Gear

Road cycling has three important components – acheivement, suffering and style. Together these make up the experience. Innumerable experiences make the Club Cafe Paradou what it is – on saturday rides, at events or planning future trips or remembering past adventures in the cafe or craft beer outlet.

Style is more than just slavish adherence to the rules, but comes from attitude, and this is reflected in gear. The gear is important, but not as important as just getting out and riding, experiencing the rush as we fly through the air, the satisfaction of travelling a long way with just legs for propulsion or making it to the top, leaving behind everything else.

Gear is for a purpose – to enable the experience – and do so as simply and elegantly as possible. Light, stiff and orange are favourable attributes. Here are some examples:

  • S-Works, with awesome Paradou paintjob.
  • TT bikes and bars are excellent, for TTs. Essential is massive stickers on the wheels.
  • Focus Izalco, up where it should be.
  • Pinarello when they
    were still doing the big gains
  • Classic Saetta style. Nice and clean too.

Bikes can be seen as art, but they are best doing something important. These images show gear doing what it was built to do:

  • Brighton beach, early
  • S-works contemplating Liege-Bastogne-Liege
  • JR2 being admired by farm animal
  • C60, Ventoux
  • JR2, Dartmoor
  • Focus, Haute Saviore
  • Classy Italian vintage
  • Ultimate form & function
  • A fail on several levels