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New Kit

12.02.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 6 Comments

At this morning’s ride, lots of club members were sporting our new kit. For several years, we’ve had a design that emphasized blue, yellow, and white — sometimes with blue dominating, sometimes with white the most prominent color.

But this year, the powers that be came up with a new design. It’s mainly white, with black and red trim. The “legacy” club logo remains in yellow. That bothered me, because I’ve never been a fan of yellow on white. But the finished kit looks pretty good.

The new kit. Hard to see, but the one it replaced is at back right.
The new kit. The one it replaced is at back right.

I showed up at the ride wearing my 2010 jersey, with blue as the dominant color. You can see it in the picture at the top of any Bike Noob page.

And here’s my dilemma: While I enjoy being part of the club, and the social benefits that have accrued from it, I don’t feel compelled to buy the latest new set of club kit that comes out.

It seems a new design comes out almost every year. Some members have every iteration in their collection. I, however, am content with one version.

Why? I’ve just got too many jerseys, that’s why. Cycling jerseys hold together pretty well, and ones that I bought five years ago are still in regular rotation.

“How many jerseys do you own?” asked a fellow club member, when we met on a ride a few months ago.

“Seven, I think,” I said. Let’s see…there’s the 50-Plus, the MS 150, the club jersey, the Hotter ‘n Hell, the old yellow one, the Penn State one, the old white and blue one, the red long-sleeved one, the summer weight short-sleeved one…why do I need another jersey?

Or should I suck it up and show my loyalty and pride in the club and pop for one of the new ones?

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Categories // Accessories Tags // clothing, jersey, team kit

Kitted Out

04.05.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

Okay, some of you have sent in pictures of your club kit — the matching jerseys and ancillary gear you wear on your club rides. Today, I’ll start featuring some of these from time to time.

The first examples come from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

This is from Team McAllen, the home club of our friend Ramon H. (That’s not Ramon in the shot — either on the left or the right). A nice orange-yellow gradient into the white, so the club’s name can be easily read. What you can’t see on the guy’s shorts is that the pale green stripe on the left leg is spotted with darker green palm trees in silhouette. Like many clubbers, Ramon says he only has the jersey–no bibs. However, he says he does try to wear the jersey whenever he’s out on club rides.

Ramon, you’ll recall, is one of the ringleaders of the 5 a.m. bike rides in the Valley. “We usually organize a weekend ride just with the folks in that group,” he says, “as opposed to riding with the local cycling clubs.  Yes, there are talks of coming up with a jersey design just for this.” 😀

Ramon also sent along a picture of another Valley club’s kit:

It’s the Sports Federation of the Valley. Between them and Team McAllen, it appears the Valley has some spiffy looking cyclists!

What? You think your club has a better-looking outfit? Well, put your picture where your mouth is. Send shots of you, or your fellow riders, all decked out, to rainycamp AT yahoo DOT com. I’d love to feature y0u, too.

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Categories // Accessories Tags // clothing, team kit

Tighty Whitey

05.02.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 14 Comments

Guest poster Jeff Hemmel tries a new look.

Today I rode in a white kit.

Not just a white shirt, not a colored outfit with some white accents, but a white kit — white jersey, white shorts, heck, I even had on white socks. What’s the big deal? I’m not quite sure, but I can tell you it was the most self-conscious 30 miles I’ve ever spent on a bike.

Jeff tries a white kit. What’s your take? Would you ride in this outfit?

Before this goes any further, let me clarify. No, I didn’t buy it. I’m working on a story on cycling gear, and Pearl Izumi sent this particular outfit. And truth be told, I really like it. The fabric is super comfortable, everything fits well, and the chamois is awesome.

So what’s the problem? I don’t know, but I just felt like, well …a poser. It was bad enough worrying about what people in their cars were thinking about a guy clad in a skintight white outfit, but the idea of coming upon another strong, legitimate cyclist? I was getting chills just thinking about it. (Well, not literal chills, but give me a little artistic license here.) As to what would happen had I needed to change a dirty tire or fix a greasy chain…I won’t even go there. The ridicule that would ensue should my tighty whiteys get slathered in grease might damage me for life.

So yes, the pressure was most definitely on. I skipped the call to a friend I ride with on weekday mornings and opted to go solo, I purposely chose a route where I wouldn’t see many people I knew in traffic, and I prayed I had timed everything right so that most people would be anywhere but on my intended route. If my name were Ted King or Mark Cavendish, I’d be wearing this outfit with pride. Heck, even if I was just the fast guy in the local club I might be confident enough to pull it off. But just Joe Average cyclist? I wasn’t worthy.

Silly? You tell me. I love the look of these outfits on the rack, or on pro race teams, but I just don’t think I could pull it off on a regular basis myself. Yeah, after a while I started to actually think I looked kind of cool, but don’t tell anybody, because I’ll deny it. My story is I was mortified…even if I did notice how tan and strong my legs looked offset by all that snowy white fabric.

Long story short, I love the gear, but I’ll probably mix-and-match from here on out. But I do have to admit, being the dude in the tighty whiteys did make me ride a little faster. Over the course of 30 miles, on a windy day with three bridges and three stoplights thrown into the mix, I averaged nearly 20 mph, probably an all-time best on this particular route when riding solo.

It’s amazing what a little embarrassment can do…

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Categories // Equipment, guest post Tags // bike shorts, jersey, team kit

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