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bicycle polo

bicycle polo poster

i've been writing this stuff for nigh on thirteen years, and yet barely a week goes by when i don't discover more stuff about cycling that i didn't know before. and by that, i don't mean i've suddenly discovered how to strip down and rebuild a campagnolo eleven speed ergopower unit (who'd have thought we'd ever have referred to a bicycle component as a unit?), but another excellent piece of the culture falls into a hitherto empty space. many years ago, while sitting in th p.e. hall of the old st joseph's academy in kilmarnock, after a cold braveheart ride, matty ball of east lothian clarion made the observation that thewashingmachinepost was about bicycle culture. note that he didn't say it had any culture, just that i wrote about it.

in retrospect, while that wasn't my principal aim in life, he's probably correct, and i have just happened upon yet another piece of this bicycle culture that has remained in the shadows. at least, for me it has. sort of. about two years ago, davy the snake paid us a visit on islay to help train mr hastings and i in the skills that have eventually led to port mor wheelers. one of the activities he alluded to while here, and something that we did momentarily mess about with, was bicycle polo, messing that only served to confirm that multi-tasking is not something at which i excel. riding a bike is fine, and hitting a ball with a stick is fine: both together provided endless hilarity.

however, at this point there are bound to be a few of you in the world who are sniggering up their sleeves at this moment: bicycle polo was invented in ireland in 1891, and the first match was played at the scalp, twenty miles from dublin in october of the same year. and here am i writing an article about discovering bicycle polo in 2009: investigative journalism it certainly isn't.

so you would have every right to ask what snippet of information may have led me to admit my naivety in this area. well, it's the somewhat obvious, yet well hidden fact that the european hardcourt bicycle polo championships take place this very weekend (saturday 1st & sunday 2nd august) in the marborough playground, union street in southwark, london se1. this inaugural competition will be followed by the north american championships in sunny seattle, before culminating in the world championships in philadelphia this september.

even more concerning, when considering my total ignorance of all this, is london having been voted as the location for the european champonship round after a bidding process held last year. who knew? teams from france, germany, italy, eire, spain and switzerland, as well as five teams from across the uk will contest over 140 games spread over this weekend.

hardcourt bicycle polo is played by teams of three; whichever team reaches five goals first wins, and originated on the west coast of america, popularised, perhaps unsurprisingly, by bicycle messengers. i'm given to understand that the pure game vehicles are fixed wheel devices, oft-times with the forks reversed. however, should you (or i) grab the opportunity to have a shot at this ourselves, pretty much anything will do to get started. i have failed miserably to find any resource in the uk where you can purchase ready made mallets: it seems that home-made is the name of the game (presumably this is a gap in the market that will be filled by some enterprising individual fairly soon). with a bit more promotion, and i don't really mean of a professional nature, just the sort of exposure it's just been given here, bicycle polo could become a great way to get more folks on bikes. it's likely that the distance cycled in a game is more than you'd think, but it probably won't seem like it.

we're currently in negotiations to get a bit of training to introduce the idea to port mor wheelers (though some of the mallets will have to be very short), but in my case that'll be just one more cycling activity that the kids can thrash me at.

naturally enough, games such as this require to have rules, but in keeping with the spirit of a game that has developed in differing parts of the world and bereft of a presiding organisation, there are quite a variety of these. most fascinating set i came across were those enshrined by the axles of evil of portland, oregon. for example...
each player must have a bike and a mallet. the mallet may be held in either the right or left hand (generally right is easier), but must remain in the same hand for the entirety of the game: no switch hitters.
players may handle the ball in any direction they wish, and are not subject to rules to establish "right of way." stealing is part of the game. what are we? gentlemen?

if you're close enough to marlborough playground this weekend, pop along and watch what seems to be rather a fascinating sport, a fascinating sport with bicycles. sadly i will be unable to attend, since we have the ride of the falling rain on sunday, but perhaps one day i can write about bicycle polo on islay. i've asked if someone from ehbpc would perhaps send photos and results, so i'll publish those if i get them.

european hardcourt bicycle polo championships | a short video about bicycle polo

twmp

posted on friday 31 july 2009

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it's all about the bike - part 34a

aero bars

the uci (union cycliste international) are somewhat of an easy target, principally because they seem so detached from the sport they purport to govern. but as is often the case in situations such as these, it's well nigh impossible to face up to their power without presenting a united front, and this generally seems to be the missing factor from both the professional and continental peloton. it has also been, up till now, conspicuously missing from the bicycle and component manufaturers. however, in this respect, it looks as though the jedi are about to fight back with the formation of gocem: the global organisation of cycling equipment manufacturers, a less than snappy solution to the acronym, but apparently designed to do what it says on the tin.

