My GF's club insist she wear Pink

Setanta

Any advise. my Girlfriend has recently joined a local cycling club and is enjoying her first taste of road spins. She is an accomplished Sportive rider. She does not race

Her club has 2 Club Kits registered with the national cycling body- One Pink intended for females and one blue intended for males (There is no transgender option). In addition Bib-short option is not available to women as the majority of members want shorts and number of members wanting bib-shorts for females is insufficient

When she went about buying her club gear she was told she could only buy the pink gear as it was for 'the girls and it is lovely'.

She is upset as she does not wish to create a fuss and was enjoying the welcome she got from the club committee and its members.

Any suggestions or thoughts

heatonrider

Join another club

kajjal

I am guessing most of the committee are in their 70's......

No normal club would have this nonsense.

singleton

Does the "boys" kit fit her? Maybe she could wear black non-club shorts along with a club top??

giropaul

A lot depends on why there are two kits. It might be that this is what the members voted for, it may be that the female members wanted a pink kit, it could even be to do with different sponsors for each kit, with a corporate colour.
There is always an issue with minimum piece needs for orders - if, for instance, most women want waist shorts then there may be no way of ordering the minimum order for bibs ( remember, one would expect different pads in the male and female shorts).
In one of my clubs in the past some of us wanted the top of the range pads in the shorts, but there were not enough of us to make up the order.
If your GF is racing, then she has to ride the club kit - but only if she is a 3rd cat or above. Otherwise, she can wear what she likes and I don't know of any club that insists on club kit for non- racing rides. If she likes the club then I'd say don't let the colour of the kit be a barrier, and next time the designs are reviewed she can influence the next version.

webboo

Get her to get pink set for you and a blue set for herself then turn up for a club run.

jgsi

try being a bit bloody minded.. I have joined a club just to guarantee race entries , will I spend money on their kit just to publicise their 'wonderfulness' , will I feck.. unless they give me a jersey ... then it'll be sh it quality compared to what is on the market for half the price... and more stylish.
I wear what I flaming well want to... luckily I aint forced to abide by feckin' BCF rules when I race ;-) one of the joys of being a bloody minded pensioner.
At the end of the day,, it s a flippin cycling club not a cult.

awavey

giropaul wrote:

If your GF is racing, then she has to ride the club kit - but only if she is a 3rd cat or above. Otherwise, she can wear what she likes and I don't know of any club that insists on club kit for non- racing rides. If she likes the club then I'd say don't let the colour of the kit be a barrier, and next time the designs are reviewed she can influence the next version.

one of my local clubs insists their (godawful) club kit is worn on ALL rides, no idea why but that was another reason why I couldnt be bothered to join them. and if a club told me I could only wear their pink kit because Im a girl, Id be looking for another club to join.

darren636

Shes a grown woman.
She should wear what she likes

imposter2.0

heatonrider wrote:

Join another club

^^ This. That club sounds like it's run by a load of jokers.

Paul 8v

What club is this? Sound like a bunch of d£%ks.

I've never heard of a club that insists you must wear thier kit on all rides. Sounds elitist and dumb unless it's for insurance reasons.

napoleond

Surely this is made up?! :shock:

If not, join another club.

NeXXus

New club time

Flâneur

what is wrong with pink?

On a serious note, if I tried to make the club I run wear kit 100% or a set colour I'd be the first out through the rule breaking, never mind the angry mob which would be raiding the sheds for pitch forks

NeXXus

Flâneur wrote:

what is wrong with pink?

On a serious note, if I tried to make the club I run wear kit 100% or a set colour I'd be the first out through the rule breaking, never mind the angry mob which would be raiding the sheds for pitch forks

Im not sure the colour is the issue, more the mandatory wearing of it

giropaul

Again, context is everything. If a club has sponsored clothing, the sponsors have every right to expect it to be worn on club occasions to promote their services or products.

fenix

Some clubs seem to insist on club kit being worn, others don't care.

If the sponsor has put money into the club - as people have said -its only right that they wear the proper kit.

If you don't like their rules - join another club.

jibberjim

If she's racing, there can't be 2 kits, BC require only 1 kit to be registered. Which would presumably be the blue. Brighton Mitre used to have pink and blue versions (you could wear what you want) but switched to a just blue colour because of those rules.

Anyway, she has a few choices, a new club, or she could seek to change the rules, sucking it up, or take up a race, then she'll need the official kit which will be blue. (A 4th cat rider doesn't need to race in the official kit, but they cannot race in anything put a plain jersey which you would assume the club kit isn't)

DeVlaeminck

4th cats can pretty much wear what they want now including trade team kit if they really wanted.

greekrider

NeXXus wrote:

Flâneur wrote:

what is wrong with pink?

On a serious note, if I tried to make the club I run wear kit 100% or a set colour I'd be the first out through the rule breaking, never mind the angry mob which would be raiding the sheds for pitch forks

Im not sure the colour is the issue, more the mandatory wearing of it

I read it as the issue is woman only having the option of a pnk kit, he didnt mention she was being mde to wear ut on every ride, but she wants the same kit as the blokes

disquieting_museeuws

MCS on the Isle of Wight made their members wear club kit for all cycling activity - one girl was thrown out for commuting in civvies. It was run by the biggest c0ck in UK cycling, mind you.

meanredspider

When people have said that "cycling is the new golf", I didn't realise how accurate they were. Who runs these clown outfits?

Man Of Lard

meanredspider wrote:

When people have said that "cycling is the new golf", I didn't realise how accurate they were. Who runs these clown outfits?

British Clowning

TonyJams

disquieting_museeuws wrote:

MCS on the Isle of Wight made their members wear club kit for all cycling activity - one girl was thrown out for commuting in civvies. It was run by the biggest c0ck in UK cycling, mind you.

That sounds awful, sadly while most cycling administrators and volunteers are sound theres always a few Captain Mainwaring types that do it for all the wrong reasons. I hope theres a few other clubs out there in the area that are a bit more welcoming to the riders coming their way.