The 2020 Tour de France Stage 20: Lure to Planche des Belles Filles from 6km to go. Nervous bike changes featured prominently. The atmosphere was electric and ultimately decided the race. A stage we’ll never forget.
It’s January when I connect with POC - a brand that has seemingly sat at the front of cycling safety for decades, though they’ve only been in the road market since 2014. We’ve met once or twice in past - at the Rouleur Classic in London, at Eurobike in Friedrichshafen - but with kernels of COVID coming and the make-up of the 2020 season soon-to-be altered, this conversation feels a bit different.
Seven years ago, when POC announced a three-year partnership to become the official helmet and eyewear supplier of Cannondale-Garmin, few would have predicted that the Swedish company with a strong mission and divisive designs would enjoy such a meteoric ascent, evolving into purveyors of a modern design aesthetic that is so immediately recognizable. More than 40 international awards later and a strong showing on club rides and in races however tells a different story.
“We were never design-led, but most look at our helmets and make that assumption,” explains Damian Phillips, global head communications. “Interestingly the style that has defined us has come from an exploration of boundaries. We take a lot of time to ensure there’s a clear Scandinavian aesthetic in our product, but we never start at this point.”
The best example of POC’s rather simple mission is perhaps the helmet that made them famous - the Octal. It was their first for road, and it was envisaged to be lightweight, vented and safe. The mushroom shape - a characteristic many still can’t wrap their heads around - came from an engineering objective to be both light (200 grams in M) and to save lives. It won awards and would soon enable POC to grow.
This of course was never POC’s objective - to be a leader in cycling apparel and certainly not a harbinger for style. POC’s founder, Stefan Ytterborn, had sons, both ski racers, whose skills and speed were quickly outgrowing available protection. He decided he would build a company that could keep up, starting with helmets, spinal impact protection and wrist guards designed for snow sports. Several alpine athletes would latch on to the concept. After a fall, they would send used helmets to POC which they then researched in partnership with academia. Over time this would form the basis of what would become the POC Lab - a scientific forum that brought together experts from a range of disciplines and medicine - going on to inform both the company’s engineering and design processes. In 2009 and out of the POC Lab, POC would help bring MIPS to market for the first time, starting what is still an ongoing debate in road riding: what makes a helmet safe?
“The Octal was the first we released to meet the challenges of the uncompromising world of the pro peloton, followed quickly by the Cerebel and more recently, the Ventral SPIN,” explains Jonas Sjögren, POC’s CEO. Adds Phillips: “we never went into these projects saying we want to change the way people think, but we are always looking for a different way to innovate. Almost accidentally, this has shaped many people’s opinions about safety.”
Partnerships over the years accelerated POC’s place in the peloton. The Octal was well-regarded with pros. Out of their relationship with EF Education Pro Cycling, the company soon rode towards several design KOMs like the Ventral. Ideas continued trickling into POC’s engineers, nurturing a culture that balanced the needs of enhanced safety alongside growing risk. During it all, innovation continued.
Working with Exeger in Sweden, today POC is working with different foils to power helmet lights; a dome with endless energy. In partnership with Volvo, the car maker, they developed the world’s first crash test between cars and bike helmets; they have also just released medical info chips built into their Ventral Air Spin NFC; a helmet that speaks for cyclists when they’ve had an accident and can’t to it themselves.
POC has transitioned into an essential partner for several brands, chosen for their safety, performance and yes, their styling.
The company is tight-lipped about other announcements to come in 2020 and beyond, and like many in cycling, are still waiting to see when some normalcy to the season will return - if it does at all. Regardless, their story has bread a culture of innovation will which continue, driven by an internal desire to not just meet safety standards but to set them.
Manager. CEO. Ex-pro. Ventoux time-trial winner. Doper. Family man. Visionary. Leader. You can slap a bunch of labels on the paradoxical figure that is Jonathan Vaughters. All are partly true.
