What motivates a Velominatus? It seems a simple question, but the answer is complicated and gets into various issues that are neither interesting nor compelling.
For me, cycling has been a life-long obsession. I enjoy any kind of riding. I enjoy technical, single-track mountain biking, I enjoy riding on dirt roads or wide trails. I enjoy commuting by bike, and I enjoy riding my bike to the local markets. I love riding an old clunker bike around a city like Amsterdam. But my heart has always belonged to road cycling.
When I was a kid, my dream was to start a frame-building business. In my free time, I sketched bicycles – anything from standard road bikes to exotic time trial machines. I even designed logos for my imagined company, humbly named Strack Cycles. When not designing frames, the next priority was to dream up the names and kits for the teams Strack Cycles would invariably sponsor.
When time allowed during the Summer months, I would go for multiple training rides per day, some on the road, and some off. Officially a Nordic ski racer, I realized that I had become a cyclist when the shortening of the days as Fall approached was met with dread that the cycling season was coming to a close rather than excitement for the imminent ski season.
Long hours on the road bike were filled with fantasies of being in day-long solo breakaways at the Tour de France; motivation to climb aboard my bike in the rain was eased by imagining I was racing in a Belgian Spring classic.
Such are the motivations of this particular Velominatus.
Then came Velominati. We've carried on long conversations. We've established our own vernacular. Most of us are probably on some psychiatric “People of Interest” list. And, we have our own kit. In addition to bearing the Velominati colors and logos, the kit bears various details that only those of us in the know will appreciate: the “Obey the Rules” emblem appears in various places, and the right leg of the bibs bear three Rules, referred to only by number and oriented such that they are legible for the wearer. We modestly believe it to be the most awesomest kit on the planet, ever.
A non-nondescript box greeted me upon my arrival home from work yesterday. The box bore a simple, handwritten note: “Velominati – You Must Obey”, signalling the arrival of the first order of the Velominati Kit (which leads me to believe the folks at Castelli subscribe to Rules Holism). My hands were shaking as I opened the box and gazed in at the oblique realization of a lifelong dream.
With that, I present the Velominati kit, made by Castelli and designed by KRX-10. We'll be placing more orders throughout the year, so just drop us a line if you'd like to put the whole Rule #17 issue to bed and fly the Velominati colors.
UPDATE: I have updated the set of photos in the post to more accurately reflect the colors of the actual kit. The kit is black, and in no way brownish or purple, as some of the photos appear to be.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/Velominati Kit Arrival/”/]
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Just got back from a three day work stint (the sea kayakers kit is now where near as rad as this). those pics must live forever. good work frank, KRX-10 and velominati in the kit design and making it happen. i'm checking the mailbox daily.
the colour palette is really gonna be sweet with the new tatoo. hell ya.
Okay, Paola may be gone. But we now have Emily Batty - oh my. http://www.emilybatty.com
I attended a NORBA national in the '90s at Spokane, WA. I don't remember the exact year at the moment - brain fade. All the big name XC racers in the flesh and dust. I even got meet Julie Furtado - cool, eh?
I big fan of seeing girls race and ride well. Not in the sexist sense, well - there is an element of that - but for the fact that it's just damn cool. Woman mountain bike and 'cross racers? Man, that's awesome. We need more of 'em.
@Dan O
"I big fan of seeing girls race and ride well. Not in the sexist sense." I'm a big fan of seeing girls race and ride well just in the sexist sense.
@Dan O, @david
Amen, brothers. I watched my woman drop me handily today, mashing a massive gear up the Sea-to-Sky climb on our route, resplendit in her new Velominati kit. Let me say it wasn't a bad view...
There are so many awesome chick racers, I wish there was more coverage. I mean, Nicole Cooke is a TOUGH BITCH. Chick fucking lives in the big ring. She rode the whole Olympic Road Race in her 53x11. She pops 15T cogs in the toaster in the morning, spreads on some fucking Dumonde Tech for flavor and eats that shit for breakfast.
I would love to see more women's racing coverage. And they look way hotter in Spandex than a bunch of sweaty dudes.
And David, to quote Nigel Tufnel, "What's wrong with being sexy?"
@frank
A woman in tight spandex who can grind in the big ring is just too hot. No doubt.
@frank no doubting Nicole is tough, but she does not apply herself well to The Rules. No style. At 15/16 she would be out in winter in shorts and arm warmers, but she'd still be there in the last group with the a handful of Elite men at the end of a 160km training ride.
Marko, really? A Velominati tattoo? You know that shit doesn't rub off, right?
@brett
you're kidding right? it's still healing and thus a little rough looking but it turned out well:
I can envision Brett with his girlfriend as the relationship "gets serious".
ShopGirl347: So Breeeeeeeeeettttt? We're getting serious right?
Brett: Crykie! Sure thing, mate! I haven't laughed in ages! Put another shrimp on the barbie!
ShopGirl347: That's not the kind of "serious" I mean. What do you think of getting married?
Brett [cross-eyed]: Say again?
ShopGirl347: Are we gonna get married some day?
Brett: You know that shit is for ever, right?
ShopGirl347: Buh-bye.
Brett: Now, where's my Bowie Knife?
Marko - images? Might have to change my thoughts on tats. Whooa I was writing that as you posted!! Knarly (now), how big?
Frank, and all, I have been having nervous thoughts about being a representative of Velominati now that the kit is real. Can you please help with replies to the questions? I know this sounds a total lack of #5 but it is just stage fright (lets face it racing is 1/10th psyching) and while the kit definitely does not need explaining I do feel the need for quick pithy Velominati ripostes.
Actually I would love to have some cards printed because there have been times in the past month where I ride with some stranger, who is in the grove and the verbal heads up about the V. is often met with confusion. Now the kit is going to up that and a card would negate the useless chitchat.
I stand ready for a total ripping on this one but my strength is on the bike not talking about it...