Spanish Bike Maintenance products company latest partners at IrishCycleSport
Never Stop Riding!
LUBRICANTS AND SEALANTSFOR BICYCLES
BLUB is a brand that offers a set of lubricants and sealants that allow you to pedal and keep your bike in perfect condition.
Bicycle lovers. Professionals and enthusiasts of this sector. Enjoying each ride as if it were the last. We hate to rest.
We consider that no matter where to go or with whom, if you use it to go to work daily or to make a career with your friends, or even, simply to enjoy a small ride with your family. No matter what use you give it, the bicycle is pure fun, it is our passion. And so it is, there is no better way to disconnect from the routine and give intense emotions to your routine than to go pedaling.
This is how BLUB started. Cycling day after day, realizing how important it is to have excellent and constant bicycle care.
Challenge Sports Ireland to host Irelands first Endurance Cycling Series in 2023
Who will be Irelands First Ultra Cycling Champion in 2023 ?
Challenge Sports Ireland are delighted to announce that they will be running Irelands first ever Ultra Cycling Race League in 2023. The Ultra Race League will comprise of three separate Ultra Cycling events based in the West of Ireland. All events will be tracked live by Primal Tracking and consist of both supported and un-supported leaderboards for 200, 300 and 500 kilometer disciplines. As part of their goal they aim to make Ultra Cycling more affordable and therefore have tried to enter the Ultra Cycling calendar with more affordable ticket prices and features such as our support option to help participants achieve their goal without the cost of a support crew. The following events and leagues are what's on offer for 2023.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋'𝐒 𝟓𝟎𝟎
Nuasan - New partner and supplier of Active Bodycare products to IrishCycleSport
LOVED BY EVERYONE
Once again IrishCycleSport have had the good fortune to have acquired the support from Nuasan an Irish owned Active bodycare product manufacturer.
Nuasan based in Galway specialise in the manufacture of a range of Pre & Post workout care from shower gels , foot spray, moisturizer creams and cleansing wipes to their most popular product and best selling Active CBD Muscle Gel.
All of their products are made using premium natural ingredients (Plant-based & Vegan) . Each one is specially selected for its benefits to your skin & body, to help enhance your wellbeing and prepare you for your next challenge.
All products are available to order from our Webstore HERE As a sign of appreciation for the support of our partners mention Discount Code ICS10 at checkout.
Finally a Big Thanks to Linda and all the crew at https://nuasan.com/ for their support to date as we look forward to our collaboration together.
IrishCycleSport continue to Ride On & Stand Out in 2022
Since our collaboration began in 2018 we have had the pleasure of being fitted out from head to toe by one of the best cycling apparel manufacturers on the market
From our trips across Europe with our young Irish riders, our competition at home here in Ireland, local sportive events and now going forward into 2022 with our endurance cycling programme.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Gerry Browne and Shane Dempsey of Kalas Ireland and of course the team at the production facility in Tabor Czech Republic , who as we speak are producing our new kit for 2022 . .
See You on the road . . .
What a Story , the history of KALAS Sportswear
Cycling has always been and remains everything to Čestmir Kalas. At the beginning of the 1990s, when the Tábor cycling team lacked financial support, he made a risky decision. Without any previous experience, he set up a factory to produce cycling clothing, from which some profits ensured the survival of the team. This year marks 30 years since Čestmír Kalaš began to build a company that has now over 200 employees and sells to more than 50 countries. We bring you a unique story to follow up on how one determined cyclist embarked on an uncertain business and managed to build his production into world-class cycling apparel that is recognized at the very top of the world peloton
Chapter 1
Racer and trainer
Čestmír Kalaš was born in České Budějovice Czechoslovakia in 1943 and first fell under the spell of cycling at the age of 15. As a youth he represented the Slavoj České Budějovice club. After graduating from high school, he chose not to go to college because he wanted to devote himself to cycling. At that time individual study plans for top athletes were not as common as they are today, so, he trained as an auto electrician. He then did his military service and represented the army club Dukla Český Krumlov, where he first wore the national jersey at races in Montenegro. After his military service he married and moved to Tábor. However, he still worked as an auto electrician in České Budějovice, over 50 km away. He commuted to the South Bohemian city for work by bicycle all year round, in all weathers, until he found another job in Tábor.