In his recently penned “One Way Ticket: Nine Lives on Two Wheels” - cataloging the most quotable character in cycling of the last decade, you get all sides. In great and humorous detail, he gets into the perils of owning a pro team; the pressure - riding for US Postal Service - to be one of the boys; the challenge, isolation and commitment required to chase a dream, finally landing as a professional in Europe.
While much of JV’s modern history is known - the founding of Slipstream Sports, his co-operation with USADA, his musings on a sustainable future for the sport, One Way Ticket illuminates on how he went tête-à-tête with cycling heavyweights, detailing a struggle to punch above his weight and the ensuing tumult that struck him personally as a result.
The most insightful content is on the business of cycling itself: how to start a pro team; how budgets are put together; cycling’s house-of-cards operating model. All this is told from an insider perspective, from an outspoken individual who has worn many different and enviable hats.
If you read Draft Animals - another look at the less glamorous side of being a pro - Phil Gaimon paints a different picture of dealing with JV - as talent. He is cunning and tactful, able to shine a light on desired riders, and under the gun of fickle sponsors, capable of ghosting and stringing others along masterfully.
JV details all of this, in what is very much a reconciliation of the decisions one makes in life, particularly ones that make you sound like a d*ck. Maybe that is part of JV’s secret sauce? A largess made even larger by an inability to nail his persona down completely; to delve deeply into what drives someone to compete - as David - on a stage dominated by Goliaths?
If this is the JV you want, you’ll find it in here. If you’re pressed for time, skip ahead to the book’s best parts. From “Going Postal,” (pg.164), where Vaughter’s details life with USPS, up to present day.
“Lance was going through his bedtime routine, shaving his legs, brushing his teeth, and the like. While I was mid-sentence writing home, he popped out of the bathroom, pulled a vial of EPO from his thermos and filled a syringe with its contents. He jabbed himself while humming some Pearl Jam tune. He spat in the sink, finished the syringe and turned to me. “You’re one of us now, JV.” Yikes.
Cycling in the modern era is shown from this point on, warts are all. The conflict of cheating. How difficult it is managing a team on scraps. These themes are illustrated beautifully in stories about negotiations with Rigo after a 2017 Tour podium (how do you keep a potential GC winner on a team with no money?); telling and entertaining anecdotes, “revealing a romance between a deeply flawed human and a deeply flawed sport.”
Yes there are lulls in the book, and in his character. The entirety however paints a picture of a personality enmeshed in cycling’s major headlines of the last 20 years. It is revealing in the level of detail, particularly on issues of instability, the chasm between the deep-pocketed teams and the rest and on racing clean -- while describing what it takes to compete and ultimately, succeed.
“Plainly, I wrote this book because I was in the fog of a divorce, in pain, and looking back through the dusty, tattered books of my memories. I realized cycling had defined every fiber of my being, for better or for worse, and this book is part of that. I just felt that there were stories that needed to be told in a gritty and human light, without any spin. You can’t give people texture on Twitter.”
One Way Ticket: Nine Lives on Two Wheels is available from Penguin Random House here.
JV started competitive cycling in the 1980’s. He’s the founder of the US-based EF Education First Pro Cycling and he’s one of the sport’s most towering figures.
That’s what his book jacket says at least. But I think it’s pretty hard to argue with most of it.
I met Matthew Ankeny when he was working as a pitch-man for Rapha - a job he took for a year or thereabouts, previously (currently?) working as contributing writer, editor and producer in the cycling biz, in addition to being an all-round bon vivant.
He dropped an email late last year, saying hey friends, “I’m moving on to do my own thing” before going dark and turning into a skin care CEO. There’s a gap in cycling that was wide open: skin care + recovery post rides, he said. He set out to go after it.
The world’s harsh. Sun. Sweat. Pollution. All that sticks to your skin and breaks it down. Reality is, after a long ride most of us kick-up our feet, sip a coffee and watch stages of the La Vuelta, quite literally hanging our skin out to dry. Not cool, man. Not cool.
Through the magic of the internet, we reconnected to chat about his new venture, CBD chamois cream (bliss!) and why most cyclists eschew skin care. He’s an interesting personality in the cycling world. You can check him out here and West product here.
