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vulpine omnia cycling jeans
for many a long year, i have avoided asking any of islay's residents for their opinion of the velo club peloton, and in particular, yours truly. let's face it, most of you are no different; we dress in garish polyester jerseys with pockets on the back, skin-tight lycra shorts with nothing underneath other than padding that makes us look as if we're wearing nappies, and shiny plastic covered polystyrene on our heads. and, as if that were scarcely sufficient to have the word 'eccentric' muttered under the breath of innocent bystanders, we wear shoes that are stuck to our pedals.
in more central areas, the above might raise little more than an eyebrow, but in the midst of a less ostentatious society brought up on distilling, farming and fishing, it's not hard to stand out like a sore thumb, particularly when there are so few of us at which to point any collective outrage (not that there has been any, you understand). i have frequently parried any queries over our mode of dress by enquiring of my interlocutors whether they would go swimming, clad in a pair of levis 501 jeans. even apprentice members of the peloton, determined that lycra was not a material in which they would be caught dead, eventually succumbed to the comfort provided by those nappy pads, the pragmatism of having three pockets at the back, and the oddity of walking like a duck in road cleats.
but sometimes, just sometimes, it would be nice to simply retrieve the bicycle from the shed and ride off into the sunset without the attendant palaver of having to find shorts, jersey, cap, helmet and cleated shoes before doing so. many an essay on the joys of 'ordinary' cycling are keen to proclaim that cycling is an activity or mode of transport that, notionally, requires no special apparel. all you need is a bicycle. yet, knowing what we know about comfort and joy in the heat of battle, can be translated into civilian life without so much as a hop, skip or a jump. and while it might be a bit inopportune to go swimming in a pair of levis, it's perfectly possible to go cycling in their equivalent.
vulpine clothing, in all their incarnations, have been far more about the journey than the wattage, offering both the cycling newbie and the earnest practitioner the ideal garmentage in which to ride hither and thither about their respective principalities. and while it's highly possible that i doth protest too much, cycling a bicycle wearing levis 501s is every bit as scary a thought as wearing them for swimming. i'm sure i need not mention that seam. vulpine's omnia jeans get round this possibly deal-breaking factor, by outfitting the saddle region with a single piece of denim, thus easing your pain. don't get me wrong, journeys of more than a dozen kilometres may be eased on wearing a pair of padded boxer shorts, but during the review period, marrying that part of my anatomy with a brooks cambium c13 carbon saddle, incurred no crippling blows.
vulpine's omnia jeans are available in sizes ranging from small to xxl, in two leg lengths and offer a relaxed fit. medium indicates a waist size that mediates between 30" - 32", the very size received for review. these fitted very comfortably from ankle to waist, though i did need a belt to keep my modesty intact. thankfully, they feature a zip fly; my previous pair of vulpine jeans, albeit from a previous incarnation, featured a button-fly which i found remarkably impractical on a pair of jeans designed for cycling. that, presumably, was the 501 effect. there are small darts at the knees to ease the practicalities and comfort of cycling, allied to a welcome degree of built-in stretch. and matching with a vulpine jersey or t-shirt's dropped tail, the raised waistband at the back avoids any unwanted draughts in a scottish summer (a little hebridean humour).
having worn other brands of cycling jeans, constituted to a skinnier fit, the omnia's relaxed fit tends to offer enhanced comfort when cycling, and impressive style off the bike. time will tell whether the denim will prove to be hard wearing, though i cannot deny that, at present, it seems perfectly capable of repelling all boarders without stress. and vulpine suggest that as they're washed and worn, they will degrade graciously, turning us into the cycling dudes to which we (mostly) all aspire. the price might be a smidgeon higher than the iconic 501s, but as we've already agreed, there's no way we're riding anywhere in a pair of those.
vulpine omnia jeans are available in sizes ranging from small to xxl in 11.2oz indigo denim. retail price from vulpine.cc is £100.
saturday 4 september 2021
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