The Yawp Cyclery Wool Jersey Pre-Order

We're going to order a run of our first shop jerseys. If you want one, there are two ways to get on board. The first way is to sign up for the Yawp Company. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should read this. If you don't want to sign up for the Company, you can still order a jersey. Yes, you too can look good and feel even better. These merino wool jerseys are being made by Soigneur, and you can find their website here. Check out their customer feedback page, too. 

If you haven't worn merino wool before, you should know it's woven from condensed clouds, fluffy sheep magic, and distilled puppy joy. Its soft, doesn't itch, is cool in the heat and warm in the cold. You can wear merino wool--even a jersey--for days in a row without washing it. 

We're still waiting for final approval from the manufacturer, so we might tweak the design here and there, but the jerseys will mostly resemble the mock-up below. Expect the price per jersey to be in the neighborhood of $175. Yes, it is expensive, but it's a fine garment. You can read some third-party reviews here and here. 

Sizing

Soigneur's website gives the following chest measurements:

• XS – < 88cm = < 34.6 inches
• S – 88 - 93cm = 34.6 - 36.6 inches
• M – 94 - 99cm = 37 - 39 inches
• L – 100 - 105cm = 39.4 - 41.3 inches
• XL – 106 - 111cm = 41.7 - 43.7 inches
• XXL – 112 - 117cm = 44.1 - 46.1 inches

Here are some additional measurements: 

For the ladies: We know that often when a garment is supposedly unisex, it means it's cut for dudes and you have to deal with it. We checked with Soigneur to make sure these jerseys are for you, too. They said they make a women's jersey without the elastic hem, and that the response has been very positive.

Deadline

We need to have your order and your money by Monday, March 2nd. Please stop by the shop or give us a call.

Video of the Week

Pedal to the Metal: Riding with Music

Alex gets his mind blown by ELO.

It wasn't long ago that headphones were bulky, awkward accessories that resembled the headgear in A Clockwork Orange. Now, of course, you have many options, most of which are unobtrusive. In fact, it's not uncommon to see someone (usually male) engaging socially with his companions at Illegal Pete's while wearing a single earbud. (We aren't Miss Manners, and it's not the aim of this blog to address whether such things are appropriate, but if you wear one earbud while we are out for cocktails, we will sing Livin' La Vida Loca or Toto's Africa into your bud-less ear until you remove that earbud.)

What this means is that it's easier than ever to listen to music while riding a bike. It's also easier than ever to apply for health insurance or make espresso while riding a bike, but it doesn't mean that you should. Listening to music while you ride is great, but is it a good idea?

It's probably obvious why listening to music while you ride is enjoyable. If you're trying to make good time or work off the eggnog weight you put on over the winter, some fast music makes this happen almost automatically. If you're riding Green Mountain or Table Mesa in the summer at sunset, music can capture everything a snapshot would omit. One of my favorite things to do on a road bike is put on tracks 1, 3, and 4 of Dark Side of the Moon while descending Lookout Mountain; it's as close as the waking mind comes to dreaming.

Some rudimentary internet research verifies that cycling in headphones is legal in Colorado. However, headphones probably make it difficult to hear either the cyclist that is trying to pass on your left or the car that's too near your rear wheel. As you know, cyclists are already vulnerable, and impairing one of your senses may not benefit your safety. 

Can I hear the people sing? No, I can't hear anything.

The other side of that argument is that you're better off not hearing much of what's hollered at you as you're riding--insults, catcalls, invitations to ride on the sidewalk, etc. Being able to hear the car that's about to run over you won't prevent its running over you. Given the choice, would you rather listen to a driveshaft passing overhead or "take me down...to funky town!" while a driveshaft passes overhead? When a car pulls up next to you at a stoplight and the window comes down and someone says something you can't hear over your Les Miserables soundtrack, it may be best to sing back at them, "And I'm Javier. Do not forget my name! Do not forget me, 24601!" They will probably be so confounded that they leave you alone and continue on their way.

Who is this man? What sort of devil is he? To park his mail truck in my horse lane?

There can be no right answer to this. Maybe wearing headphones will lead to your death. Maybe your headphones will save your life: pulling over to restart a song could result in your not being in the middle of the next intersection when a motorist runs a red. Who knows. We have no real data. Listening to music while riding is one part awesome and one part scary to think about. Just don't turn it up so loud that stop paying attention to what you're doing and don't become so overcome by Fantine's death that you can't see through your tears.

One consequence of portable music that makes me a tiny bit sad, though, is when I'm out riding Centennial Cone on a sunny morning and feeling that the world is pretty great until someone overtakes me and doesn't respond to my greeting because they are wearing headphones. This kind of interaction reminds me of the indifferent city life I've gone to the woods to escape. The other rider, though, probably has a telephone job and has come to the woods so she can have some peace and some My Bloody Valentine and doesn't have to field my robotic greetings or idiotic pontifications about tire pressure.

I guess I've talked myself into the position that you should balance doing what makes you happy with not letting it get you killed. Well, there are less acceptable philosophies out there.

Anyway, if you want to argue the point further, you'll have to speak up so I can hear you over the single earbud I'm wearing.