You worked in the cycling biz for years. Why West now? How'd you spot the opportunity?
Well, I moved in with my girlfriend and we shared a bathroom. I started stealing her products and she used some quality, expensive stuff. She didn't love the stealing, but I quickly noticed a difference in my skin. It literally started to look and feel much better. Less dry. Less red. Less irritated. It was something I had not experienced with the cheaper products I'd half-heartedly used before.
So I started researching it — I even took a continuing education class at UCLA — and there is a pretty clear difference between the good stuff and the mediocre stuff in skincare. And the good stuff includes certain ingredients that are proven to work. But all the brands at that level were focused on women, and nothing spoke to the cyclists or runners or men. And those are the people who tend to need it the most — the people who are outside, sweating, getting sun-exposure and windburn and environmental debris on their face. A four-hour ride does not do good things for the surface of your skin.
Unfortunately. I think the traditional skincare brands aren't talking to the people who are living the most active lifestyles. And I think those people need quality skincare more than most. So, West was born to speak to those people and give them top-quality products.
Describe your recommended skin care routine.
It's a pretty simple daily practice — like brushing your teeth. Every morning and night, cleanse and then moisturize. I keep our Cleanser in the shower, so it's at hand and easy to remember. I then use our lighter Moisturizer in the morning and our Recovery Cream at night, which I keep next to my bed. Since our products are pretty potent, with lots of active ingredients — hyaluronic acid, beta-glucans, AHAs, liposomes — just doing those steps is about 90% of the way to good skin health. Just cleanse then moisturizer, morning and night. Or, obviously, you can get more advanced (and if you have a persistent skin condition, you should talk to a dermatologist).
After a big ride, I use our Scrub and Mask. The Scrub is a hybrid exfoliant, so it works physically to remove debris and also chemically to clear out pores. It's a skin saver, for sure. And then the Mask is a super booster of nutrients. I use it after I shave. Or in dry weather. Or at altitude. It's a solid reset button.
Why do most cyclists ignore skincare?
Skincare is an oddly taboo topic for a lot of athletes, cyclists included. Which is weird. Like, we shave our legs. We wear lycra. We endure long bouts of suffering together, but talking about our skin just doesn't come up, especially among men. I've had the conversation more than most in the recent past, and almost everyone I've talked to is 100% aware that they should care for their skin better than they do. But they don't know where to start or what products to use. I think the more that people discuss it, the less odd it becomes. That's part of the mission here. We're hoping to bring up that conversation more and more. Someday, I hope it'll be cool to say, "Hey man, your skin looks good, what's your routine?"
What’s recovery cream?
It's the secret weapon. The fountain of youth. It's a super-rich cream that stimulates the skin cells to building up the cell walls. That comes from the beta-glucans and lipid-rich oils in the formula. Basically, your skin cells can't retain water without strong cell walls. That's why skin droops and sags and wrinkles and looks tired. This cream stimulates the skin to build up those walls while simultaneously hydrating the skin. It is also a skin soother, so that slight dry burn you may feel after a ride goes away instantly. It's a lot of product and it's not cheap, but it works. Applying after a ride or overnight (I use it every night), the results are very impressive. Your skin will feel and look a lot better.
This is a skin-soother. Make friends with it.
What's in West product? Nothing gross, right?
So, our main focus is on active ingredients. We use proven ingredients at proven levels. That's not a given for all products and brands. Each of our formulas has its hero ingredients, and these are the best stuff for your skin. What is in a product is as essential as what's not in it. A lot of brands live by "No Lists" — which we're keen for, but I don't only want to know what's not in your product. I want to know what's in your product that works.
And no, there's nothing gross in our products. We're vegan and primarily plant and mineral derived. No parabens, phthalates, petrolatum, lanolin, mineral oil, propelyne glycol, sulfates (SLS, SLES), artificial dyes or synthetic fragrances — which are kind of the main culprits of consumer fear. That's more common today than some headlines may make you believe. At some supermarket levels, there is some drying and irritating ingredients, but once you're in the higher price range, most people steer clear of these ingredients. It's a fundamental piece. So, make sure your products are at least at that level of compliance, then look at things like active ingredients and pH levels for better insight into if the product works, rather than is simply benign.
