You may have seen my post a while back launching the Lucy’s Life and Bikes Collective. To summarise, this will hopefully grow into a women’s cycling group, but for those who aren’t afraid to cover a lot of miles. Deciding to launch the cycling group is what led me to wanting to design custom kit we can wear when out on rides, which is when I approached No Pinz to help create it.
A well-known name on the Time-Trial circuit, No Pinz are a cycling clothing manufacturer based in Devon, England. Having seen so much of their kit around, and using it myself when racing for Velotik, they felt like the best option on the market. Their kit is obviously expensive, but that’s only down to the quality and all of the science behind it.
The Design Process
I don’t really know where my original concept came from, but what I can say is that No Pinz somehow manage to produce the kit exactly as the idea appeared in my head. All I had to do was send over a basic sketch and their design team did the rest.
The Kit
Naturally when the group shop opened on the No Pinz website I got overly excited and ordered what felt like everything. It just looks good when everything matches, right?
Being aero cycling kit, I’d say it’s on the smaller side of things size wise. That being said, everything I ordered was a Small. I think if I was truly looking for all of the aerodynamic gains their kit provides, I’d probably drop down to an Extra Small. Either way I still feel the kit fits me well.
No Pinz have their grippers at the end of things like the short leg spot on. Not once did I have to adjust the legs or the sleeves when I was out riding. The top also stayed in position well too. It might not be something you look for in cycling kit, but I found it particularly helped with the shorts as it stopped them moving round, which might add to the comfort of the shorts in general.
The arrival of the kit happened to be just before the Rapha 100 event, so my first ride in the kit was a 62.5 mile ride through Cheshire. I’m often one for saying Cheshire is flat, but on the whole the ride ended up being quite hilly. There was even a 10% climb in there somewhere. Whether I was climbing, descending or just riding on the flat, I never once felt restricted by the kit.
Want Some Kit For Yourself?
As I said, the whole point of this cycling kit was to form a women’s cycling group for those who want to ride further and faster. Having done the Breeze leadership course, I almost see this group as a step up from the Breeze rides. For female cyclists who have done it for a while now, but still don’t have other female cyclists to ride with. I do plenty of cycling on my own, so I’m hoping this group changes that!
So, if you want to join us on rides or just like the look of the kit, drop me a message and I’ll send you the details to access the shop.
Lucy's Life and Bikes 