Is it awesome to wear matching jerseys and shorts? Yes, but it took me a long time and a trip to Italy to have this revelation. Is it a violation of The Rules (#14)? Perhaps.
I always had a drawer full of black bib shorts and a drawer of jerseys. It makes it easy to get dressed to ride, black goes with everything. Grab clean shorts, meditate over jersey selection and boom, suit up. I was never compelled to buy a professional team kit as I’ve never been a rabid fan of any team, any rider or any team kit. I may become Sean Yates in my Motorola jersey for a fleeting few seconds but that’s about as far as it went until I finally made it to Italy.
When driving around near Lucca I kept seeing older guys (my age) out on the road, a foot from the tractor trailers, unfazed, fit, wearing matching jerseys and bibs. I didn’t recognize the kits but these guys looked impossibly good and since I’m a devout Italophile, that’s all it took for me. If that’s how it’s done in Italy then I’m all in.
Luckily Cervelo rider Ted King (self-anointed King of Style) agrees with me.
Among a smattering of other worthy reasons, cycling rocks because you can experience exactly what we pros experience. You can ride the bikes we ride, wear the helmets we wear, pedal the roads on which we race… and you obviously have the opportunity to rock the clothes we wear. So why the crap not?
Moreover, if you’re going to piece together a bicycle outfit, instead of the ragtag/patchwork look, why not look good when doing so? We look good, so you sure as heck might as well hop on the bandwagon and look nearly as good as we do.
I had a run-in with the KoS about my issue with tall socks (and punctuation) but we have agreed to disagree about sock style. Ted’s website is worth a visit as he is a well spoken pro and he gets to hangout with Thor.
In truth I don’t really own (or wear) too many matching kits even now. I own two local club outfits and now four Euro-esque pairs, one set I really can’t wear much because I look too much like Cipo in his zebra Aqua Sapone days and it scares people. I bought an early (pre) Garmin-Slipstream set as I am a fan but never dared wear it when the team was in the same town for two weeks training. Everyone would be embarrassed if we intersected. But my wife and I are now killing it in our Heinrich and Henrietta Haussler Stylin’ All White Cervelo outfits*. In mine I am actually descending more boldly as I channel H.H. from the wet Stage 13 of the 2009 TdF. All is well unless Heinrich turns out to be last doper of many dopers from the doomed Gerolsteiner team.
So don’t be afraid as neighbors look askance and they pull their kids inside as you leave the house in your bright billboard of matching jersey and shorts advertising, say, an Italian cement company. Wear it loud and wear it proud knowing looking good on the bike is important and it’s the Italian way.
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New Rule: You must drink beer of European derivation. If you have to drink a North American beer, it must be from a micro-brewery.
@Jarvis
I'm under a self-imposed gag order on the kit thing. But, I find this troubling, "we are ultimately fans". I hope not. Ultimately, the Velominati should be practitioners, even craftsmen, if you will. The practice, the art, is informed and enhanced by carefully studying, admiring, and simply enjoying professional racing, much like a carpenter's work may be informed and enhanced by studying, admiring, and enjoying the works of master furniture makers. But the practitioner must be more than a fan of antique furniture who knows a lot about it and enjoys studying it, but never builds anything himself. What that craft is exactly, I'm not sure. I'm working under the hypothesis that the craft is not simply racing. At any rate, if the Velominati are just a fan club, akin to a posse of rabid (European) football fans who know all the player's stats, wear the jerseys of their favorite clubs, and kick around a soccer ball now and again, then I'm out the door.
Yes, and we might call it the "Metrosexual Rule".
@david - can we call you sgw again, I preferred that. Anyway, you are absolutely correct. I didn't really get my point across, or perhaps I was crossing two streams of thought. You can strike that comment of mine you have quoted, for it is wrong and you are right, we are craftsmen, artisans if you want to be "euro".
I do however have a problem with banning people from wearing team kit, as this verges on us being snobs...oh. Anyway, by all means a rule that no-one is allowed to wear full team kit.
Got it. "Artisan", yes, good.
I just quickly choose "SGW" to make a post or two, not thinking I'd be so drawn to the Rules and around for a while. But that's my team's name. And, I don't want to pose as speaking for them. In fact, many of them are Rule Holist's for sure.
Good riposte SWG-David
But we better clear up this beer thing cause it's going to get in the way of the other important stuff. My apologies to all,I kind of started this.
I hold no beer against any thirsty man but having raced around that industrial behemoth in Golden a couple of times (and the name for the race was a money thing cause the real name was Zinger first [I was in other races, not that one]), the brew is questionable at best. Without knowing your budget, which really, I guess, is not critical to the point but may have been at a formative stage in your maturing, when you were indoctrinated to beer and grew to like watery tasteless floor mopped up stuff.
So can I suggest we just forget this whole line of posts and agree that you can drink what you want but if it has to be US factory made pantherpiss that you just do not mention it in these august pages.
@Rob A++1
@david
This is a tricky one. In retrospect, my suggestion has an elitist ring to it that I don't like. But I do like my water clear and not yellowed just as I like my beer "hopping" with flavor. This is hardly worth the serious consideration"”suffice to say I withdraw the rule (it has nothing to do with cycling and is only divisive)"”but I thought craft and quality were matters of importance when it came to cycling, and therefore why not also, too, and as well, to the post-ride drink?
@Geof Cheers
And apologies David on the SWG-SGW I was not trying to be checky, really am slightly dislexic... can not spell at all and gramar foget aboutit.
@Steampunk Good points but this is about the bike, again I am sorry I side tracked this lets get back to Team Kit - I loved the Lion Kings Zebra togs! Only he could wear them and get respect (except from Brett).
WRT team kit, it seems to be acceptable to don some retro team jersey that went doon the pan many moons ago, so on my xmas list this year is a 1964 Gitane replica, in honour of Anquetil's TdF win in the year of my birth. Other than that, is it acceptable to wear obscure pro-continental kit at all ? I have a SpiderTech jersey, and think it will be ok to ride around the Scottish Highlands with it.
Thoughts ?