A Word About Rapha (& Loop #14)

Not quite the fashion I'm talking about!

Joy here...In lots of couples it's the woman who is all about fashion.  It's the woman who has a massive shoe collection and whose clothing takes up more closet space than is strictly fair in a master bedroom.  It's the woman who blushes and hides the receipt when she sneaks out to go shopping, returning home laden with clothes that she simply needs.  It's the woman who preens in front of the mirror and trolls online shopping sites looking for deals.

Not so in our house.

In our house, it's The Man who is the clothing nut.

But make no mistake, I'm not married to a metrosexual with fantastic taste in Prada or Gucci.

Instead, I'm married to an athlete who enjoys the finer things about athletic aesthetics.

Rapha - the Mothership of
cycling gear.

Let me explain:  when I very first started running, it was a sport I took up to share with him (a story I explain in one of our more popular posts here--Long Runs and Running Demons), and I used to think that I could run wearing anything.  I had a pair of old second-hand shoes, a cotton T-shirt, and some cut off sweat pants that I had turned into shorts.  I figured that I was just going to get all sweaty, so what's the big deal with what I was wearing?  Well, I was soon educated on the finer points of technical fabrics, wicking, tights, running shoes, socks etc. and have begun to develop my own preferences when it comes to running gear (as Nomi and I outline in our "Favourite Things" blog post).

And with cycling, once again, it was The Man who took the fashionista lead, and I'm catching up.  It all began a couple of years ago, when he discovered Rapha, a UK-based cycling company.  They make everything from cycling shoes to cycling bibs to underwear; they have continental touring teams; they make awesome, short cycling videos; and most importantly, they make really stylish, good quality cycling gear.

We're hooked.

And now we've gotten all our friends hooked.

Click the pic for a larger picture of
the Rapha gilet that started
all this Rapha madness (or
click here for the Rapha site).

Click the pic for a larger picture of
 the women's Rapha soft-shell
that both the Sashinator and I have
 (click here for the Rapha site).

It started when we bought Superdave a great Gilet for his 60th birthday.  Then we started adding to our own collection.  Then Superdave's wife, Cili Padi, tried on my cycling shorts for sizing, loved the length of them and bought a bunch for herself.  Then as The Man, Superdave, Cili Padi, and I began to grow our collections (both Cili Padi and I were Rapha clad on our first ride this spring), we sucked the Sashinator into our shopping spree, and she and I now have matching soft-shell jackets for the cooler weather.  Then with the onset of warmer weather, The Professor joined the fray, buying herself some Rapha gear, including their amazing lightweight jersey.

So when Friday morning came around and a bunch of us all met up for an easy loop of the park, we realized that we were all kitted out as "Team Rapha."

Our little "Team Rapha" at Champlain Lookout.

There were Rapha bib shorts, Rapha women's shorts, Rapha socks, Rapha shoe covers, Rapha arm-warmers, a classic Rapha women's jerseys, some Rapha lightweight jerseys, a Rapha cap, and a Rapha Imperial Works jersey all on show.

We rode that park - 65kms door to door - at a pace a little easier than my usual pace these days (25km/hr versus 27km/hr), but, damn, we looked good.

And if you look good, you feel good.  And if you feel good, you're motivated to get out there and ride. And once you're riding, the whole wide world is your oyster.

The view that even our Rapha gear can't compare with.

So just ride,
Joy