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US Postal dilemma

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  • October 10, 2013 at 4:53 pm #20050
    Leviathan

    So it has been a few months since the Lance/Oprah interview and although there have been more burblings about court cases and movies people have moved on for now. So my mind turns to the winter and my dilemma. I have always been a keen fan of collecting team kits and riding/commuting in them. I have some complete sets of USPS kits from 2000 black/white and 2001 blue /red. I have enjoyed wearing these kits for over a decade and worn them on hundreds of occasions, but now I am embarrassed to see them sitting there on my shelf slowly working themselves to the bottom of the pile.

    My philosophy has always been to have multiple uniforms to give me a variety of things to wear, there is always something clean and dry in soggy Manchester, and it greatly reduces the damage on the kits as they are in rotation. Maybe some days are red Saeco Thurdays. This way my kits can last for years and they have. I even go as far as buying two pairs of shorts for each jersey to reduce wear, and I have always been able to find other matching jackets etc. on ebay. So over the years I have built up quite a collection. I also have, Once, Saeco, Gerolsteiner, Leopard Trek items from the last 14 years of riding. In the meantime plenty of their riders have doped but none are like Lance. I doubt most people would be bothered what team the jerseys are from except US Postal.

    I suppose this was to be expected as the rumours have been building for years, but way back when I first bought this kit I was just a kid but the only time you saw Lance was on the Channel4’s Tour de France coverage, half an hour a day for three weeks a year; there wasn’t any of the multiple streams going on like today. I just though it was sport, no more significant than a ManU shirt. It is a bit like seeing Morrissey in a bar, telling him you love his music, then he calls you uncooth and you are not allowed to like his music (which I do,) but at least we know Morrissey will do that. This is like Lance trying to steal back my years of happy riding.

    I doubt pedestrians and motorists care what I wear, but I am concerned that riders I see going the other way might notice and shout out ‘cheat’ or ‘f*off Lance’ and think that I am condoning what he has done. I have already decided to never wear them to any events, just for local training, but don’t think I can part with *my* kits. I have traveled far further in them than LA ever did. The designs look as fresh today as when new. If I tried to sell them on ebay I don’t think I would get very much at all at the moment, and I can’t just chuck out hundreds of pounds of perfectly good bike kit. So I just can’t let go of them, but feel a little embarrassed to wear them. I have given the summer a rest but with limited winter kit available it might be time for the Blue to return to the streets. If I wore them would you tut or still give a wave?

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  • October 11, 2013 at 8:07 am #759841
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    teaboy

    If you’re going to buy pro
    If you’re going to buy pro team kit for a sport where doping has been endemic since before replica kit was sold you have to be able to just wear it no matter what. You could probably never buy another jersey, looking at that pic!

    October 11, 2013 at 6:48 am #759839
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    PJ McNally

    Wear it. Hate the sin, love
    Wear it. Hate the sin, love the sinner. As others have said, we all know now that Lance was a total t*t. But he also entertained us all.

    Plus, USPS was the best looking kit he ever got to wear. (Lance was never on a team with really cool kit).

    That kit shelf is amazing! I have one (enormous) drawer which is stuffed with lycra, but that is something else.

    October 10, 2013 at 11:41 pm #759837
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    Leviathan

    Imagine for a moment that
    Imagine for a moment that this was only just over a third of my kits, um I might have a problem. I buy everything on ebay and pick up anything from my favourite kits (not exactly same as my favourite teams) and what you are looking at there is over ten years of collecting. You can see a little sliver of Leopard Trek 2011 turquoise on the shelf above. Everything comes from ebay, my bike was bought off… you guessed it ebay.

    Really want 80’s 7-eleven kit but keep getting outbid.

    So the consensus is wear it and be robust about why I want to wear it. Just sign the rights to the team name over to me as no one else deserves it; how dare someone sully the record of the team kit in which I have been riding for so long; screw you Lance, Blue Mondays are back.

    October 10, 2013 at 10:26 pm #759835
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    notfastenough

    That’s a serious hoard! Is
    That’s a serious hoard! Is that JUST your USPS kit? And you’ve got more from other teams?! Awesome effort sir.

    F*** it, wear it. Most people don’t know Lance’s history, he’s just a cheat to them. Cyclists know, but ah what the hell.

    A clubmate has the old PDM kit, I’m quite jealous of that.

    I nearly got it more wrong than you, anyway. Late 2011, Lance was in the past and I couldn’t care less anymore. I saw a cut-price on, IMHO, one of the best-looking kits around; the black & yellow Livestrong. It lacked the gaudy graphics of most pro kits too and I nearly bought it. Dodged a bullet there!

    October 10, 2013 at 9:55 pm #759833
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    Colin Peyresourde

    Wear it. But I do hate it. I
    Wear it. But I do hate it. I will think you are some deluded LA loving chump, misguided by the syrupy lies he wove. I will think about the destruction to the sport of cycling that he wrought….that is right up to the point where you charmingly introduce yourself and all your other commendable attributes which recommend you as a person of the human race come out, at which point I will bury my prejudices.

    It will have connotations for people. You have to think why you want to wear it, and whether those meanings are sufficiently good to outweigh the negative connotations. Even if it does have negative meanings for the wider population I doubt that most people will do much more than think negatively. I’m not a fan of the Sky kit wearing brigade either, I don’t say anything to anyone about it (except the occasional comment here for which I receive much love) and beyond making pointed barbs amongst friends (who don’t want to look like Brad/Froome) as I don’t expect my comments to be happily received. At the end of the day if you want to wear it, then who can stop you?