for those unaware of which i speak, the formation of gocem is directly as a result of the 3:1 rule that the uci seem hellbent on implementing, in ways other than the manufacturers' had interpreted. basically, the 3:1 rule stated that none of the tubes employed in the creation of a bicycle frame could have a ratio between length and diameter of more than three. this rule was ostensibly designed to prevent framebuilders from producing bicycles with tubes that featured highly aerodynamic profiles verging on that of a wing. most of the framebuilders seemed happy to accept this ruling because, aside from certain specialist types of bike (predominantly time trial versions), there was little perceived need to make standard road bikes aerodynamic to that degree.

however, in january of this year, the uci widened the scope of this interpretation to included fittings and fixtures: tri-bars, seatposts, wheels, saddles, helmets; you name it, they were intent on restricting it. now if this was an interpretation or a new regulation that had been drafted well in advance of its implementation, then while complaints would likely still be heard, there would have been plenty of time to ensure compliance. but to apparently move the goalposts when one heck of a lot of money had been invested by professional teams and manufacturers, could conceivably have seen many of them struggle financially in what are not the most healthy of economic times. therefore, gocem was formed.

it's difficult to know how to view some of these draconian rules drawn up by the uci; it often seems as if they come back from a weekend away, with bizarre ideas of just what to do next. and historically their record isn't great. does anyone remember spinacci bars? those were banned for massed start racing due to a supposed likelihood of loss of control in close proximity to other riders. but not only are we talking about riders who race as a profession, and could therefore be assumed to be rather adept at handling their bicycles at speed, but the ban merely resulted in those on shimano equipped bikes grabbing hold of the sti gear cables in similar fashion to the outlawed spinacci bars and achieving the same effect. the only thing that is putting a stop to such practice is the fact that shimano have started fitting their gear cables under the bar tape.

and many will remember the troubles poor graeme obree went through on a home-made bicycle, simply because of the way he held the bars under his chest. the uci's reasoning was that it could not allow competition on such an individual bike that was not available to any other nation through normal retail channels, as it professed an unfair advantage. yet british cycling has spent millions developing their carbon frames (within uci guidelines) to gold medal winning level, frames which no-on else can purchase, even assuming they had the money in the first place. hardly consistent behaviour, and leaving the uci wide open to the ridicule it often suffers.

let's face it, there are few if any frame or component manufacturers involved in professional or continental professional cycling sponsorship because they have altruistic tendencies. a part of the deal is in the hope of being associated with a potentially successful team or rider, while the other side of the coin has to be product development, preferably unhindered by outside interference. and it must be all the more galling that the uci can seemingly make up and subsequently enforce any rule it pleases with complete commercial detachment. it may be leaving too much to chance to allow the manufacturers carte blanche in the realm of development - look at how far removed formula one cars are from the hatchback sitting in the driveway - but surely there has to be a more responsible way to move forward?

in both senses of the phrase.

gocem.org

twmp

posted on thursday 30 july 2009

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it's not climate, it's weather

rain

every morning, i listen to the today show on radio four, partly because i like the soothing sound of voices waking me up in the morning, and also because i like to convince myself that i start each day better informed. exactly why i need to be better informed is open to debate, but it adds a degree of sophistication to breakfast time. a regular part of the programme is a weather forecast just prior to the day's news: i don't waken early enough to listen to the shipping forecast, which would probably be more pertinent, so i must make do with the rather london-centric view of the nation's weather.it would be easy to become irate at the seemingly lackadaisical attitude such a programme brings to bear on what is often an important feature of everyday life. the today programme is considered to be somewhat on the highbrow side of the fence, holding interviews with principal politicians, and giving airtime to major international stories, often in great detail. however, when it comes to a summary of the weather, this often takes the form of sunny in the south, wet in the north. south of where exactly. and where do they consider north? watford, maybe?

granted, weather reports are somewhat academic in the grand scheme of things: no matter what the forecast says, you're going to get what you're going to get, and if arising on a sunday morning involves rain on the kitchen window, then it's on with the stowaway jacket and overshoes.

