cold this winter has been; or when a tsunami wipes out a small nation of island people - look in the mirror and ask yourself: was having a crease down my sleeve worth it? Did my needing flat pants contribute to that disaster? Think about it....
Now in terms of wastage, I personally think the time spent gripping the hot, steaming device is more of a waste of riding time than the actual electricity consumed  - I mean, you could ride at least 12 km's in the mountain over a 35 minute period....but instead, there you were, listening to the gurgle-hiss of your erratic steam-iron flattening the inner seam of your cotton vest worn under your work shirt....

Seriously, think about it though: ironing your clothes to make them flat serves no purpose to man or beast. Yet you'll see households of people frantically opening ironing boards on  Monday morning to press the school shirt; kids getting chased back to their rooms to wear a shirt that isn't that creased; or men in hotel rooms neatening their business shirts on makeshift ironing surfaces....its a developed-world problem, people.

Now the last time you checked this was a cycling blog. And here I am questioning the logic of ironing. So whats the link? Its simple really - apart from the fact that we like to use bicycles instead of cars (big greeny points), the clothes we cycle in can't be ironed. And will never be ironed. So thats double...no, TRIPLE, greeny points. Therefore, every time we slip on our tight-fitting lycra and propel ourselves on our self-powered bicycles, we are saving the planet, one pedal stroke at a time. And if we were really clever, we would opt for a less is more approach to cycling clothing. Perhaps something like this:

The greenest cycling outfit ever. No washing or ironing needed. And she, like the rest of the cycling community, is very happy about that!
Want to save the planet? Go for a ride.