Velociposse - Femme Brutale
FEMME BRUTALE: MEET ALL-WOMEN CYCLING CLUB VELOCIPOSSE
When female cycling disruptors Velociposse approached us to be their new team kit supplier, we said hell yeah. We’re really focused on our women’s kit offering, and we’re up for supporting women’s cycling wherever we can, especially when it’s this badass. We asked the lasses in the lairy kit to tell us a bit more about themselves…
Hi there! We’re Velociposse, a London-based women’s cycling club. We’re all about riding, racing, training, having fun and supporting each other.
We started out in 2015 as a track and fixed crit cycling team, set up by our girl Jess May, and inspired by US team Koochella (oh hey Anna Schwinn! Thanks for being awesome). And you really couldn’t miss us. Back then, the kit was all-pink. It was designed to make an impact, and to show we were something different – a women’s team that could take riders from total novices to experienced racers. Much fun was had and we rocked up to Red Hook Crits, the Nocturne, and other races.
In early 2017 we did a Madonna and reinvented ourselves as a club – still very focused on racing, but with an environment that could also encourage and support women’s cycling in a broader sense, and be more open to beginners. With us, you can show up in trainers, on an ancient steel bike, you can lack confidence, you can be totally clueless. But if you love cycling, you want to learn and improve, you want support and you want to support others, then hi, get involved, and get ready to do stuff you never thought you could!
You know that line ‘when women support each other, amazing things happen’? Yep, that. Many of our members say they just couldn’t have imagined themselves trying track cycling, or racing, or even just feeling strong and confident to take on a 100km ride, before joining us. We swap advice, encourage each other and there’s always someone there to train with or help you pin your number on. We’re really proud of that.
We got stuck into pretty much everything last year. We started with weekly training sessions to build skills and confidence – think smashy bunch training, slow-speed handling skills and regular group rides. We had riders go from being unable to use clipless shoes to racing fixed crits in just a few months.
Over the year, we raced road crits at circuits around London, fixed crits including Thundercit, Minet Crit, Red Hook Crit and the Nocturne, the Tour of Sussex stage race, the AssosLDN track league and the Full Gas winter track league. We bagged a few podiums (always nice), had a few spills (thankfully nothing too serious) and had a hell of a lot of fun.
We’re thrilled that women’s amateur racing is getting more popular – every year, each race has more women signing up, and we’re seeing even more women training at Lee Valley VeloPark and Herne Hill Velodrome. And with around 40 members keen to ride and race, we have high hopes and big plans for 2018… see you on the start line!
Meet some of the team
Eeva Sarlin
Races: Track, road, fixed crits, cyclocross
Likes: A challenge! Trackstanding on rollers with TT bars? Nailed it.
Yewande Adesida
Races: Track, road
Likes: Cake. The baking of, and the eating of. And track, duh.
Jess May Hayes
Races: Track, fixed crits, some road sometimes
Likes: Post-race beers. Probably more than she should.
Rosi Digne-Malcolm (Photo: Honor Elliot)
Races: Track, road
Likes: Cycling shenanigans, snort laughs and cultivating her bicycle face.
Marta Sucharska
Races: Road, and hopefully track and fixed crits too
Likes: Doggos. And bikes! And is going to get a cargo bike for a future doggo.
Thea Smith
Races: Road, and hopefully track and fixed crits too
Likes: Vintage steel racers, fixing shit, and whisky.