weather, however, can be used very much to the advantage of the switched on cyclist, something we have learned to use to good effect throughout the islay year. the wind is a permanent feature: it causes less distress in the summer because warm air creates less of a cycling into a duvet effect, but it has resistance training qualities nonetheless. the very best time, of course, is in the winter months (august to april) when it's possible to hone those robert millar tendencies on the flat, by pounding into a 60k wind which is often enhanced by horizontal rain. you too can partake of this secret climbing training if you live in the flatlands, always assuming you can find real wind in the first place. not for nothing are the members of velo club d'ardbeg the flandrians of the hebrides.

i am informed that the shipping forecast is a lot more accurate than the more regular version, though quite how that can be the case, i cannot fathom - unless there is more than one met office, and they don't talk to each other - but more, and more i begin to believe that islay has its own microclimate. we're sort of midway between the west coast of scotland to the east, and northern ireland to the south, yet whatever those two regions are due to receive by way of sun or precipitation, we seem to get something else. and as we head towards the beginning of august, there's more than just the occasional eye on the forecast for which radio four is being no help whatsoever.

sunday 2nd august is, as you will all know by now, the day of the ride of the falling rain, and it is of more than just minor concern that the day may prove to be sunny, warm and dry. there was great despondency in the peloton last year, when the day dawned in just that fashion, saved only by the fact that rain materialised shortly after lunchtime. it's perhaps justifiable that there is the absolute minimum of organisation goes into the event in the first place: i want to ride my bike too, not stand behind a wooden table handing out mars bars and glasses of irn bru. but should the day be completely devoid of rain, it's conceivable that people might ask for their money back, or at least would do if there was any entry fee in the first place, and trading standards might have something to say too. if there's no rain, the best we can hope for is something approaching a gale force wind.

as radio four might say 'rain and wind in the north.'

ride of the falling rain

twmp

posted on wednesday 29 july 2009

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robert on bradley

bradley wiggins

far be it for me to assume the status of the observer newspaper, but for a brief moment in time, that's eactly what i'm going to do.

on sunday 26th july, the 2009 tour de france finished on the champs elysees in paris. whether you found it a fascinating tour or less so depends on what you expected or hoped to happen, but what is beyond doubt is that british cyclists played more than just a supporting role. while the fastest man in the world, mark cavendish, managed a rather ostentatious six stage victories, including the queen stage on the champs elysees, bradley wiggins didn't exactly hang about either. it's very unlikely, and with no disrespect, that very few of us would ever have tipped wiggins as a podium contender when the tour started in monaco several weeks ago, and even fewer knew he'd turned himself into a rather fine climber. but his excellence in the mountains allowed him to equal the fourth place attained by robert millar in 1984; twenty five years ago.

perhaps in retrospect, the obvious thing to do was to interview robert about his views on bradley's success: william fotheringham, cycling author of note, did just that, the resulting conversation being published in the observer newspaper on the day of the tour's finish. the disadvantage of print, however, is the inevitable restriction of space; that's why newspapers employ so many editors, and in this case, some of robert's words met with the cutting room floor.

robert millar

since the post is nothing if not the self-appointed guardian (sorry, no pun intended) of the millar quaich, so to speak, it gives me enormous pleasure to publish the interview in its original state. and i must thank both robert and william for their respective permissions to reproduce.

read the interview

photo of bradley wiggins courtesy garmin slipstream

twmp

posted on tuesday 28 july 2009

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book winner

thank you to all who entered the competition to win a copy of john wilcockson's new book entitled 'lance'. the correct answer to who was lance's coach across all seven tour victories was chris carmichael. the winner, chosen at random by mrs washingmachinepost, was gary hitchen of edinburgh, and a copy of the book is already on its way.

thanks to john wilcockson and da capo press for the prize.

