This is a personal story, I’m warning you in advance!
When I’ve met the Adventure Syndicate folk at events, and watched Lee Craigie‘s video about riding the Caledonia Way, I’ve noticed their lovely merino tops, made by Scottish women’s cycling brand Findra. I loved the style, of course, and the little details, like the thumb-holes, and the great textured elbows – it’s really nice clothing, and the website is full of gorgeous things.
I’ve written about Velocio.cc before – the cycling clothing company set up by legend of women’s cycling, Kristy Scrymgeour, former cyclist, PR genius at HTC-Highroad and owner/manager of Specialized-lululemon, which morphed into Velocio-SRAM.
I’ve written about their original collection, their collaborations with pro cyclists Helen Wyman and Tiffany Cromwell, and the 2016 collection – and now it’s time for their new 2017 collection.
Velocio.cc sells full cycling kit for women and men, as well as ‘essentials‘ including socks, arm warmers, booties, caps and more. They have some really interesting clothing innovations aimed at riding in different conditions (Ultralight for riding in the heat, Zero for the cold, Recon outerwear, and so on) and I like that they keep pushing at improving the kit – the 2017 wind vest, for example, has been redesigned to reduce flapping.
The sizing guide is here, and the shipping page here (UK customers and others, just be aware the Post Office might charge you an import tax, as they’re sent to EU addresses from Ireland).
I have to say that I miss their gorgeous cyan-and-white patterned jersey (as worn by Tayler Wiles in this tweet)… and if you do too, there are still some available, at sale prices! Make sure you check out the entire sale page, because once the designs are gone, they’re gone…
If you want to know more about Kristy Scrymgeour, and her life with Velocio, read this interview with her from December, on Ella Cycling Tips. And as always, I don’t benefit in any way from sharing this – I just like it, and hope you will too.
Ex pro cyclist Iris Slappendel had always combined design work with her bike racing career, as she had a Design degree. She’s done all kinds of things, from designing bikes, to making websites to team-mates, to designing bike kit, for Milltag and for Strongher, for example, and most famously for the Dutch 2016 Olympic cycling team, and the UCI’s Road World Cup leaders’ jerseys. But now she’s launching her own bike kit brand, I Ride In Style, which sells cycling kit for women and men. The initial limited collection is available for pre-order until 29th March 2017.
Of course there are the cycling jerseys and bib shorts, for both men and women, but I love that Slappendel also includes some more affordable items too – a T shirt in women’s and men’s fits, a cap, and socks. And alongside the clothing, she has a collection of unique bags, made from recycled and upcycled materials, something she’s been selling for years – you can buy bags made from an old sofa, a leather jacket, a sleeping bag, and old coat.
Find out more on the website, including the size guide (up to XXL for women) and worldwide shipping guide (UK residents, remember you might need to pay an import tax when they arrive!). You can also follow on the I Ride In Style twitter and instagram, and sign up to a newsletter on the IRIS site. And of course, follow Slappendel on her twitter, instagram and personal website.
It’s that time of year again, when we’re waiting for the Spring Classics to start – and as is now traditional, I’m here to show you who’s wearing what kit, so it’s easier for you to work out who’s who when you’re watching all the live racing this year, and to give you the chance to vote for your favourites. I’ll also include links to any team shops, so you can buy jerseys, caps and much more.
I’m starting with kits from the teams that get automatic invitations to the 2017 UCI Women’s WorldTour stage races.
Update! The voting is now closed – but you can see the results at the bottom of the page. Will you guess who won?
I’ve also got Part 2 of the 2017 vote up now – these are the teams outside the UCI top 20, that were nominated by readers. There are some very different designs in there, so head over, have a look, and get voting!
The previous year’s kit posts are on Podium Café for 2014 and 2015, and here for last year’s votes for the WorldTour and the ‘Best of the Rest‘ – and you can buy the 2016 kits through the links for the WorldTour teams, and for the USA domestic squads.
