Done the ride, got the T shirt

[wilkyboy]

Today I think I saw someone with 2017 LEL Jersey....

If on Brazier's Run yesterday, it was a member of the LEL Team, and a very important one. He needs to perfect the 'Catwalk Mince' while modelling the kit, though. 

I'll have a word with him at the Pork Pie on Saturday, make sure he's been practising — I'll get Mrs WB's opinion, too 

I wore my PBP jersey on the journey back from Paris after successfully completing — I got a few appreciative comments, too.  I've never worn my LEL2013 jersey — I put on weight immediately after and it never quite fit, but the next size up was cavernous on me.  I'm trying to get back down to the size I was when I got it ...

[mattc]

i might get a jersey printed up with "THE WORLDS MOST ARDUOUS AND DIFFICULT BIKE RIDE 2017" on it.  A picture of a cog, a mountain and some logos from energy drink makers on the sleeve.  A reflective strip and a 3/4 length zip.

 

[Grandad]

The Event Jerseys I have bring back memories of the event,

Never ridden an event hard/far enough to warrant a jersey but a collection of every brevet card does it for me.

[Deano]

During PBP 2015, riders wearing the jersey on the event weirded me out, as from a distance it looked just like the Hambleton RC jersey, and I half-expected it to be someone I knew.

[HK]

Got about 20 grand brevet jerseys stashed in a plastic box. Rides done, jerseys mostly unworn as i prefer to ride my club colours on brevets as I'm proud of my club plus being very old skool.

A couple of ride jerseys will probably be worn on LEL as we have decided that our team will be doing the matching thing.

Personally if you don't finish the ride I wouldn't wear the jersey. As a helper I wouldn't want to wear the ride jerseys. I do like though when the organisation does make something special for the helpers to wear afterwards as without these generous people we couldn't ride.

Did wear my ACP PBP 2011 jersey on the ride as I needed a dry jersey as got caught up in some pretty big rain. Same ride did wear my PBP Audax 2011 jersey (completed week before) on the last day as that one is a very special jersey - only about 11 of us did the double, which I was very proud of and i think most of us did this so we could be identified.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Delph Cyclist]

I saw a chap at parkrun on Saturday wearing the T-shirt from some 100-mile marathon he'd done (I'm assuming he had actually done it). Yeah, very impressive, but wearing it in that context has a slight whiff of smugness about it.

Oh dear.  I wore my LEL jersey on the London Free Cycle 2013.  This is the event where they close the roads in Central London for thousands of cyclists of all abilities and none (or at least no road sense).  In 2013, this was held on the weekend immediately after LEL, and was great fun (and probably very dangerous).  It's the day before LEL in 2017, so if you participate (and I think you should if you can fit it in with registration times) then be very careful.

[citoyen]

Oh dear.  I wore my LEL jersey on the London Free Cycle 2013.  This is the event where they close the roads in Central London for thousands of cyclists of all abilities and none (or at least no road sense).  In 2013, this was held on the weekend immediately after LEL, and was great fun (and probably very dangerous).  It's the day before LEL in 2017, so if you participate (and I think you should if you can fit it in with registration times) then be very careful.

Tbh, Freecycle seems like the kind of ride I'd be more likely to do in civvies than lycra, but it probably doesn't matter what you wear when you have to put on a hi-viz tabard over it.

Regarding the bloke at parkrun in his 100-mile marathon T-shirt, it's really just jealousy on my part. I was going to ask him about it because it sounded interesting but I couldn't keep up with him.

[Kim]

Wearing jerseys on 'lesser' events, my take on it is that I wouldn't buy a jersey I didn't expect to wear.

I get asked about cycling-specific kit (particularly lycra) by newbie cyclists from time to time.  My answer is that cycling is my hobby, and I do long distance rides and multi-day tours where comfortable clothes made with lightweight, quick-drying technical materials are important.  So when I go to the cupboard to select clothes for a sociable pootle, I'm likely to end up choosing Proper Cycling Kit™, because it's the best thing^[1] there for the job (particularly if I'm riding at higher levels of effort to/from the ride).  But that doesn't mean you need it to ride to the shops, and if that's all you're doing then anything weather-appropriate that's Not Jeans will suffice.

