This is a pretty cool video to see how cycling clothing is produced. Vermarc is a great sponsor of ours and I have a deeper appreciation for the kits when I take them out of the bag!

Check it..

Vermarc Sport - english version (with subtitles) from Vermarc Sport on Vimeo.

For the 2009 racing season, the Boulder Cycle Sport crew has been decked out from a set of GREAT sponsors who supply us with bleeding edge equipment. I thought it would be cool for fellow racers and team managers to see what we’re rocking in terms of some of our clothing goods from some great companies.

Glacier Gloves:

My main man Jonny ‘The King’ Coln, former super soigneur for Slipstream knows that I have girl hands. I mean my boney chicken fingers become numb when the temps drop and I complain incessantly…and yet I still refuse to wear gloves as I’ve never found a set that are thinner profile and don’t sog-up with the slightest bit of precip. So he approached me and our BCS team one day with this in mind and gave us the low-down on the new equipment he is rep’ing.

Glacier Gloves are making an impact on the cycling scene. I had Jonny give me his background spiel on the gloves which I have been running as of late with the temperatures dropping these days.

“So Glacier Glove has a covert cycling history that goes like this:  they have been making paddling/fishing/cold weather gloves for a while and then a few years back one of the riders or soigneurs from Discovery got a hold of them and everyone on the team loved them for cold /wet Belgium spring races.
Last year when I was Head Soigneur (uh Bitch that is :)) for Garmin I was looking for gloves as the guys were complaining that they didn't have a good cold AND wet weather glove so I got a hold of the glacier glove guys and experimented with their products with some riders. They are really interested in creating a great cycling product and are looking for feedback to ensure they are creating a great product.   Your 002tbk is a beefier (on the palm) glove, double blind stitched seam sealed.  The Armstrong guy uses them all the time to (look at tour of Cali pics when it was wet).”

So after some early AM Wednesday Worlds rides and some truly cold and wet races this Fall, I cam vouch that the product is really spectacular I have been testing the “002TBK PREMIUM WATERPROOF CYCLING GLOVE” and would say that optimum temp ranges are from 35-45 degrees F. Any lower and you should likely run liners and any higher they will likely be too hot! They insulate well in that range. The other cool factor is that they are a fairly low profile glove. In other words they use thinner material to ensure you are nimble while shifting, etc, yet still keep your fingers warm. Obviously they are water tight!

MSRP for the 002TBK is $49.99 (their most expensive option) and Boulder Cycle Sport carries them (local folk) else go here to see who carries them in your area.

Vermarc

Next up is our clothing supplier for 2010, Vermarc! The way we looked at it, with the sponsorship by Ridley Bikes for the team this year, we clearly had to go fully Belgie and ride in Vermarc given their heritage in Belgian cycling having chamois’ed the heineys of some of the most spectacular cyclists of our generation. Nys, Albert, Boonen and more.  We are outfitted from head to toe with Vermarc but two of their products are indispensible for cyclocrossers: the skinsuit and their Roubaix warm up tight. 

First up: The skinsuit. I wanted to make a comment here on this critical piece of equipment, mainly to make team managers aware for their next season equipment orders. Cyclists are an odd lot physically speaking. We are sort of like T-Rex’s with huge legs and these tiny torsos and arms. In the past, my skinsuits would either be too big on top or too small in the bottom and squish up my junk. Vermarc allows teams to order custom sizes such as a Large top married to an XL bottom to dial in the fit perfectly. Genius! Someone finally got it! My main man Brian Worthy, who runs Vermarc USA dialed our team into all these attributes about their custom ordering process and it was obvious to the team that this was a great feature.

The other indispensible piece of equipment is the Vermarc Super Roubaix Warm Up Tight. Here’s the deal: For ‘crossers, we know the warm up is critical. We have a lot going on and our rituals before and at the start line are well known. On cold days, I want to keep my legs warm as close to the whistle as possible. In the past, this was impossible as I’d need to get off the bike, take my shoes off, awkwardly take my warm up pants off, put my shoes back on, etc. Pain in the butt! Vermarc has it dialed by giving cyclists NBA-style ‘tear off’ pants…like you see when dudes get off the bench, rip off their warm up pants and hit the court. The Vermarc Super Roubaix’s allow the racer to literally unzip from their hip to their ankles on both sides and the pants come right off in seconds. Super easy!

Better yet. they are SUPER warm as they are lined with fleece to keep those stems of ours nice and warm.

MSRP on these is $129.99 and Boulder Cycle Sport carries these as well (local folks). Contact Vermarc USA to purchase direct or see where your local dealer is.