SUPER EXCITING NEWS - a TS Race "Team"

[Plawless]

Woot woot! In the hope of continuing to build on the awesomeness that is TSC and to make sure that we have opportunities for as wide a range of skills & desires as possible its time to start thinking of our club as having a "Race Team". Hot on the heels of Lister's hard work developing the High School "chunk" of the club and the huge uptick in popularity of racing in the VCL and beyond by the club lets see about racing as a TEAM next year.

The idea here is that, in furtherance of the super fantastic sponsorship provided by Spinnakers (which was targetted by Spinnakers for racing), we are going to order a set of "race team" gear that gives Spinnakers much greater name recognition (and will hopefully help convince them to continue their support of us next year!). The gear will be sold at a set price (so there will be a bit of a markup) in order to try to raise a bit of $ to help some of the race folks get to races they otherwise wouldnt attend.

All are welcome. After all it just wouldnt be TSC if it wasnt totally open and inclusive!

I think this is a super exciting step for us and hope everyone else does too. We are certainly a big enough club that it seems appropriate that we allow an avenue for a bit of race focus as well as some youth development etc. (To see a good example of this check out the Escape Velocity Club in Vancouver. EV does exactly this with its DEVO and Garneau Evolution components.)

Anyway I think it bodes well for both our club and the general racing scene in Victoria (and beyond) if we can step up our game into 2011.

Peter

ps. go have a drink and a meal at Spinnakers - lets support those that support us.

[Josh.E]

We'll be getting a gear order and finalized pricing in place in the near future. In the meantime, here's a copy of the proof for the new race team kit artwork I designed. I hope you guys like it.

As well as being the uniform for Tripleshot Spinnakers Racing, we hope we can get some strong club fundraising support in this gear order and a whole bunch of TS'ers around town sporting the kit. The money raised by this is intended to be split between some basic infrastructure stuff for the team and "consumables". Things like a small tent to put up at the races, maybe some magnetic decals for whoever's vehicle is serving as our "team car" for the day, so we can show up at BC cup races and provide a real presence for both our team, as well as Spinnakers as our title sponsor.
Other funds will be for providing means to help send some of our members, especially some of the juniors, to some bigger ticket races they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford to attend. That way we can hopefully field some strong attendance numbers at things like the BC cup races in the next season.

Post a response in this thread if you think you may be interested in getting in on this gear order.

cheers
Josh

[Rolf]

What if a rider only turns up to, um, one or two races a year? Would such rider still be welcome to purchase and wear the race gear on group-rides, or while commuting, trick-or-treating, vacuuming the front hall etc.?

Or is there an implication that by buying said gear, a purchaser will restrict him or herself to only wearing it when being selected to reprezent TSC in a race (i.e. will there be a race "roster" like Garneau Evolution)?

If the former, I'll probably buy a jersey and some shorts. They look neato.

[Plawless]

What if a rider only turns up to, um, one or two races a year? Would such rider still be welcome to purchase and wear the race gear on group-rides, or while commuting, trick-or-treating, vacuuming the front hall etc.?

Or is there an implication that by buying said gear, a purchaser will restrict him or herself to only wearing it when being selected to reprezent TSC in a race (i.e. will there be a race "roster" like Garneau Evolution)?

If the former, I'll probably buy a jersey and some shorts. They look neato.

BUY, BUY, BUY Everyone welcome to sport the Argyle! I think it makes sense to wear the race gear while racing (and in fact you have to at BC Cup races) but wear it as you please.

Why only the front hall by the way? That seems a bit weird.

[wonger]

Did someone say gear?!? I'm in.

[mlawless]

You had me at 'new' - IN

[AdamD]

Wow Josh design looks great, very retro, even better than what i pictured in my head from your description. Will all the normal items be available or just the ones in the proofs because i would perhaps be into a criterium skinsuit. http://champ-sys.com/custom/cycling/ski ... nsuit.html
So excited to race as much as i can next year far and near, and running races as a team will be an awesome experience.

[Alan]

Don't want to be nitpicking, but am I the only one to notice the new design sports only single-shot mugs of steaming brew of some kind? Do we rename the racers the 'single shots' as in, "you only got one shot, buddy, better make it good?" Does this signify that the racing-types can't handle their caffeine (which is likely) and hence should probably be using other performance-enhancing substances? Won't onlookers wonder why we call ourselves tripleshots (thus signifying our legendary caffeine-consuming prowess) when our jerseys, legwarmers and shoe covers have only single cups? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Rolf]

Hey Alan: last time you ordered a tripleshot (or a doubleshot for that matter), did you order three cups?

I think the only people who might be curious or confused are those racing behind two tripleshotters, one wearing one cup and the other wearing three. Guess which wheel they'll suck? Likely the wrong one.

And Peter: because there's no back hall? (Some of us who choose to toil for the common good don't live in mansions. )

You know, even if I never wear the race kit, I'm stoked for an opportunity to support our racers, especially the young 'uns.