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it's a skill

hidden colnago

somewhere in a large factory in taiwan, there's a small chinese man (actually, i don't know if he's small or tall - i'm just reacting to type) whose daily job it is to place carbon matting impregnated with resin into an italian designed mould. he firstly has to layer-up one mould before starting on its opposite number, joining the two of them together before baking them in an oven at gas mark four. later that same afternoon, when the two separate mould sections are taken apart, there in front of his eyes, and anyone else who happens to be on their way to the canteen, is a rather fine, bare carbon colnago. it's undoubtedly a skilled job, because, let's face it, none of us would have the faintest idea where to start.

i don't know the name of this little chinaman, and nor am i ever likely to; his name will be on the staff rota, there's a good chance that the factory manager knows who he is, and maybe even someone at cambiago knows, but in the great big world of carbon bicycle production, he is merely a (highly-skilled) cog in a somewhat dispersed wheel. however, in spite of all this, is there a possibility that this chap, and many others like him, possess a similar degree of capability as displayed by sacha white, richard sachs, ira ryan et al? granted, the colnago bicycle has been designed by an italian fellow sat in front of a flat screen, using computer aided design and finite element analysis, the results of which allowed cambiago to make the mould that our chinaman filled with carbon matting, but is this simply a modern manifestation of the age-old handbuilding tradition?

i'm willing to bet that the majority of answers to that last question were a resounding no, but i seem to remember a similar reaction to steel frames being tig welded, if only because the possibility of robotic construction effectively whipped the carpet of artisan and craftsmanship out from under the brazer's torch. you can't get a robot to braze a lugged steel frame (at least, not that i know of), therefore bicycle frames built in this fashion command, rightly or wrongly, a greater degree of respect. however, in much the same way as the younger generation wear led zeppelin tee-shirts without ever having seen john bonham play, many of today's cyclists have been brought up on a carbon fibre diet and see lugged steel as just another piece of history. i personally share richard sachs' contention that steel will once again sit atop the ladder, though it's likely to have to share that rung with increasingly oddly shaped carbon, decorated with swoops and whirls of colour (or even butterflies), if only because the bicycle seems to be entering a different age.

i don't see a time any day soon, where individual builders have the wherewithal to build bespoke carbon frames. for starters, monocoque moulds aren't cheap, and they don't leave much room to manouevre; colnago only offer bespoke carbon frames from their tubes and lugs range, so it's unilkely that our little chinaman will ever receive the same degree of public acclaim as mr sachs. but progress is seemingly unstoppable; yes, carbon is derived from oil, which doubtless plays havoc with our green credentials, and when the stuff really starts to run out, it's likely that there will be more pressing demands on its use than for building whizz-bang bicycle frames. but the availability of carbon for frame design has pushed the envelope further than many (self-included) thought possible.

thus, those who wish to be weightweeny, weekend boy racers can have their cake while eating it, and the more traditional route benefits from all attempts to keep steel not only real, but contemporary with its plastic counterpart.don't look now, but i think the times they are a changing.

twmp

posted on monday 27 july 2009

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doing it right

scott johnson

american readers may well be familiar with the national drum corps championships, featuring, if i understand this narrow part of usa culture correctly, what could be simply termed marching bands. this hardly seems a fitting description of what these mammoth musical enterprises do or achieve: drawn principally from the later years of the american education system (my understanding is that you're out in the cold past the age of 22, but i'm happy to be corrected here), these bands consist of sizeable brass sections and even more sizeable percussion sections, for which the word 'marching' has closer affinity with choreography. i have played in a pipe band where the most we ever had to do was play our relatively simple drum parts while walking forward in time with the music, and in time with each other, a simple task that was often outwith the capabilities of some.

and in much the same way as there are experts in the world of cycling, in all fields from mechanics to directeur sportifs to riders, there are one or two drummers who rise above the rest, either through incessant application to their art, a high level of natural talent, or possibly a combination of both. however, unlike the road cycling world, where it is unusual to receive masterclasses from the king of the mountains, or sprintfests from mark cavendish, there are a myriad of videos available on the likes of youtube, or even on the sponsoring drum companies' websites, where top artists are happy and paid to show how it is they do what they do. sadly, even clicking through step by step often fails to elucidate the technique required to accomplish same.

many of these expert drummers (as i am selfishly concerned with here) seem intent on providing what i'd call trick content, by which i mean techniques that will seem rather pointless on their own, unless you happen to be an accomplished drummer in the first place: otherwise it becomes simply a case of look what i can do, or can't do, in my particular case. however, the videos promoted by scott johnson (scojo), drum coach for the blue devils of concord, california, have a catch phrase that should resound with those of us on bicycles. and it's a message that hasn't confined itself just to drumming.

