Rule #22 is perhaps the most complicated Rule amongst the (currently) 85. Part of the complexity springs from the fact that we are all very attached to this small cotton cap. Off the bike, it was once a badge used to recognize one of our own; now it has been taken over by the hipster crowd which subsequently ruined it for those of us who wore this hallowed garment with pride. Our response has been to refrain from wearing this garment off the bike and resort to other badges – such as Rule #33 compliance – to identify our own. That said, some of us, in the spirit of Rage Against the Machine, refuse to lay down arms and are fighting to take the power back and callously wear our caps regardless. (Guilty.)
Further complexity is due to its provisioning one to wear a cap during any activity directly related to cycling; maintaining your machine, while kitting up, placed jauntily askew while consuming a post-ride recovery beverage at your favorite watering hole. We’ve deliberately refrained from laying out a clear definition as to what constitutes a cycling-related activity, but the verbose description should give you a feel of the spirit within which to govern this Rule.
What The Rules don’t touch on at all is what type of cap is acceptable and precisely how it may be worn. This small, simple garment is at least as complex as a pair of bib shorts or a jersey, and just as with those items, there is a Pro way to wear them, and a noob way to wear them. Especially in light of a recent rash of non-compliant caps coming onto the market, I thought it as good a time as any to outline the definition of a proper cap and how to wear it.
The material. A proper cycling cap is made of cotton, and is as cheaply made as possible. They used to cost a few dollars. That’s like a nickel in dollOZ. Now they are upwards of $15 or $20. A small strip of elastic should be somewhat carelessly sewn together at the back. A good cap should have almost no quality-control in its making, leading to each cap having its own size or positioning of panels. Each cap has its unique character and should be carefully chosen based on it. There has been a recent slew of new caps (made by both Pearl Izumi and some by our beloved Castelli) that have a sweatband sewn into the cap. This is strictly forbidden.
The visor. This is the most important part. Visors should be short. This is because the purpose of a cap is to be worn while riding, and when the head is tipped down as you move to the V-Locus, you need to be able to see up the road to where the guns will detonate without tilting your head up in order to see past the visor. As with the above, a new wave of caps (again by Pearl Izumi and Castelli) have been made with a too-long visor. These visors are also strictly forbidden in general and for wearing under the helmet in particular.
The Three-Point System always applies. Especially when worn without a helmet in pre or post-ride activities. No exceptions here; forward or backward, just always, always, always follow this system.
Worn under the helmet, the helmet and cap must form a cohesive unit. Start with the cap, and slide it down over the back of the head to the nape of the neck. Then pull the visor down towards the eyes until the bottom edge of the visor is just above the eyebrows. Smooth out the wrinkles in the cap, as those will feel weird under the helmet. Next, the helmet goes on with the front of the helmet pushed down snug towards the visor of the cap. If part of the visor disappears under the helmet, you’ve gone too far, and if any part of the front of the cap shows, you haven’t gone far enough.
Visors can be flipped up, especially when worn backwards. Worn forward, it is better to keep the visor down, especially under a helmet. If for some reason it must be flipped up, keep the bottom line of the cap low to the eyebrows. If it is being flipped up under a helmet, it helps an awful lot if you’re also in the midst of riding to a win in a Monument, your name starts with Phillipe and ends with Gilbert, or both.
frank
The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking.
As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it.
Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen.
Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.
And I postulate that this is the one piece of kit where it is acceptable to don a bit of team kit without actually riding for the team. Additionally, flashing W.C. stripes and race leader colors of any kind is suspect unless you're the W.C. or race leader, but showing alliance/appreciation for a team is acceptable.
I assume then that wearing a W.C. cap signed by The Prophet such as this one on ebay currently,
while giving unfathomable quantities of inspiration while laying down The V (even more than even the V-Kit shorts?), would be sacrilegious as your sweat would undoubtedly ruin the sacred item. I can only infer that an un-autographed version of the same cap would be acceptable under your logic? BTW, in no way am I worthy of wearing the above pictured cap.
For my personal benefit and to help coordinate Rule 22 & Rule 8, I have seen a Merckx cap (red and black) with the traditional logo in the past and would like to get one to match my CHM, but an unable to find it again. Any ideas out there?
Seth
Great write up Frank.
I am a sucker for good and real caps. I have several, and its always confusing which one to grab when in season, which is not now as this summer heat is so stinking hot, a shaved head is too hot to ride in still. But in fall/winter/spring its alwasy proper to don the cap.
My fave is the vermarcs, belgian striped, white cap/black brim
I agree, someone should go to castelli and ask wtf are you thinking, you bring us so much other goods such as the invention of bibs et al, and now this. Can we have take backs in goods??? I mean give them a baseball bat w/those new caps. Merckx would have retaliated without a doubt.
Frank, i will send you an email, my mom is a seamstress, retired and has nothing to do, i bet she can make a cap to suit for notta
Dr. C - please tell me that's just a little green man and not an indicator of your allegiance to some stuffy Catholic university in the middle of nowhere.
I have to say I'm up in the air on the fyxomatosis stuff. Some great photos, some incredible bikes, but is it Casually Deliberate or trying far too hard? I don't know.
@G'phant
Actually, I love it! I giggle every time you bring it up. It probably deserves a guest post; that might be cathartic.
Dr. C - please tell me that's just a little green man and not an indicator of your allegiance to some stuffy Catholic university in the middle of nowhere.
I have to say I'm up in the air on the fyxomatosis stuff. Some great photos, some incredible bikes, but is it Casually Deliberate or trying far too hard? I don't know.
