How short is too short?

It's a question I struggle with every year when it warms up. How much leg am I comfortable showing? As soon as it gets too warm for stockings, biking in any kind of skirted garment with bare legs just feels different. Even if whatever I have on is perfectly conservative, it always feels obscenely short as soon as I settle into the saddle and lean forward into the drops.

See? This little frock is just fine when standing up like a lady, but hop on the bike and ...

...whoa. Even if this is the same amount (or less) leg than I would be showing in a regular pair of shorts, it's different. Maybe it's that there's essentially a giant slit up the front of this dress or maybe it's that I can't exactly keep my knees together while pedaling. I just don't feel secure going around town without an extra layer for modesty. That's why I like to layer bike shorts underneath my springtime skirts.

I don't want to be that lady biking around town with her panties showing. And it's awfully distracting to be worrying about a hemline during a whole commute, not to mention unsafe. I'd rather just play it safe and sweat it out in the extra layer so I can still feel like a lady and get where I'm going in one piece.