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on the rivet chamois cream

on the rivet chamois cream

back in the day, when eddy had sideburns and an allen key to footer with his seatpost clamp, time trials were conducted aboard normal bikes. lugged steel frames with classic drop bars and brake levers with cables sprouting from the top, not forgetting leather saddles with copper rivets. then a bloke called greg stuck a set of extending bars on the front of his classic drops and all heaven broke loose. time trialling has never been the same since.

there's no other way to say it: modern-day time-trial bikes are thoroughly ugly looking blighters. vertically straight seat tubes featuring a curve to let the back wheel move closer to the front, brakes cleverly concealed from the wind and heavily flattened tubing in the hope that it might cheat the wind. and of course, there are the ubiquitous tri-bars up front to aid the rider in achieving the flat back position frequently seen in the wind tunnel. since time-trialling depends primarily on momentum, the light weight much desired by the grimpeurs is pretty much ignored, meaning no real need to skimp on the carbon fibre.

on the rivet chamois cream

bicycles such as that described above are engineered to push the rider as far forward as practical, thus the rear portion of the saddle experiences several dozen kilometres of fresh air. but gone are the rivets, the frontmost example of which was the very item that gave rise to the phrase 'on the rivet', back when men were men and rivets were copper. still, tradition must be maintained, whether the rivet actually exists or not.

in fact, because the rivet is no longer a tangible entity, the phrase 'on the rivet' now relates solely to the art of riding as hard as possible for as long as possible. and, of course, also to a rather substantially sized tub of chamois cream, the very product that all and sundry claim no longer to use nowadays due to technological advances in the pads built-in to modern bibshorts. i am old enough to have owned and worn bibshorts with real chamois inserts and believe me, chamois cream was a necessity unless you happen to enjoy having your undercarriage sandpapered.

so the question remains, is there any need to use chamois cream in the modern world? in truth, i've never stopped using it, no matter the quality of the bibshorts plonked on my saddles, so perhaps i'm the wrong person to ask. but the united kingdom and in particular, the west coast of scotland suffers from a not inconsiderable amount of precipitation, the very substance that might encourage feelings of discomfort down under, discomfort that can be ameliorated by the very cream we've been discussing.

as far as i'm concerned, british made 'on the rivet' chamois cream fulfils its purpose most admirably; discomfort has been refreshingly absent from all the rides undertaken since its arrival at washingmachinepost croft, including a number of rather wet excursions, and at a cost of only £9.99 for a 200ml tub, it's hardly the largest cycling expense you'll incur this year. if you've never used chamois cream at all, perhaps it's time to start. if, like yours truly, you're a long time adherent of the faith, you'll love this stuff.

to quote velominati's keeper of the cog, "30km into the ride and you're rollin' smoother than a kitten in a yarn store."

precisely.

on the rivet chamois cream

on the rivet chamois cream

sunday 16 april 2017

twmp ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................