I've not clicked on the link, is it work safe? But it did strike me that if the girl in the picture above is representative, then the heels would suggest try hard over Casually Deliberate...
I would need 150 of you assholes to pledge to buy at least one cap at about $18.00 a pop for us to qualify for even the minimum order. And, the guys at Castelli are great, but for some reason this is the one product where they can't budge on the minimum numbers.
I maybe slightly squiffy at this point, but put me down for two! As for the rest of you, occasionally, perfection must be paid for with hard cash rather than through suffering, so HTFU, dig deep and pony up for a nice cap or two!
Until this post I was blissfully unaware that any other sort of cycling cap existed, other than the Ur-cap described by Frank.
As a non-helmet wearer I actually use them quite a lot. Although sadly in Abu Dhabi they are not so practical. In more temperate climes the caps have a favourable effect of concentrating sweat and dripping it from the peak.
But here there is so much sweat it becomes a salty rivulet which blows back into the face and drips all over the headset. Not nice. I use a Buff, which draws the sweat back and allows it to evaporate.
I do wear my caps around though (and for cycling when in the UK) - hipsters are not such a problem here so I am unlikely to be mistaken for one.
I'd definitely be in for a couple of V caps.
@Chris
what are you doing Squiffy at this time of day - I thought you were in England - I presume you are in a different time zone coz I'm still at friggin work - bastad
@Ron
Just a little green man who likes to fight a lot - small man syndrome - misrepresents me completely, as I am a pacifist and only two months from peaking
Right, I'm off down to Ebay to get myself a cap for less than a Queen's pound
BTW - is it a recognised method of salt replacement to eat one's own hat?
@all
Either I'm being dimwitted (eminently possible after raging 1hr park session yesterday) but pic is of Barry Hoban - absolute hardman legend of british pro cycling, ex team-mate of Tommy Simpson and 6 time stage winner of the Tour de France.
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@brett
Oh dear, I appear to have touched your front bottom.
@Marko
I assume then that wearing a W.C. cap signed by The Prophet such as this one on ebay currently,
while giving unfathomable quantities of inspiration while laying down The V (even more than even the V-Kit shorts?), would be sacrilegious as your sweat would undoubtedly ruin the sacred item. I can only infer that an un-autographed version of the same cap would be acceptable under your logic? BTW, in no way am I worthy of wearing the above pictured cap.
For my personal benefit and to help coordinate Rule 22 & Rule 8, I have seen a Merckx cap (red and black) with the traditional logo in the past and would like to get one to match my CHM, but an unable to find it again. Any ideas out there?
Seth
Great write up Frank.
I am a sucker for good and real caps. I have several, and its always confusing which one to grab when in season, which is not now as this summer heat is so stinking hot, a shaved head is too hot to ride in still. But in fall/winter/spring its alwasy proper to don the cap.
My fave is the vermarcs, belgian striped, white cap/black brim
I agree, someone should go to castelli and ask wtf are you thinking, you bring us so much other goods such as the invention of bibs et al, and now this. Can we have take backs in goods??? I mean give them a baseball bat w/those new caps. Merckx would have retaliated without a doubt.
Frank, i will send you an email, my mom is a seamstress, retired and has nothing to do, i bet she can make a cap to suit for notta
Dr. C - please tell me that's just a little green man and not an indicator of your allegiance to some stuffy Catholic university in the middle of nowhere.
I have to say I'm up in the air on the fyxomatosis stuff. Some great photos, some incredible bikes, but is it Casually Deliberate or trying far too hard? I don't know.
@G'phant
Actually, I love it! I giggle every time you bring it up. It probably deserves a guest post; that might be cathartic.
@Ron
Or one of those "rambling" clubs
@Ron
I've not clicked on the link, is it work safe? But it did strike me that if the girl in the picture above is representative, then the heels would suggest try hard over Casually Deliberate...
@frank
I maybe slightly squiffy at this point, but put me down for two! As for the rest of you, occasionally, perfection must be paid for with hard cash rather than through suffering, so HTFU, dig deep and pony up for a nice cap or two!
@brett
Awesome movie, Ben Kingsley oozes V.
Until this post I was blissfully unaware that any other sort of cycling cap existed, other than the Ur-cap described by Frank.
As a non-helmet wearer I actually use them quite a lot. Although sadly in Abu Dhabi they are not so practical. In more temperate climes the caps have a favourable effect of concentrating sweat and dripping it from the peak.
But here there is so much sweat it becomes a salty rivulet which blows back into the face and drips all over the headset. Not nice. I use a Buff, which draws the sweat back and allows it to evaporate.
I do wear my caps around though (and for cycling when in the UK) - hipsters are not such a problem here so I am unlikely to be mistaken for one.
I'd definitely be in for a couple of V caps.
@Chris
what are you doing Squiffy at this time of day - I thought you were in England - I presume you are in a different time zone coz I'm still at friggin work - bastad
@Ron
Just a little green man who likes to fight a lot - small man syndrome - misrepresents me completely, as I am a pacifist and only two months from peaking
Right, I'm off down to Ebay to get myself a cap for less than a Queen's pound
BTW - is it a recognised method of salt replacement to eat one's own hat?
@all
Either I'm being dimwitted (eminently possible after raging 1hr park session yesterday) but pic is of Barry Hoban - absolute hardman legend of british pro cycling, ex team-mate of Tommy Simpson and 6 time stage winner of the Tour de France.