Members of a women’s cycling club in North Yorkshire have swapped bibshorts for stockings and suspenders in a photo shoot for a calendar to raise money for the area’s air ambulance.
Six women from Harrogate’s Cappuccino Cycling Club took part in the project, which saw them don lingerie from Rigby & Peller, the London-based business that supplies the Queen with her underwear.
Published ahead of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France next month, the calendar features locations along the route of the race and was shot by BAFTA winning film maker Paul Berriff and leading fashion photographer Michael Dunne.
One of the cyclists who volunteered to take part, Sue, said: “We are all keen cyclists and used to a challenge but this was something new.
“Swapping Lycra for lace left us feeling exposed even before the cameras arrived! Like cycling the experience has had its ups and downs but we supported each other with humour and encouragement, like we do on our rides.
“We have welcomed the opportunity to raise money for the air ambulance, a charity we rely on to be there at any time. It has been a once in a lifetime experience and a very different way to celebrate the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire.”
Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire which won the bid to host this year’s Grand Départ, said: “It’s great to see people raising money for such an important charity, combining celebrating the arrival of the Grand Depart with showcasing some of the county’s fabulous locations along the route.”
Berriff recalled his initial approach to the club to see if they would be interested in participating in the project.
“I telephoned Liz Annetts of the Cappuccino club and asked if they were willing to strip off and wear underwear in front of a camera, there was silence for around twenty seconds before she realised what I had just asked her,” he said.
“Within an hour she came back to me with six volunteers and before long we had fourteen ladies offering to be photographed. I couldn’t believe how quickly they responded.
“We were on location in some very cold weather but the ladies in their underwear were not at all concerned.
They have all been very brave and the calendar looks really stunning, it’s a great credit to them and such a fantastic way to raise money for a great cause and bring more interest to Yorkshire and the Tour de France race,” he added.
The calendar costs £12 and can be ordered here: www.cappuccinocyclingcalendar.com
North Yorkshire is also home to the Rylstone Women’s Institute, whose members famously stripped off in 1999 for a calendar that helped raise £3 million for the charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, with their exploits forming the subject of the 2003 film, Calendar Girls.
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47 comments
Nick - I thought the debate was about this calendar not you and/or your opinions..?
You'll be plugging 15 Thoughts on Value next
FG
I would never be so crass as to talk about this link Fixie. THIS LINK:
http://road.cc/content/blog/79326-vulpine-fifteen-thoughts-value
Shit, I was looking at the bikes.
I think Vulpine actually do produce merino padded underpants.
What I find the most uncomfortable about this calendar is that after all the work that has been done to gain recognition for women in sports, someone still thinks that the best they can do, is approach women to pose in lingerie.
I would be much more comfortable if this was they're own initiative, but it does not seem like it was.
I wish the photos were celebrating their strength and fitness instead of repeating glossy magazines cliches.
Everyone is perfectly entitled to pose in lingerie, and it's everyone's choice. Naked photos of women, if done well, don't have to be detrimental to women's cycling. Sadly this is not the case here.
+1.
...thinking a bit further on this and the various comments along the lines of 'was this really the best these creative /brand types could come up with?': why - in a sport where skin-tight nothing-left-to-the-imagination kit is standard, is the little bit of extra skin visible when in lingere even considered a 'bonus'?
Personally I prefer something left to the imagination. Maybe that's just me.
I couldn't agree more.
all woman cyclists should dress like this. woman. know your limits. and remember dont try and look decorative and think it just wont work. stay healthy
I think it's fair enough, loads of groups do naked calendars - it's a tradition and I don't think there's a problem with that.
What I don't think needs to be done is banding 'womens cycling' together with 'charity calendars' - these are just ladies who bike (a social group, just like the WI who do the same) - doing a shoot in underwear (though the tog sounds a bit on the oioi side). I don't think it should be seen as representative of women's cycling, especially, as others have said, since so much has been done to try and balance out the sport.
I'd quite happily gawk at a calendar of Fabian Cancellara pics all day.... that doesn't make me sexist, it makes me human, if I met him in person I wouldn't slap his arse and tell him to show us some skin, I'd ask him about his bike riding....and maybe politely compliment him because I think he's a bit of alright while also being my hero at the same time.
If people want to buy this to gawk then fine, if people want to buy it for charity then fine, personally I'd rather just send some money in to the charity regardless - or reward something like a big athletic challenge or something like that. I don't think boobs need to be got out to raise cash.... there are better ways, but don't give the ladies shit for doing it - if it were a load of 70+ WI birds no one would bat an eyelid, in fact they'd probably be all for it because "awww isn't that nice"
It's just unfortunate that so many people would and will display unsavoury opinions around it, i.e. there's a difference between being politely attracted to an image and being disgustingly misogynistic about it - THATS what the problem is.
I think Mouleur's hit the nail on the head... don't live in denial of your basic programming... you are put on earth to pro-create and you are hard wired to do this.
Part of that process for men is to find women visually attractive, and women's bodies have developed to be just that...
Appreciating, celebrating, whatever, the human form and sexuality is fine... whats not fine is acting like a sexist dick.
Or put it another way... I'm sure most of us will at least once a week want to smack someone in the mouth... we don't though do we?
Agreed. I'm as "red-blooded" as the next man but why does an email "offers" web-site have to use a very scantily clad young lady to offer teeth whitening?
Exactly mate that's got it down to a T!
Says it all really. Real people who do real things making real points about real issues. More power to their elbows. And they've more borls than most of the guys on here imo....
But its not high-viz lingerie so they're invisible anyway.
Drivers are going to wonder why you've produced a calendar full of unremarkable pictures of empty bits of Yorkshire scenery.
I wonder if we could do a similar thing on alpe d'huez ?
Of course Nick doesn't like it, he makes cycle clothing!
People cycling in pants will force him to close up shop.
Why exactly are these people only wearing underwear? That Helen Mirren film was years ago.
I disagree with the woman involved in the calendar who argues here that she's the only one that can criticize it. That's an oddly self-absorbed line to take, sorry. It's not about you.
Her calendar affects other people - and the way women are asked to participate in society "but in your underwear please, yes" is a wider, more pressing issue than whether she feels flattered by her photos and is untroubled by sexism in her own (by her own description) privileged position in society.
I think female skimpy calendar shoots will be terrific once all uk workplace sexism has been fixed, women are no longer routinely paid less for the same work in the UK, and women are equally represented in politics. Probably some other things too but that's a start. Some way to go.
How's the male-female balance in road.cc readership? Would you have run this story if you only had the wall photo, without the 3 or 4 pictures of women in pants?
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