i was fortunate to receive during this past week, a dvd from slate olson of rapha usa, featuring all dave christenson's videos from the continental rides the tour of california. this has the trailer and each subsequent episode on a looped dvd (that we fully intend to show at the apres ride munchie, after the ride of the falling rain next sunday eve). in the last of the series of videos, each of the riders provides an interview to camera, detailing their reactions to cycling across california. hahn rossman summed up rather succinctly, as does scott johnson, essentially: if it's not fun, you're not doing it right. it's a philosophy that should be written into the constitution of british cycling, the rttc, the ctc and most necessarily, the uci. it also ought to be devolved to club level; you can train, you can ride hard and you can compete to the very best of your ability, but if you're not enjoying it, you really have to question your motivation.

and this extends to those who buy bicycles that are far in excess of the rider's ability (my hand is very definitely up, at this point), those who just have to have the very latest carbon componentry, and those of us who like to be the epitome of sartorial excellence even though it's only the sunday ride. excess such as this does nobody any harm, and if it makes your cycling more fun...

and on the contrary, if your fun entails wearing the most appalling looking jersey on a rusting steel frame, culled from the sales in the comic, then that's perfectly ok too. we all know that cycling cures all known ills, is the ideal way to get from a to b, and bears an importance that is all but hidden from the ordinary civilian. but...

'if we're not having a good time, we're blowing it'.

twmp

posted on sunday 26 july 2009

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your message here

eat my shorts

on my last trip into the wilderness that is london, the stations at both ends: central in glasgow, and euston in the south, featured large display screens providing snippets of news, weather and lots of other stuff that i'm less than interested in when i'm travelling. as the service is provided by sky television, all these points of information are interspersed with advertisements, presumably to line the satellite broadcaster's coffers and to pay some much needed rent to the stations themselves. these screens display everything in larger than life colour, making them very hard to ignore, doubtless something that has contributed to their strategic positioning. however, while sitting for a lengthy period of time (where else would you go a couple of hours before boarding a midnight train?), it becomes a major irritant that not only is the same news displayed incessantly, but the adverts too. and a particular advert for the spanish bank conglomerate, santander, seemed to appear every few seconds: i counted forty repetitions within a one hour period, before i lost the will to live, and gave up counting.

now my understanding of advertising was that of gentle or overt persuasion, attempting to have the supposedly gullible public purchase products or services that they hadn't realised the needed. but in much the same way that a pop record played just once too often can relegate same to the status of displeasure, viewing an advertisement several times too often is, in my opinion, likely to achieve the same. so how does this fit in with the modern world of cycling?

while we would all like to think of cycling as the ultimate pure sport, were that indeed the truth, very few of us would know anything about it, or at least the continental classics and grand tours. those breathtaking pictures brought to our screens by eurosport, or whichever broadcaster takes the feed in your country, cost one heck of a lot of money to provide, and the peloton thus pictured midst the rugged french countryside isn't riding its collective heart out as a favour to those of us in our armchairs. commercialisation is now an integral and necessary part of this and almost every other sport, however, you view it, and whatever your opinion.

but assuming you have watched every stage of the tour de france over its three weeks of existence, have you had an overwhelming desire to fly to kazhakstan, to buy yourself an astana, or deposit money with rabo or saxo bank. would you even recognise an ag2r if it passed you in the street, and without a garmin, could you find it again? it often worries me that as we associate something like the manufacturer of gps units with david millar and bradley wiggins, we begin to forget what it is they do in the first place (i promise i'll keep this to myself). but what of the riders? in a manner similar to my experience with the oft broadcast santander advert, poor alberto contador must be sick of the sight of that astana logo on the pair of shorts that is always in his face. and spare a thought for thor hushovd, who, if he is at all subject to repetitive advertising exposure, must have an entire wardrobe full of columbia sportswear. and it does not seem outside the bounds of rational thought that quite a lot of the pros must ride cervelos in their spare time, thoroughly tested as they must have been by now.

it is perhaps no wonder that ex-professionals like brian smith simply jump at the opportunity to spend three days on islay, exploring the non-commercialised countryside, birds and ocean, while living in a house bereft of a television. government regulations supposedly clamped down on subliminal advertising, but said not a word about it being in your face for three weeks at a time, less two rest days.

this article has been brought to you by the washingmachinepost nation, as seen on a pair of lycra shorts near you.

