Pro team kit or normal kit

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but, please if you are overweight and find going uphill a struggle don't wear the polka dot jersey, it's a bit like someone who can only do the dog paddle lining up for a cross channel swim.

Is it ok to wear a polka dot jersey on a flat route..? Also, if you are overweight, what amount if climbing is permissable if overweight and wearing said jersey..?
 

Rob3rt

Man or Moose!
Location
Manchester
Is it ok to wear a polka dot jersey on a flat route..? Also, if you are overweight, what amount if climbing is permissable if overweight and wearing said jersey..?

What I find more offensive than fat people huffing up hills wearing a polka dot jersey is the use of the term KOM on Strava. KOM on a 0.05 mile section of pancake flat road in the middle of a city centre? Surely it wouldn't be hard to coin another term such as "commuter hero" and implement a filter that only award's the title KOM on actual hills!
 
What I find more offensive than fat people huffing up hills wearing a polka dot jersey is the use of the term KOM on Strava. KOM on a 0.05 mile section of pancake flat road in the middle of a city centre? Surely it wouldn't be hard to coin another term such as "commuter hero" and implement a filter that only award's the title KOM on actual hills!

agreed - but then I find the whole strava thing a bit daft anyway.. ;)
 

jifdave

rubbish uphill, downhill 'balast' make me fast
Location
Rochester
i base it on the football theory, if youre wearing team kit you are a fan of that team....

ive never once thought that fat bloke down the boozer was having a week off from the utd left wing.

i mostly dont wear team kit because its expensive and probably wont fit me. i do have a chinese gb top that i squeeze myself into but only with an undershirt that holds in the bulge....
 

redcard

Veteran
Location
Paisley
Next people will be saying we shouldn't be riding CF bikes or have DI2 because we aren't pros.:whistle:

Would you encourage a CC noob to splash out £3K on their first road bike?
 

jifdave

rubbish uphill, downhill 'balast' make me fast
Location
Rochester
would you encourage drivers to splash out £30k on their first car..? If you've got it - spend it.

+1 although id say if you have it and want to spend it do so....
in fairness most people say im new to cycling what bike should i buy for x? ive never seen anyone say i have a grand and someone else try to suggest they spend 1500.
 

Mr Bunbury

Senior Member
i base it on the football theory, if youre wearing team kit you are a fan of that team....

ive never once thought that fat bloke down the boozer was having a week off from the utd left wing.

The difference is that football has long been the premier spectator sport in the country, with every man and his whippet wearing a Man U shirt in the Rovers Return at the weekend (or do they support City in Corrie, I don't watch it) and everyone knows what Rooney looks like. Cycling, OTOH, has long been a minority sport, so the only people wearing bike racing kit have been cycling participants, rather than mere fans. To the uninitiated, anyone riding a bike and wearing lycra is several steps above them on the ladder, so someone wearing team kit may well ride for the team. Seriously, I'm a pretty average twentysomething rider in club kit on a CF bike, and I've been asked numerous times whether I'm in the Tour de France - I'm pretty sure that a good proportion of those have been serious!

To all those insisting on their right to wear pro team kit, acting shocked at opinions like totallyfixed's or Rob3rt's, here's the deal:

- You don't wear any team kit that you haven't earned the right to wear.
- You don't wear any championship kit that you haven't earned the right to wear.
- Retro kit from a long-gone team is okay, in which case the longer since the team raced, the better Peugeot, Mapei etc are all completely fine, HTC Highroad is a bit sketchy.

This is pretty well the default position among them wot wear team kit seriously, and has been so for a long time afaict, so don't shoot the messenger. Whoever saw the Victoria Pendleton documentary, will have seen her dad (no mean racer himself) gazing at the world champion jersey she gave him, framed on his wall. "Have you ever put it on?" asks the presenter, at which point his wistful eyes show their steel, "No, you have to earn it" he insists.

If you're fat, that's none of my business. If you're fat, choose to buy a polka dot jersey and then ride up a hill at 2mph while getting passed by a club run full of people who actually hope to wear a proper polka dot jersey one day, I reserve the right to crack a private joke at your expense.
 

jifdave

rubbish uphill, downhill 'balast' make me fast
Location
Rochester
Cycling, OTOH, has long been a minority sport, so the only people wearing bike racing kit have been cycling participants, rather than mere fans.

so how does cycling not become a minority sport? id suggest people buying/wearing team kit will only do good. Added revenue and getting it out there to the 'uninitiated'
comes across to me that you have the opinion cycling is only for pure cyclist that have it in the blood, cycling isnt for casual fans, cycling isnt for fat people.


The difference is that football has long been the premier spectator sport in the country, with every man and his whippet wearing a Man U shirt in the Rovers Return at the weekend (or do they support City in Corrie, I don't watch it) and everyone knows what Rooney looks like.
i play 5 a-side in a lyon shirt because the 'pro kit' is better quality. should i stop?
is it not ok for people wanting to buy last seasons pro team kit because its likely to be top quality at a reduced price, especially katusha/astana as everyones selling that cheap.

If you're fat, that's none of my business. If you're fat, choose to buy a polka dot jersey and then ride up a hill at 2mph while getting passed by a club run full of people who actually hope to wear a proper polka dot jersey one day, I reserve the right to crack a private joke at your expense.

if im fat and walking up a hill in a polka dot jersey because im new to cycling and cracked, thats still none of your business, by all means crack a joke, just make sure i dont hear you because my extra weight gives me an advantage downhill and i will catch you and will punch you in the face.

Looking down at someone because they dont follow the unwritten rules of cycling is pretty closed minded, if you want to keep cycling as a closed shop i have news for you. us fattys are coming and we are doing a lot more good than bad!
 
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