I reckon wearing an audax jersey to a Skyride (or a marathon T-shirt to a Parkrun) could simply be a case of that.  You're advertising an event or organisation, but not necessarily willy-waving about it, and it might simply be a case of what was clean in the drawer.


_{[1] I avoid cycling in civvies in order to reduce wear on my civvies as much as comfort.  Saddles destroy trousers, and buying trousers is hell.}

[mr ben]

Good jerseys are not cheap, so I feel the need to 'earn' one.  I got my first (and so far only) AUK one once I could call myself a randonneur.  I'm clearly going to need more than one for LEL, so better get doing some more earning!  I'll allow myself to buy another when I've done a 300 km (which should happen in April).

[fimm]

Running events and triathlons seem to give out t-shirts more regularly then cycling ones, in my experience. So if you enjoy doing such events you end up with a drawer full of t-shirts. Most of the time I just wear the t-shirt that is on the top of the pile. Sometimes I will think "Do I want to wear a (say) marathon t-shirt to <this> event?" (but I probably wouldn't include Parkrun as an event that I wouldn't wear the t-shirt to). My O/H might rock up in an ancient t-shirt from a sprint triathlon about 10 years ago because he likes the fit, or his UTMB t-shirt (100 mile ultra). He doesn't think about what you might think of him...

[Cudzoziemiec]

Does it make a difference whether it's a jersey or a T-shirt? If you wouldn't wear a jersey from an event you didn't complete, would you wear a T-shirt (given to helpers, say) from the same event?

[Aunt Maud]

I like my PBP volunteers T shirt, but I think the ride jersey is Fugly like most of them.

If you've paid for the jersey, why not wear it if you want to.

[citoyen]

Does it make a difference whether it's a jersey or a T-shirt? If you wouldn't wear a jersey from an event you didn't complete, would you wear a T-shirt (given to helpers, say) from the same event?

Definitely makes a difference. I have a T-shirt from the Whitstable 10k that I did a few years ago that I only took because they were giving them away free. I wear it around the house or as a pyjama top but as it's heavy cotton, I wouldn't wear it for running in.

I also have T-shirts from both editions of the Beauty & The Beast trail marathon that I ran, and since they are 'technical' shirts, I do use them for running in. The graphics are quite subtle, so you have to look closely to see what event they're from, which means I have no qualms about wearing them for parkrun (although I usually wear my parkrun 100 shirt).

It would be nice if some events did commemorative shorts instead. I have more running tops and cycling jerseys than I know what to do with, but could always do with more pairs of running shorts.

[rob]

I was a bit curmudgeonly about this for a long time and still won't start an event in the official top.

On the last 3 1200k+ rides I did I carried the official top round and put it in with 300ish k's to go when I knew I was pretty much done.   They then get worn for commuting and weekend spins.

[Greenbank]

Similar to rob above. I wore my PBP and LEL jerseys on the last day of the rides. I've no problem with people wearing them from the start or even before the ride. Whether you wear them after not finishing is a personal matter. I wouldn't as I wouldn't want to field questions from random people asking me about the ride. Luckily I haven't DNFed anything where I've had the jersey before finishing.

If someone is wearing a top of a big event then I'll probably ask them about it (unless in Audax eyes to the floor conversation avoidance mode). I've yet to come across someone who is wearing one despite not finishing the event but I'd be interested to see how they react.

I've had loads of comments about the LEL'09 jersey as I regularly wear it on my commute over the years. The PBP'11 less so as it has a scratchy zip back. The PBP gilet has had so much use it is so faded now that you can't even tell it was from PBP.

Plenty of people wear the jerseys/shirts to illicit these questions. Parkrun in April/May is awash with Berlin/Tokyo/Brighton/London marathon finisher shirts. People like to bask in their glory for a bit. It's like the people that leave the dossards on their bike after a big ride (even the Prudential Ride 100) - mine tend to come off almost straight away.

