THE JERSEY has arrived

I became a fan of Slipstream Chipotle last year when I saw them in the 2007 Tour of California. I'm even more of a fan now. They are doing great things for cycling's reputation and they have some very talented riders. You can see Steven Cozza (mustache man) sporting the kit below in the 2008 Tour of California.

I decided to wait on getting their unusual (orange and blue argyle) kit until the new version came out this year. It turned out to be a slightly painful and comical wait. I received an email notification from Teamcyclist.com in early March that said the Slipstream kits would be available to ship on March 11th.

I didn't place my order and I'm glad I didn't. Upon each successive trip back to the website the expected ship date had moved a couple of days to the right. March 11 became March 16 then 19, 23, 31, then April 4, 5....26! You've got to be kidding me! The expected ship date went from March 11 to April 26 in 2 and 3 day increments for about a month and a half. Isn't there a better way to do this? I thought this was insanity.

Pearl Izumi, the Slipstream clothing outfitter wasn't much better. I couldn't find one mention of their sponsorship of Slipstream anywhere on their website, not one word. You would think they would be proud to represent one of the top U.S. teams and a transparently clean team at that. Now the only thing Pearl Izumi has on their website is a little tab with the title "shop Slipstream." I'm not a web designer, but with today's technology, it seems their website needs some improvement.

Enough complaining...on to the good stuff. The bib shorts aren't available yet, but the jersey and socks are...

UPS came yesterday and it felt like Christmas! I thought it was fitting that the jersey came yesterday since at the end of yesterday's stage at the Tour of Georgia Slipstream was position 1, 2 and 3 in the GC overall. 1. Trent Lowe (there little 135 lb Australian climber), 2. Dave Zabriskie (TT specialist, U.S. TT champ and all arounder) and 3. Christian Van de Velde (all arounder as well as a great TT rider). Tom Danielson, their other pure climber is coming back in to form and is 17 seconds off the GC coming into today's decisive stage that finishes on Brasstown Bald! Levi will be really tough to beat and he's only 4 seconds off of GC.


This first glimpse of the orange and blue.


The jersey and socks.


The socks in the longer style that is popular now. I'm just looking forward to an awesome tan line. Cezanne loves quirky socks and she honestly wants a pair of these.


And the jersey is on! This is a medium and it's actually a good fit. Standing up it is a little tight, but in the bike position, it's actually not as form fitting and there is extra material in the chest and stomach area. It's tough to get something to be absolutely perfect. I don't own any Assos cycling clothing, but apparently they've mastered the "it doesn't fit correctly standing up" but "it perfectly melds to you when in the riding position."

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Unfortunately I don't have my road bike, it is with Trek and they are working on my "crash replacement" issue since I've got a nice score in my top tube. I can guarantee I'm not wearing this jersey on my townie. I'll have to think about getting my mountain bike back operational. They only problem is that I'll need a new seat post, new rear tire and tube, new pedals, and new mountain biking shoes. That can easily be upwards of $500. We'll see.