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ursa major three musketeer traveler set

ursa major musketeer traveler set

despite it being common knowledge that serious (and not so serious) roadies often shave their legs, it's something that still intrigues many of the civilian population. umpteen reasons have been put forward as to why this is the case, but straightforwardly, most of us do it because 'tis a part of our cycling heritage and at least shows some intent to be considered a proper cyclist, as opposed to just a bloke or girl with a bike. you are of course, more than welcome to trot out whichever of the common reasons for so doing that you think might appeal to a captive audience, but ultimately, you either do or you don't.

why, doesn't really make any real difference.

it is hardly unusual, therefore, that there are products available to aid this smoothness of skin, even if the majority hadn't actually considered the cyclist at point of origin. i think that quite likely true of ursa major's three musketeer traveler set. it's just a hunch, but it seems much more likely that your face was uppermost in their minds.

but that too carries with it a great burden of cycling heritage. if i may be so bold as to quote from william fotheringham's excellent fallen angel - the passion of fausto coppi, it seems many too many of today's racers are guilty of ignoring one of the more obscure rules. "At Bianchi, much was made of personal presentation. The gregari would be sent back to their rooms to shave if they came down in the mornings with stubbly chins, and if they didn't have clean socks and jerseys they would be made to change them."

ursa major musketeer traveler set

there's not a lot ursa major can do about the socks and jerseys part of the equation, but the travel set would seem ideal for the cyclist away from home perhaps subject to the strictures of the 1950s bianchi team. i doubt very much that the modern day cycle team manager would gain major brownie points by sending his riders back to their rooms to shave off their designer five o'clock shadows, but if velominati were to surreptitiously add just such a suggestion to the rules, one can only imagine the effect on team presentations.

the constituents are thus: three 35ml bottles of fantastic face wash, stellar shave cream and 4-in-1 essential face tonic. also included in the little drawstring bag is a sample of ursa major face balm and one face wipe in a sachet.

as is usual for blokes, i failed to read the instructions on the back of the shave cream, other than the direction to squeeze 'a nickel sized amount' onto my finger and massage onto my already wetted face. well, to be honest, i did read that bit, but then attempted to foam the shave cream by working it with my shaving brush. all that succeeded in doing was removing all the cream previously smeared upon my face. ignoring this last brushy step, and simply leaving the cream where it was resulted in an intriguing shave. intriguing in a good way.

and if i can be just slightly woolly for a brief moment, my face felt beyond smoooooth.

i've no idea if i worked these three in the order intended, but after shaving i smothered the visage in face wash, followed by the face tonic and rounded nicely off with a dollop of the face balm sample. vitality and subtle aroma deftly applied, fausto would have been mightily impressed. add in my nice clean socks and a stylishly laundered jersey and why would i have need of uci points?

ursa major musketeer traveler set

but in much the same way that apple computer label some of their machinery as pro in order to foster a certain faux elite amongst their customer base, there is no strict need to pay literal attention to those instructions on the stellar shave cream. for when they say face simply substitute the word leg and immediately you're back in the land of the cyclist. and in line with my selfless experimentation, i have no reservations over recommending the shaving cream to defy any hint of hirsute behaviour by those honed thigh and calf muscles.

rather obviously, 35ml of each of these products won't last forever, but in accordance with ursa major's traveler set nomenclature, they're not really meant to. each individual item can be purchased in a considerably larger format for residential use. an event like the eneco tour would seem the ideal length of time for just such a drawstringed cloth bag.

the ursa major three musketeer traveler set retails at an incredibly economic $15 (£10) and can be ordered directly from the ursa major website

ursa major

monday 19th august 2013

twmp