    As a post script I cycled up the Col d’Aspin this summer and clocked a guy wearing the old Mapei kit. I gave him a thumbs up and ‘bon journĂ©e’, he turned out to be English and we got talking about his epic ride on his old aluminium framed steed. My point is, maybe just give it time – and when you do pull it out of the cupboard 5-10 years hence you’ll get a thumbs up from a dolt like myself whose appreciation for it has changed (the Mapei kit is actually hideous and looks like a box of crayons vomited on it).

    October 10, 2013 at 9:44 pm #759831
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    djb123

    I don’t really mind that
    I don’t really mind that people have just got in to cycling, but the people that don’t say ‘hi’ back. Seeing old kit mainly just gives me a warm nostalgic feeling. Occasionally one can have a chat about old races etc.

    October 10, 2013 at 9:26 pm #759829
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    sea_biscuit

    That is an unbelievable
    That is an unbelievable hoard. I have a bag thaf has to live in airing cupboard. Wear it. Will bring qry smile to everyone faces. Full usps team kit. Id find that that mildly amusing and f**k I mean everyone knows Armstrong was a complete t***. Bravo for your collection

    October 10, 2013 at 8:23 pm #759827
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    sm

    Wow, that’s a lot of kit! Who
    Wow, that’s a lot of kit! Who else has pictures of piles of kit? I’ve only recently expanded to a second jersey after many a year! On topic. Wear it. I rarely even notice what others are wearing unless its a polka dot jersey!

    October 10, 2013 at 7:40 pm #759825
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    Leviathan

    Crosshouses wrote:I like to

    Crosshouses wrote:
    I like to see a bit of retro kit and I don’t suppose anyone will mistake you for LA.

    So I’d wave, but judging by your comment on the ‘grumpy git’ thread you’d ignore me :)

    “I give an almost imperceptible nod or raised fingers to someone going the other way, just in case they don’t reply. If someone gives the nod first I am more responsive.
    Meanwhile some guys say ‘hey’ as they over take me. I translate this as ‘I am f***ing beating you sucka, eat my dust.’ So I tend not to say anything when I overtake someone so as not to rub it in (cause I iz beatin thems, yeah, me!)”
    I am really happy to see other roadies going the other way (not so happy to be overtaken,) so a little wave of recognition is really welcome.

    @freespirit1 I don’t dislike you, I just wonder what you are doing still reading the forum. After your vocal discontent at us road cyclists coming down and making one Sunday inconvenient for you, the fact that you are still here makes me think you might be a little persuaded that a bike can solve your problems. It is transport and exercise; a culture, a sport, a hobby. Have you decided what bike you are going to buy?

    @djb123 Obviously I am showing my age, even though I have kept my kit in good nick. I was never tempted by the pink of Telecom. All my kits are primaries, Black, white, blue, red, yellow. Though if I did buy a Sky kit now (I won’t) would I have to wait ten years to wear it so you know I am not a fanboy? [says an obviously conflicted former Lance fanboy.]

    October 10, 2013 at 7:10 pm #759823
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    freespirit1

    I for one do not care what
    I for one do not care what you wear, I also know you don’t like me too much. However there is no point letting it rot away and you might as well use it.

    You are obviously not Armstrong and if anyone wants to hurl abuse at you because of what you are wearing they really need to get out more.

    Though if anyone started lobbing syringes at you I would perhaps have a rethink.

    Regards

    freespirit1

    October 10, 2013 at 7:09 pm #759821
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    Gkam84

    I’d use the “care factor” as
    I’d use the “care factor” as in, Do I really care what others think??

    October 10, 2013 at 6:49 pm #759819
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    djb123

    I wouldn’t personally wear
    I wouldn’t personally wear it, because I was always a Jan Ullrich man, but I still wear my Team Telekom jersey out and about sometimes.

    I’d wave/nod/say ‘Hello’ if I saw you. As said before, it is nice to see some retro kit about on the roads, lets you know that there are still some people who didn’t just jump on the bandwagon a year or so ago. I’d only tut if you weren’t friendly back.

    October 10, 2013 at 6:24 pm #759817
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    Ghostie

    I still have a pristine 2003
    I still have a pristine 2003 USPS team shirt and Nike cycling mitts, which I was wearing before it all properly blew up. Won’t wear them out of principal now as they are a sign to me of following cycling more passionately during those years and turning into a bit of a fanboy of Armstrong. I’m also thankful now that I never bought the Trek 5200/5500 that I had my eye on at the time.

    I personally wouldn’t hurl abuse or tut at another cyclist in USPS kit though, but would smirk privately to myself. Besides, should be dead give away of their age/time on a bike and probably less likely to result in young kids shouting Wiggo if they see a cyclist in USPS kit, compared to one wearing Team Sky, which I can imagine is probably far more annoying than being called a doper or liar by another cyclist over 30.

    October 10, 2013 at 6:09 pm #759815
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    Kapelmuur

    I like to see a bit of retro
    I like to see a bit of retro kit and I don’t suppose anyone will mistake you for LA.

    So I’d wave, but judging by your comment on the ‘grumpy git’ thread you’d ignore me đŸ™‚

    October 10, 2013 at 4:54 pm #759813
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    Leviathan

    My horde of contraband:
    My horde of contraband:

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