What We're Listening to While We Ride

During a gray, dusk commute after a difficult day:

On a Kubrickian road climb: 

On a sunny, seventy-degree January day in 1972:

While getting loose in the snowy switchbacks at Apex:

During sad time:

 

Video of the Week:

The Yawp Company - The Anti-Team

We here at Yawp have a love/hate relationship with traditional cycling teams, so we're going to form the kind of team that we'd want to join. This will probably take a longer explanation than we'd like. We want to keep this simple, but even we have a lot of questions about what, exactly, we intend to do. So let's start by doing away with the term "team."

team

noun

1. a group of people who compete in a sport, game, etc., against another group.

Well, what we're out to do has nothing to do with competition. We won't be attending races. (If you want to race in your Yawp kit, that's fantastic! The Bailey Hundo and other races are fun and do good things for the cycling community. However, races are outside of our ambitions.) In the Yawp Company, the riders in the front have to carry the beer for the riders in the back--that's about all the attention we'll pay to how fast people ride. So, instead of a "team," we're going to be a company.

company

noun

1. companions, associates <know a person by the company she keeps>

Why would anyone want to do this? Here's our rationale. We've tried racing, and while there are some valuable things about it, it's not quite a fit for us.

What we don't like about racing: we don't care about winning, and we certainly don't like when people who do care about winning throw elbows at us. We don't like riding in the angry centipede for the first five miles of a race. We don't like paying to ride our bikes. 

What we do like about racing: the ride! Yeah! Twenty-five to one hundred miles of Colorado singletrack! Yes please! Also, races force us to go ride these amazing rides. Signing up months in advance and plunking down $100 basically ensures that we'll actually get our gear together and gas up the car and go do what we said we were going to do: ride bikes. Races also provide a very good environment to try new things. It's scary to attempt a long ride alone in unfamiliar territory, especially if you're going somewhere you've never been. Riding with a group provides support, and it's fun. 

So we're going to try to take all the good parts from our racing experiences, omit all of the bad parts, and save a little money while we're at it. If that sounds good to you, then yours is the kind of company we want to keep.

What we plan to do: there will be six Company trips--one per month from May through October. We look to keep driving time to a minimum, and probably won't go any further than Fruita (although Phil's World may be a possibility). We'll ride the snot out of our bikes for two days, sit around a campfire, and drink some beer. 

Fancy Clothes: Yup, we're getting some. We're planning to order wool jerseys. We're getting nice stuff, too, so you don't hate wearing it. We'll post some designs as soon as we have them.

Must I Buy the Fancy Clothes? No, you don't.

Women's Fancy Clothes: Ladies, cycling is much better with you than without. We hope you also enjoy these wool jerseys. We understand that "unisex" often means something that men enjoy and that you have to put up with. However, the feedback we've heard about these wool jerseys is that they are enjoyable for everyone. We hope that's true. If not, please speak up.

Dues: We have no dues. We believe riding bikes should be free (see above).

What's Provided: An organizational framework, a good time, and not much else. We'll secure the camping and reserve shuttles if we need them. We'll provide short and long route options. We'll do everything we can to make this rad for everyone, but we aren't going to cook for you (and you wouldn't want us to). 

What is required of me? Please have a current COMBA/IMBA.

Is this just for mountain bikers? Roadies are people, too. If you want to camp with us and ride your road bike/unicycle instead, please do. 

If you're interested, sign up below. We'll have our annual spring meeting on March 1st, 2018 at 7:00pm. Yeah!

Here are the reports from our 2015 trips:

Fruita | Eagle | Crested Butte | Bikepacking with Surly | Salida | Grand Junction | Moab

2014 vs. 2015

2014 was a long year, the longest year we've ever had. I'm lucky to remember any of it, and most of what I remember is "good," meaning that these memories leave me with favorable feelings. In fact, 2014 could've been complete crap, but I've succeeded in forgetting most of whatever crap happened, which in the very least makes 2014 a complete success of selective memory and/or punctilious use of whiskey. 

So 2014 was pretty alright. Can 2015 be better? We hope so. We have big plans.

Part 1: Arbitrary Moments of 2014

Best shop purchase.

Perfect dusk ride turns...

...into perfect night ride.

2014 gets blurry!

Mondays: the Buff Creek parking lot is (almost) empty.

Boss Man!

Sweet Bloom Coffee: you just can't not buy more.

Two dogs, six legs, all of the wags.

Something in 2014 went right.

Some really kind folks gave us some really rockin' records! Thanks to Brent, Brian, Vickie, and Seth! We are gonna air guitar so hard.

Too clean.

Yep! 2014 was rad! Will 2015 be better? We have a couple of ideas that we hope will help.

Part 2: Resolutions for 2015

1. One of the best things that happened in 2014 was an accident: a moonlight ride at Buffalo Creek. It was good enough that we're going to shoot for 3 of them this year. We'll post about these rides in advance.

2. Yawp Cyclery is going to start a "team" that will focus on rides instead of races. We'll have more info about this in a week or two.

3. More snacks.

2015 is looking pretty good out of the gate. Let's help it out by riding out bikes a bunch.

Video of the Week