All photos are from the team websites, unless otherwise stated – click through them for the sources and credits.
The kit has kept the same #YellowFlourance colour scheme that make them the easiest squad to pick out of the peloton, but the bubbles on the jersey have been swapped for squares, and the shorts are now black.
There are photos of the 2017 team presentation on the Alé Cipollini website, and on Cyclingnews, if you want to see more – and of course, you can watch Chloe Hosking win stage 3 of the 2017 Santos Women’s Tour, although she’s wearing the Sprint jersey, not the Alé kit, because she was doing so well.
Usually a variation of the kit, without all the sponsors etc, is for sale on the Alé Cycling site – it’s not up on the website yet, but if you like it, check back later in the year. Last year’s jersey was based on Alé’s ‘bubbles’ design, which is still for sale in the women’s winter jersey and jacket, and men’s winter jersey and jacket.
***
We’ve just finished a wonderful mini-season of North American UCI bike races – including the Amgen Tour of California, USA National Championships and Winston Salem races, GP Gatineau racs in Quebec, and the fantastic Philadelphia Classic (click through those links for videos) – and one of the great things about the series is the domestic teams and riders getting international exposure. If you’ve loved watching the women’s teams race, and want to support them – or just like their style – here’s how you can buy their cycling kit.
These are the USA team kits I can find – with the American WorldTour teams in Part 1 of my summer shopping special. If there are any I’ve missed, please do link me up in the comments, or on twitter, and I’ll edit them in.
***
Colavita-BianchiThe team kit’s in that Bianchi Celeste, and you can buy the jersey and bibshorts in unisex cuts (they advise women buy a size down, as they’re sized for men) along with arm-warmers, baseball cap and cycling cap. These are all on the cycling store page of Colavita’s online shop, where you can buy all kinds of Italian food, coffee and gift ideas. They’ve been a sponsor of USA women’s racing for years, so why not buy something from them, and tell them it’s because of the links to the team! And for an extra link to the squad, the team website includes pages of recipes from the team, riders and their friends.
With the 2016 Women’s World Tour starting on Saturday at the Strade Bianche, it’s a great time to show your support for your favourite women’s pro cycling teams – and luckily for us, we have two great places to buy kit from two of the biggest teams out there – Boels-Dolmans and Canyon-SRAM – UPDATE! and now you can buy the Liv-Plantur jersey too!
Boels have been the team of the 2016 Classics season so far, with Road World Champion Lizzie Armitstead winning the Omloop het Niewsblad and Evelyn Stevens setting a new Hour Record last Saturday, and Chantal Blaak taking her second Le Samyn des Dames win yesterday after coming second in OhN – and this is after Ellen van Dijk won Stage 3 of the Ladies Tour of Qatar, and she and Romy Kasper were on the final GC podium!
This year’s kit is more orange than last year’s, and if you’d like to look like all their stars, you can buy the team kit for women and men – and that’s just the beginning, their webshop is great, with everything from bidons and caps, socks and accessories to rainbow jerseys signed by Armitstead (OMG!). At the moment they’re only set up for payments in Euros, but international payments will be added next week – keep an eye on the Boels-Dolmans twitter for updates, & if you have any problems, they’re VERY friendly.
***
If you follow the Australian Subaru National Road Series, you’ll definitely know this team, as Ruth Corset won the 2015 series, and their riders are all over the races. And I’m sure you’ve heard of their team manager Dr Bridie O’Donnell, who’s always such an interesting voice in cycling – and in January was the first 2016 rider to break the UCI Hour Record (listen to or read my interview with her about it).
Their kit is bright and colourful, and you can now buy the full kit package, jersey, bib-shorts and wind vest, and even team socks, (women’s cut only) on their sponsor’s website, the Total Rush bike shop. Prices are in Australian dollars, but the internet will convert that for you!
Follow the Rush team on their facebook and twitter, and the Total Rush shop twitter too.
