We gather here today to pay our respects to one of the icons of our great sport, the cycling cap. The perfect union of form and function and an excellent example of why the former follows the latter, and why together they are beautiful. The brim is just long enough to shield the eyes from the elements, but is short enough to allow the rider to gaze up the road with head tilted in determination as steady drips of water fall from the apex of the brim and and tap out the rhythm of the stroke. The cloth construction is comfortable under a helmet or hairnet, and allows it to be easily stuffed into a jersey pocket when not needed.
It’s appearance is clumsy; the short, stubby brim can be flipped upward or downward and, generally made of cotton, cap’s shape is soft and floppy. Yet, it has been worn by the Greatest Greats of our sport with a transcendent sense of cool. Over time, it became a badge of honor for those of us living La Vie Velominatus; wearing a cycling cap in public amongst the uninitiated felt almost like bragging that you were in on a secret – the cycling cap was what we used to recognize one of our own in a crowd of nonbelievers.
Then something started to change. Frist this guy, and these guys, and then this fucking guy started wearing our sacred headpiece, and rather than being mistaken for Giants of the Road, we were mistaken for douchebags. The unpalatable and tragic truth is that almost overnight, the history and culture that the cycling cap represented was mistaken for little more than a social prop used by hipsters who suck even more than cyclists at picking up dates at the local cafe.
Slowly but surely, the status of the cycling cap has diminished to where we are today, with the brim of our noble cap barely visible beneath our compulsory helmets only on days where the weather merits its use and Rule #22 forbidding it’s use off the bike. We’ve arrived at a place where the men who climb upon the podiums of our storied races wear something more akin to a baseball cap than to the cap that brings back memories of the hardmen of our sport.
I leave you, my fellow Velominati, with some of the great images that show our fallen icon at the height of it’s status as a Symbol of Cycling.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/cycling caps/”/]
Thanks to @Geoffrey Grosenbach for inspiring this humble eulogy.
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@Steampunk A friend of mine pointed that out to me recently: they are derivative, lacking in creativity - they just take from the past and then try to re-work it to satisfy their ennui by being all ironic-like about it... it really says quite a bit about that bunch. Fuck 'em, Dude...I'm wearing my cycling cap.
I've been wearing cycling caps since 1973, when I started racing. I went from category 4 to Category 1 in six months. I still race, and am number two in the nation in my age group for stage racing (60+). I always wear a cycling cap, especially on the podium! There simply isn't any other acceptable way. Period.
@ cyclops:..."Besides it looked way bitchin' to have the mane flowing in the wind"
As a balding middle-aged guy, those days are long gone for me.... but take a look at this video, and look at how awesome those jackets look "flowing in the wind".....
http://www.raphacondor.cc/news/with-paul-smith-at-the-velodrome
@Collin, Hipster jeans do indeed stretch. This is mostly kept a secret.
Just discovered this site and have been on for about four hours, which is worth about $400.00 of no work being completed. I look forward to losing many more dollars this way. Thanks.
@Hitchhiker Welcome aboard -- it's a great way to not get work accomplished.
Like Hitchhiker I've recently discovered the site. Been lurking for a couple of weeks.
Thank god fall is here and Rule 21 allows me to wear a cycling cap on every ride. I'm not going to let no stinking hipsters ruin this icon of the sport for me.
Now if we can just get the pros to ditch the baseball cap.
@hitchhiker... Conference call + mute button + velominati.com = bike porn heaven 1 productivity 0
@roadslave
This site produces heavy breathing on your end of the line, hmm?
Frank, great post and photos.
I've also been lurking for a while, and while it's not ideal to start out dissenting...
Hipsters have gotten into cycling caps for exactly the reasons outlined above: they rule.
While a great many kids are ignorant of the lineage and cultural cachet afforded by cycling caps, a large number are. Is there room for the argument that substance in this case will follow style, and the wholesale appropriation of cycling fashion will in fact lead to actual cyclists?
Personally, a year ago, having owned a bike for all of two months, I watched A Sunday in Hell for the first time, and promptly bought a Flandria cap. At some point during the concentrated hours of reading; listening and watching that accompany any first bloom of obsession (many of them lurking right here) I realized precisely why I shouldn't be wearing it. It's my bet that plenty of folks who are attracted by the very aesthetics that this community champions wind up getting into the sport in a huge way.
@Brett, nice to meet you the other day, and thanks again for the bargain on the cassette. That Bosomworth looks sweet, can't wait to see the progress.
@Keepers, great site, keep it up.