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say it ain't so, andy
as mentioned a few months ago, thewashingmachinepost celebrated its first quarter century, moving from humble beginnings to the even more humble existence that exists today. as i may also have mentioned, that covers merely the internet years, for prior to 1996, i had been writing frequent articles for islay's local newspaper, originally to encourage islanders to take to two wheels instead of four. however, after a year of doing so, and with no appreciable change in the island's transport choices, i was on the point of giving up, only to discover that i did have a sizeable audience (relatively speaking) who read purely for the entertainment value that i was inadvertently providing.
however, even i'd be inclined to side with those who contend that cycling, as subject matter, is hardly one uppermost in the mind of the average hebridean, so when the interwebs became accessible to even the likes of yours truly, i moved my avowed whimsicality and irrelevance to pixels instead of print. the rest, as goes the cliché, is history.
writing about cycling in a local newspaper, however, is hardly fraught with hidden dangers, particularly when your audience is less than knowledgeable on the subject, and could probably care less, to be honest. going onto the world wide web, is an altogether different proposition.
you see, there are people out there, who know a great deal about cycling, about cycle racing and about bicycles and their peripherals. though i'd like to think i'm a bit more conversant with most aspects of the subject nowadays, i still live in mortal fear of receiving e-mails pointing out just what an idiot i had been by writing what i wrote. admittedly there have been one or two, but never brutal, always conciliatory, and always open to debate, where debate might be deemed appropriate. present day confidence is a tad improved.
but 1996 was not only the year responsible for foisting black and yellow pixels upon an unsuspecting, though largely welcoming public. for also founded that year, and celebrating its 25th anniversary this month, is dorset's prendas ciclismo. founded by mick tarrant four years shy of the millennium, prendas has been single-handedly responsible for popularising the retro cycle jersey, along with a slew of quality casquettes. andy storey joined the happy throng in 2004, replacing a previous andy, who left to pursue an alternative career. and rather than think of an old jersey that they thought might prove a commercial proposition, prendas have always made every effort to ensure they gained official approval for each new item.
there have been one or two jerseys of which i'm aware that never saw the light of day, after official permission from an erstwhile sponsor was withheld. and when researching the team z cap, neither they nor i could find any images showing the cap with the peak down, to see if there was a logo concealed behind. so i asked pippa, who kindly sent an original team issue cap. thus, that on offer from prendas is as accurate as it gets.
mick retired from the business (or semi-retired, as he would have it), in 2017 and for the last four years, andy storey has been flying the prendas flag solo. but regular prendas customers may have noticed a few recent changes, predominantly by way of larger warehouse clearances than in previous years, plus advice that certain jerseys, once gone, were gone forever, specifically the most famous of all, the peugeot retro edition in both its black and its white alternatives. an e-mail received by all customers yesterday (sunday 13 june) stated, "We are discontinuing a large selection of our products, including all cycling jerseys, to focus on selling just cycling caps and a small selection of accessories."
according to andy, brexit hit the bottom line quite hard, not so surprising if you figure that many of the retro jerseys are manufactured by santini, while their caps are also of italian origin. uk import duties will obviously have increased costs and slowed delivery times. and then there was covid. about that, andy said, "Whilst the pandemic has hit many businesses and families very hard indeed, it has given us a unique opportunity to take stock of our situation, and rethink our future." prendas are now clearing a large percentage of stock, meaning no more cycling jerseys, bib shorts etc. if you've always wanted a san pellegrino, salvarani, molteni, watneys or peugeot jersey, there's limited time and stock left.
over the past twenty-five years, i have bumped into mick and andy on many occasions, mostly at various cycling shows and the rouleur classic in englandshire. they were instrumental in assisting me have quality ardbeg casquettes made in 2010, when the distillery celebrated ten years of its ardbeg committee by way of a gourmet bike ride. though i'm less likely to attend cycle shows these days, cycling life just won't be the same.
i am on record, probably more than once, as having said that if prendas didn't exist, we'd have to invent them. rapha ceo, simon mottram has frequently said he holds great admiration for both mick and andy. a great many of us will understand the reasons behind andy's decision, but just as many will regret the demise of prendas ciclismo in its present form. for to be honest, a retro jersey really only reached that status if it appeared on the prendas website. how ever will we advertise our membership of the cycling cognoscenti in the future? from whence wll we source an alternative to sportwool, modernity and the often uninspired designs from the modern peloton?
the world of cycling is about to lose one of its foundation stones. long live prendas ciclismo.
monday 14 june 2021
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