twmp

posted on saturday 25 july 2009

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rapha pro team mitts

rapha pro team mitts

i've harped on before about the three points of contact on the bike: the feet, the bum and the hands. if you're going to spend money on the bike, those are the points to consider first before letting loose with plastic on anything else. it has oft been said that the biggest improvement you can make to the bicycle, assuming the frame to be of at least reasonable quality, is to upgrade the wheels, a bit of advice to which i can attest. but there is very little point in having the ultimate grade of carbon fibre, coloured with the most imaginative paint job you can imagine, and a set of lightweight wheels, if you can barely ride to the shops because the pedals are awful, the shoes don't fit correctly, the saddle rides like a coal bunker and you could wave to friends without the gloves moving at all.

granted, i exaggerate slightly, but i'm sure we all know someone who scours the pages of the comic and websites to find articles such as the above at the lowest practical cost, and in a sale, yet their bike would not disgrace the professional peloton. you can say what you like, but i'd call that false economy. we all have our differing degrees of style, heck, we might even disagree as to what constitutes style on the bike, but what i'm sure we could all agree to, even in a blindfold test (stationary bike of course) is what constitutes an acceptable degree of comfort. if it fits your style criteria, then so much the better.

to this degree, it helps greatly if the profferers of comfort and style are on just the far side of obsessive. rapha are they. if you look back at one or two of the photos used to illustrate the rapha continental riding the tour of california, and are possessed of an eagle eye, you'll see some of the prototypes of the gloves under test. now let's take a reality snap: the continental rode the tour of california route in january of this year, and some of the guys were wearing early versions of this glove. that was seven months ago.

when i visited rapha in perren street during march of this year, i was shown upgraded proto versions of these very same mitts (in fact i have photos to prove it), while testing continued apace with the rapha condor racing team. so here we are, many months on from the sneak previews in california, and rapha have just released the pro team mitts to those of us with at least this point of contact in mind. bear in mind that it is me that's telling you all this, not rapha, so perren street is not wearing its fastidiousness as a badge of honour; much like being behind stage scenery, the development stages are those we are generally not privy too, and to be honest, nor should we be.

there would be little point in spending six or seven months (though rapha often spend a whole lot longer) developing a pair of mitts and the result being mediocre. it cuts not very much mustard to then point to the time spent in development in an effort to justify a price-point. like i said, rapha are nothing if not obsessive about detail and quality, and it shows.

the mitts on test are a medium white pair, though the gloves are also available in black. i am open to those who will wonder what on earth a messy toad like myself is doing wearing white leather and lycra mitts - yes, i've already got them dirty - and it embarrasses me greatly to say that it has nothing to do with vanity or a perceived degree of coolness, but simply that i think white shows the detail better in photographs. however, i won't disagree with those who can see the style factor. the palms are quality leather which forms half the fore and middle fingers. the outer two are all lycra. it's the lycra back that makes all the difference, providing a high degree of flexibility and comfort. the two milimetre thick leather padding fits round between the thumb, aiding grip and comfort when on the hoods. there's a softer, almost suede like leather on the back of the thumb, though i'm in two minds as to whether to use this for the ritual snot wiping: can such quality be employed for such a lowly purpose?

rapha pro team mitts

rapha have thoughtfully placed a small loop at the base of each glove's palm to aid pulling the gloves on, and while it's also strong enough to pull the gloves off, you'll struggle big time to do so without turning the mitts inside out. now if we take rapha at their word, and ascribe pro team status to these, the mitts are unlikely to need removal until race end, where their inside-outness is unlikely to be seen as a problem. popping into deb's for a coffee, before slipstreaming brian smith around loch gorm, did rather require decorum to be observed, and mitts removed: in which case, mitts need to be righted prior to departure. it's not a major concern, at least not in the same way that a puncture is, but... the one other downside to the pro team mitts is the absence of an oval shaped cutout on the back; how can the weekday secret cyclist attend to that particular tanline, when it's covered in white lycra?

in use, these are almost invisible: you almost wouldn't know you were wearing them unless you're in the habit of looking down a lot. i had doubts about the strength of that pull tab at the base of the palm, but so far it has refused to show any signs of separating itself from the gloves. and considering the thin-ness of the lycra backing, it seems uncanny that the leather remains so strongly attached. cycle mitts receive very few favours from their owners. and two millimetres of padding seems a tad on the miserable side, yet on a 120k ride, there were no complaints from me, so 2mm obviously does more than you'd think.

if you are in agreement with my three points of contact manifesto, you may well wish to avail yourself of a pair of rapha pro team mitts. cost is £50 ($82) in black or white.

rapha.cc

twmp

posted on friday 24 july 2009

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