Do posh skincare products make a cyclist faster?
Definitely. Fresh is faster. Healthy skin adds watts. It all comes down to this: you only get one face. Your face is getting hit with everything you throw at it during a ride, which is a lot. Do it some good and take care of it. Your skin will feel better. Your skin will look better. And to borrow a line from Neon Deion Sanders, "If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good. If you play good, they pay good."
What's in the cards beyond 2019? Some chamois butter, perhaps?
CBD chamois butter is in full development. I'm testing it daily and experiencing a new type of bliss. Ha! No, we're looking to launch a few potent vitamin serums soon — retinol (Vitamin A) and triple Vitamin C&E serum. These ingredients are the best of the best for your skin, but they're not cheap to do right in a formula. I wanted to start with an approachable line before dropping the heavy hitters. But I've been using versions of both serums for a bit now, and the results are pretty impressive. I'm PR-ing tons of segments on Strava. It's like I'm on an e-bike. It's skincare doping, and there's no way to test for it.
“Japanese fashion is no longer a simple copy, but a nuanced, culturally-rich tradition of its own.”
W. David Marx’s 2016 book, Ametora, explores the history and rebirth of American-influenced menswear perfected in Japan; a heritage aesthetic that went on to dramatically shape the country’s culture.
Started in Tokyo in 2007, PEdAL ED is perhaps the first Japanese cycling brand to reflect this deep obsession with style, drawing heavily from the classic cuts and colours preferred in Tokyo’s clothing. Kit, too.
I’m not sure why I’ve obsessed over their kit for years; perhaps from time spent travelling in Tokyo. PEdAL ED has always held an appeal (despite now being handmade in Italy, where chunk of cycling industry apparel is made).
From the brand’s 2019 collection, the Heiko Jersey demonstrates founder Hideto Suzuki’s preoccupation with city cycling culture - Tokyo’s in specific - where riders largely defer to simple, functional kit.
Made from Sensitive® fabric, it’s a relaxed fit jersey with three large rear cargo pockets, a side-zip for keys and reflective logos on the front and the back. The colour-blocked bottom-third of the jersey blends in well with black bibs. When on, the effect is a long, lean silhouette for the rider.
PEdAL ED will compete with others vying for share of cycling’s high end kit market.
Our test Heiko in stone is one of those kits you get and reach for repeatedly. On hot humid climbs in central Switzerland, it sits comfortably against the skin and breathes really well, especially when unzipped. Aesthetically speaking, it is a thing of beauty, eliciting many an inquiring comment from others.
The elastic at the jersey base where it meets the bibs is full of subtle details and holds the jersey in place; there is also a subtle cuff on the sleeve that does the same.
Minor knit: the fabric does hold a bit of scent and stink after washing, but it is not unique in this regard. Many kit makers struggle with the limitations of synthetic fabrics. It is otherwise a mirror image of it’s environment: a beautiful jersey that lives up to the weight of expectation. It performs across a range of temperatures and is as stylish as many of the Japanese street wear brands now exported worldwide.
Similarly the Natsu bib short made from lightweight Lycra and outfitted with a two-tone Cytech chamois is a great all-round training short. Specifically appealing: the high-cut mesh waist.
While the company claims it supports posture and muscle compression, the netting from which it’s made just feels good on the bike and has a great way of keeping everything sucked in tight where it’s supposed to be.
Again, in heat when climbing with the jersey open, the mesh feels great and adds a lot of comfort to the ride. Legs grips also are soft and subtly designed. Lovely little details throughout.
Built for training rides, the Natsu’s fit great and are a perfect compliment to the PEdAL ED range.
It’ll be interesting to see where Suzuki takes the brand. They’ve recently offered a line of kit focused specifically on bikepacking while continuing to focus on road. Time will tell. Hope to get more in for test soon.
More at https://pedaled.com/