Of course, Ironman is often the pinnacle of this: https://twitter.com/katehelencarter/status/836875923257446401/photo/1

[bhoot]

I'm about to finally get around to sticking it in a frame and hanging it on my wall (bought the frame today)

As a matter of interest what frame did you go for? Anything special to accommodate a shirt? I have been thinking about doing this as we have LEL and PBP shirts in the house. I might wear mine but fhoot is unlikely to do so as (like most shirts) they are way too short for him, so they might be displayed instead (in the cloakroom..... that's where cycling stuff lives)

[Cudzoziemiec]

Of course, Ironman is often the pinnacle of this: https://twitter.com/katehelencarter/status/836875923257446401/photo/1

Is it? That one's subtle enough that I quite likely wouldn't have noticed it, "street" enough that if I had noticed it I would have thought of it as nothing more than Nike/Adidas/etc rather than implying actual Ironman participation, and practical enough that it seems perfectly sensible to use it. But maybe that's because I'm not attuned to the ways of ultradistance athletes.

[fimm]

As the owner of an Ironman finisher's t-shirt... 

actually I don't wear it all that much. It is technical fabric but in a polo shirt design, so not suitable for running in. I also have a cycle top and a sleeveless t-shirt branded with the Ironman that I did, that I bought in the Expo before the race. I don't know if I would wear them if I had DNFed, as it is the cycle top in particular gets a reasonable amount of use.

My O/H has 4 such t-shirts. One is a horrible colour. I don't think he's ever worn it!

The finisher's t-shirt that makes me (a little bit) sad is my London marathon one. They do a cheap, cotton, one-size-fits-all job. I sleep in it sometimes. I do get that it is a very cheap race to enter and they are not going to faff around trying to sort thousands of people with a t-shirt that fits at the finish. Someone also pointed out to me that you can buy better quality London marathon branded kit...

Edited to add that the hardest thing I've ever done was The Snow Roads, and all I have to show for that is a brevet card and a badge...

[citoyen]

Make your own!

"I done the Snow Roads and I didn't even get this lousy T-shirt"

[rob]

On a similar subject - what is it with the ironman tattoo on the calf ?

I over take a few on my commute.

[citoyen]

On a similar subject - what is it with the ironman tattoo on the calf ?

I've noticed that. Definitely seems to be a cultural thing for triathletes.

[Greenbank]

If I ever actually finish an Ironman (let alone start, current record is 1 DNS due to a sinus infection) then I'll definitely wear the finishing t-shirt, but I've sworn to never buy anything else (clothing, bags, towels, etc) Ironman branded. And never the tattoo (or any tattoo).

The finisher's t-shirt that makes me (a little bit) sad is my London marathon one. They do a cheap, cotton, one-size-fits-all job. I sleep in it sometimes. I do get that it is a very cheap race to enter and they are not going to faff around trying to sort thousands of people with a t-shirt that fits at the finish.

Brighton Marathon was a technical t-shirt (I use it for some training runs and 5-a-side football). You crossed the finish line, got given a medal and a bottle of water, and then you stumbled along the goodie bag section taking various things (gels, powerbar, recovery stuff, etc) and picked the finish t-shirt in the size you wanted, collected your drop bag and then you were cast out onto the beach.

Someone also pointed out to me that you can buy better quality London marathon branded kit...

Which is probably the real reason they give out a basic cotton one. Upsell.

[Wycombewheeler]

I was a bit curmudgeonly about this for a long time and still won't start an event in the official top.

On the last 3 1200k+ rides I did I carried the official top round and put it in with 300ish k's to go when I knew I was pretty much done.   They then get worn for commuting and weekend spins.

loving the idea that 300km left is "pretty much done"

[Phil W]

The protocol is that members of the core LEL 2017 organising team get to wear the jerseys and gilets as early and as often as they like.  The other protocol is ability to buy the grey version of the jersey if you've entered as a rider or the red version of the jersey if you are volunteering. Volunteers also get 2 free tshirts which riders are able to purchase. Both riders and volunteers are able to purchase the red gilet. if you are following any other protocol, well you can always purchase a LEL Mug.

[Martin]

I've only ever bought 2 ride specific jerseys and didn't wear either until I completed.

at the end of PBP there was a small unassuming table where you could order (or maybe buy) jerseys; I'm assuming they were unwanted ones from riders who didn't ride / complete.

I've been turned down for Ride London but apparently I still get a jersey; suppose I'd better ride the route sometime.....