If you’re not interested in breasts, you may as well stop reading now. Still with me? Okay. We talk a lot about lycra and socks and shoes and gloves and helmets in the cycling world, and maybe because more men are into mountain biking than women, maybe because of some hangover taboo, it’s not so common to read a review of, ahem, a bra.
I’ve never seen a mountain-bike specific sports bra, and if they aren’t out there already, it might be something for manufacturers to think about – there are a lot of requirements particular to our sport. If you’re a man reading this, you need to know that just like screwdrivers, different bras do different things, and the bra I wear under my party dress is very different from the bra I wear out on the bike. Riding a bike, especially a mountain bike, you’re leaning over forward a lot, with your upper body subjected to similar forces you’d endure operating a malignant jackhammer. In my early cycling days I did have a few incidents where they actually fell out and I ended up riding through singletrack with one hand while I shoved my breasts (henceforth ‘boobs’) back down my bra with the other. Sometimes it’s hard being a woman.
Perhaps it was 1996, and Paolo Pezzo’s Olympic performance that should have brought the need for a cycling specific sports bra to the fore.
So I want a few things from a riding bra – I want my boobs to stay still, even if I’m hitting a rock garden. I want it to breathe a bit, because on hot days the extra layer of clothing can make it feel very unfair to be female. I want it to dry fast so I’m not high-beaming at the café, and I want it to be modest enough that it’s not too weird to take my jersey off in the parking lot at a race in front of 200 men who’ve just had a testosterone fix. Needless to say, it has to look good for exactly the same reason.
The scalloped back allows for good shoulder movement.
The Sugoi Bella Tri covers a lot of these bases, but as it’s designed for multi-sport, cut both high and low (so no risk of spillage) with two layers, one of mesh, one of a quick drying fabric, it’s probably offering a bit too much coverage, especially for a hot summer’s day. Think crop rather than bra. If you were competing in Xterra or adventure sports where you didn’t have a jersey over it, it would be a pretty good choice, and it would also perform well in winter. Personally I prefer a bra with a bit of shaping inside to give a good line and keep everything really in place, but the two layers were quite good at hiding any unwanted details that might materialise. One problem I did have was that, with two layers of fabric, both with a wide elasticated band under the bust, it was very difficult to wear a heart rate monitor strap, because that’s where they go too. I squeezed it in, but once it was in place, the combined compression of three layers squished my lungs enough for me to feel sympathy for my 19th century corset-wearing sisters.
I tested the Bella Tri in two colour versions, both of which were a mixture of white, black, and yes, pink. So while I’ve been given a soapbox to stand on (thanks MarathonMTB), I’d like to point out that just because we are Girls and yes we do have Oestrogen, most of us haven’t been all that keen on pink since we were about eleven. On the plus side, no flower motifs.
The Bella Tri is discontinued, but the Sugoi Jackie Bra may be the model Imogen is looking for.