First Look: POC’s Sweet New Fondo Apparel Looks Sharp and Feels Great
Our paceline has maintained a brisk clip on the flat-to-rolling country roads outside of Solvang, California, winding toward the base of the nine-mile, 4,000-foot climb up Figueroa Mountain. The sun has burned off the last remnants of fog and clouds that had rolled in from the coast this morning, and the pace stays lively as we start the climb. The playful ribbing about who’s going to get dropped first has already begun. A solid group, some new scenery, and a little bit of challenge: All the elements are there for a great day on the bike.
This is a fitting way to introduce Fondo, POC’s new road apparel line. When the Swedish brand entered the road cycling apparel market in 2014, it stayed dedicated to its core mission—“to save lives and reduce the consequences of accidents” to athletes—by leading off with the high-visibility AVIP (Attention, Visibility, Interaction, Protection) collection. AVIP was targeted at racers and serious cyclists, who were out riding and training most days of the week, and interacting with traffic the most. POC then followed up with its top-tier Raceday line, which incorporated technology to improve aerodynamics and lessen weight.
Related: The Coolest New POC Gear for 2016
With Fondo, POC adapts certain tech and features from AVIP and Raceday to a collection aimed at enthusiast riders. “We’ve already told the safety and protection story, and the performance story,” says Oscar Huss, product director for POC. “Now it’s about the passion story.”
Pricing is slightly below that of the Raceday line—for example, the Fondo Light jersey is $130, while the Raceday Climber is $150—but it’s still a premium offering intended to perform and keep cyclists comfortable over long, demanding rides. “I think it's important to point out that [the Fondo rider is] still a very dedicated and very skilled rider who is very picky about what they’re wearing, though they might not make a living from riding a bike,” Huss says.
The new collection consists of men’s and women’s items: The Fondo Classic short-sleeve jersey ($140); the Fondo Light jersey ($130), which incorporates some of the same materials as the Raceday Climber jersey; the Fondo bibshort ($150); and the Fondo WO (women’s) short tights ($140). The jerseys come in four fun, poppy colorways inspired by global cycling destinations: blue for Havana, green for Napa Valley; gray for New York City; and pink for Rio de Janeiro, with more destinations and colors to come. Matching accessories include colored Fondo Sleeves (arm warmers), cotton/polyester caps, gloves, booties, and silk scarves—just for looking extra dapper.
Besides a brighter look, one of the main deviations from the Raceday line is fit. “Raceday is fit for riders at the very elite level—they have bodies, and a position on the bike, that no other people have,” Huss says. “We realized that wouldn’t work for the average, high-end cyclist.” So the Fondo jersey is more forgiving than a race cut, but still provides a snug fit, right in line with what I’d expect from a performance-oriented jersey.
Similar to POC’s other road apparel, Fondo pieces are designed to work best in the riding position: The jersey is cut a little higher in the front and drapes a bit longer in the back so that when you’re riding, the front sits right above your hips without constricting, and you get full coverage in the back. Since it is designed for a more relaxed position on the bike, this anatomical cut is less pronounced than with the Raceday jerseys. The Fondo bibshort's chamois has die-cut silicone pads that are placed under pressure points further back than the 3D-molded silicone pads in the Raceday bibshort’s Contour pad, to accommodate a more upright riding position.
Most of us don’t have the luxury of support cars on our long rides, so POC designed the Fondo jerseys with more carrying capacity than the Raceday line. The Fondo Classic has three super-deep pockets—so deep, in fact, that a couple times, it took a little extra fishing to find my phone. But the pockets will be slightly smaller on production models, Huss says, so your belongings will be more accessible.
The Classic jersey is constructed of a soft, highly wicking polyester blend with a silky finish and a bit of sheen. Combined with the form-fitting cut and high amount of stretch in the material, the WO (women’s) jersey fit me like a glove. It has a half zipper instead of the full zipper on the men’s Classic, which allowed the front my jersey to lay flat against my belly and chest, instead of causing the zipper to bulge under the chest that can sometimes happen on full-zip women’s jerseys. (Fun detail: The zipper pulley of my pink, purple, and navy Rio-themed jersey was shaped like the Christ the Redeemer statue.) Raglan-style sleeves made for a clean look and a snug fit about the shoulders, and the wide, silicone-free armband was soft and comfortable. The dark-colored accent band across the belly, and rear pockets, helped provide a flattering, slimming effect.
I wore the Fondo Classic rather than the Light jersey on the climb up Figueroa, and though temperatures reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit on the exposed, 1.5-hour ascent, it breathed so well that I never overheated, and the polyester blend wicked sweat away effectively enough that the fabric never felt heavy or soggy. On the ripping descent on the other side, the glove-like fit meant there was no material flapping in the wind and catching air resistance. The thin, stretchy material on the back of my Fondo gloves meant my hands never got hot or sweaty, while the light padding on the palms took a bit of the sting out of the cracked and chopped-up bottom quarter of the descent. The Contour chamois in my Raceday Aerofoil bibshort felt as comfortable and robust four hours into the ride as it did when I first put it on.
Another star of the show that wasn’t technically part of the Fondo launch, but that deserves an honorable mention, is POC’s new DO Half Blade road sunglasses ($230). The POC sunglasses felt superlight on my face, and stayed in place so well that I often forgot I was wearing them over the 4.5-hour ride. The lenses provided excellent clarity and contrast. Not surprisingly, they integrated well with the POC Octal road helmet—the “eye garages” (grippy plastic things in the front vents) held the shades securely with minimal to zero fuss. I’ve also since found that the DO Half Blades play nicely with my Giro Synthe helmet, too.
As for the ride? The group got strung on the first half of the climb, then regrouped for the final push to the top. There, we commiserated about that killer section with all those mean, steep little risers—and fantasized about the ice-cold Cokes waiting for us at the bottom—before tucking in for the delicious, curvy nine-mile descent. By the time we start cruising the last flat-and-fast stretch back to the hotel, we’d done more than 5,000 feet of climbing, and I was ready to let myself get pulled all the way home. But then someone swung out of the neat double paceline and attacked, and someone else followed. The rest of us looked at each other like, I guess this is happening now, and we chased through the burning in our legs and didn’t sit up until we swung into the parking lot. And in the midst of all the high-fiving and good-natured trash-talking that followed, I thought, maybe this is who Fondo is for: The ones who come back caked in salt, bottles empty, legs aching, after having suffered a little and laughed a lot, and who agree, Damn. That was a great ride.
Coming soon: Our first impression of POC’s new 2016 mountain bike gear.
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