[sylvan]

Post a response in this thread if you think you may be interested in getting in on this gear order.

I ride for fitness; I don't believe in competition. However, I'd be interested in one of the one-legged, one-arm skinsuits. Those look pretty cool. As I'm left-handed, I'd be more interested in a left-side version if available. I'd also be interested in a jersey. Or two. And some warmers and bootie units. Maybe a light jacket, hat and gloves.

I don't like "TS Racing" very much. If there's a way to squeeze in Tripleshot or TripleShot or TRIPLESHOT instead of TS and make it look good/big enough I'd like that more. I just wouldn't ever say "tee ess" and wouldn't want that to start happening.

It is a great idea and rad-looking kit so I'm in regardless of nitpicks.

[AlW]

Good looking stuff. I'm in!

[Josh.E]

I actually wasn't too stoked about the "TS Racing" either, although we wanted to differentiate these jerseys from the club kits. In my mind TS stood for tripleshot spinnakers. I couldn't figure out a way to get "tripleshot spinnakers racing" to fit, and I thought just the word "racing" by itself looked more goofy. I'm open to suggestions......

Alan, don't worry about the single cup. Haven't you noticed the frickin' size of the logo compared to the old? The only thing people are going to think is "wow, those guys drink big damn cups of coffee, they must be tough as nails"
You'll notice the beverage is even brown so as not to confuse any onlookers as to what it might be.

[bill]

Okay, I know I have not been around much lately...Remember me? Josh the gear looks great but is lacking something. Now what would that be? Oh, yeah my logo. I see that I have been bumped off the jersey. Is my money not good enough for ya?! I would still be interested in being a sponsor of the club/racing team as I have been since Tripleshots inception. Let me know.

Bill, who hope to be out soon.

[steve]

I know what I am getting for Christmas! Design looks great, when can we order?


Steve

[Josh.E]

shit, sorry bill

I'll fix that right away

[Stéphane Tran]

I like the idea of TSC being more of a presence on the local and regional cycling scene, and the new gear looks great. But I was just wondering, will the current baby blue get-up not be used for races anymore? I dropped quite a bit of dough (for me) on TS gear in the last 2 orders with the idea I would be able to use it in the upcoming VCL season. As much as I love new gear (who doesn't?), my cycling budget is quite restricted...

[Josh.E]

Adam

All the usual items will be available for order. I specifically made the kit design "skinsuit friendly" ie, continuous colors from jersey to shorts, with no color changes at the wasteline.

The short sleeve jersey is the main order item that we have to fill the minimum quantity requirement on, so every order should include one of those

So, anything on the champ sys site, you can get (with a slight mark up).
Prices will be posted very soon.
http://champ-sys.com/custom/cycling


Stephane

I still plan on wearing my easter egg kit to race in as well as this new one. Totally up to you.

[Barry McKee]

My initial reaction is similar to that of Stephane. Timing is everything. Had I known this was coming I would not have ordered additional kit on the last order. This past summer there were very few from TSC that raced in the BC Masters series races. When there were 4 or more it was neat that we were all decked out in the same TSC gear. With the addition of the new "race" kit we may now have 2 versions of TSC gear being worn in the same race. It seems kinda odd to me. On the other hand, I have absolutely no issue with changing the colour scheme. One point I would like to make is the current colour is difficult to pick up on the road. I have received feedback from fellow racers on this point. I'm wondering how the new base colour will be on the road. It seems a bit "quiet" to me. There is a good reason for those wild colours out there. This may not be a concern in crits but it is an issue in road races on open roads. I don't mean to bitch, just providing some feedback and food for thought.

[Josh.E]

The idea is not to replace the existing Tripleshot club kit.

This kit is intended to be official kit for the new "Tripleshot Spinnakers Race Team", which is, as I understand it, going to be a group within tripleshot committed to racing development complete with individual and group training programs, coaching, and race schedules for the season in several out of town races. A venue for more serious, UCI licensed racers within the group to make a commitment to continue to develop their skills as a team, and hopefully help lay the groundwork of a team that could have bonafide provincial and national level racers on it in the future.

The gear order is intended as a fundraiser for this. By buying the gear you, as a member of tripleshot, are helping contribute to tripleshot forming a racing team and junior develompent team within the club. If the training and racing commitment of the "race team" isn't something you feel compelled to sign on for, and you prefer to race and/or train recreationally, then buying and wearing the race kit is is simply a way of showing support for the racing program (plus you get a cool new kit )

As far as visibility on the road, I think the main reason the club kit is difficult to see is because although the colors are bright, they are all pastel with very little contrast, so they wash at a distance. That was my thought process behind the large black and white sections on this kit.....the contrast will stand out at a distance, sort of like the Cervello test team kits stand out better than the Astana kits.

[leftcoaster]

In


But.....


If this is 'race team' gear and race season is still a few months away, why don't we take a moment and check out the Canadian made/better quality gear.

I'm not second guessing the design, just the quality of the garments and I'm all for shopping closer to home.

- David B