In the service of Dukla Český Krumlov on the Jindřichův Hradec circuit in 1964.
On the Tábor circuits for the Budvar team in 1965.
At that time there were two strong clubs in Tábor, with several promising young talents in their ranks. Kalaš noticed this and began to advise the younger athletes on how to train. Thus, he smoothly transitioned into the role of a coach and ended his active racing career at the age of 29. It didn't take long before he passed his coaching exams in Prague with another important coach Pavel Vršecký. Even though he quit racing and started coaching during his job, he certainly didn't hang up the bike. He joined the Masters movement that was founded at that time and went to the starts of the veterans' world cups.
"When I started racing at the Masters’ World Cups, I was only finishing around the top ten. But even for that I had to be pretty damn pumped up!"
Kalaš (far left) was the first of the bunch to have a driver's license and drove his friends to the races in a borrowed Tatra truck.
Three friends from adolescence to retirement. The week before they entered basic military service in 1963. From left: Pavel Pavlicek, Čestmír Kalaš and Josef Novotný.
During his racing and coaching years, he was employed by the transport company ČSAD Tábor, which supported the local club ČSAD Tábor and provided them with a decommissioned bus for races. With his ambition, Kalaš gradually worked his way up to the Finance Department. Sometimes he worked late into the night to get his work done in time to pursue his passion of cycling.
"At work during the day, training in the afternoon, shower, dinner and then straight back to work. I had to work hard to get everything done."
The Tábor rookies that Kalaš led soon began to bring notable successes from foreign races, and the management of the transport company ČSAD Tábor decided that Kalaš should devote himself even more actively to coaching. So, they appointed him a full-time coach.
Kalaš with his young riders at the races in Upper Austria in the 1980s. From left: Ladislav Paleček, Jan Hájek, Pavel Kubec, Jaroslav Morava, Jan Kanov, Čestmír Kalaš, Jaroslav Pohan.
At that time, however, the team did not function as a top club and did not have sufficient financial resources for its operation. However, Kalaš was not going to accept the idea of the team disappearing and came up with the idea of everyone taking on temporary jobs. He called the riders together and in their spare time they took up a pick or shovel and earned the necessary money with their own labour. This was mostly demolition work in the centre of Tábor.
"We picked up tools and went to work to earn money for rims, tyres and other parts. The guys appreciated the components a lot more after they earned them themselves."
Demolition work ended after 1989 and the Tábor team once again found itself without the necessary support. At that time, Kalaš also became a national cyclo-cross coach thanks to his rich experience and was therefore able to travel with his charges to races abroad.
Popular Prague cyclocross races from Višňovka. Čestmír Kalaš in the role of a coach encouraging his ward Jiří Sosnovec.
It was in the autumn of 1990, when the Czechoslovak representatives, led by Kalaš, went to Switzerland to compete. There he was approached by Toni Maier whose father was a prominent promoter of Swiss cyclo-cross and therefore had ties to Czech cyclo-cross, and thus Kalaš. Toni invited Čestmír to lunch, during which he raised a question that was to set a completely new direction for Kalaš in cycling. Toni asked Čestmír if he would be able to arrange the production of cycling clothing for his brand in Czechoslovakia. Toni was looking for cheaper labour in post-communist Central Europe. With no previous business experience and no knowledge of textile clothing production, Kalaš accepted the offer. This leap into the unknown offered a glimmer of hope for the future of the Tábor club, where he served as coach and chairman. This opportunity could deliver the financial means with which to provide support for his athletes. He was 47 years old.
"Without knowing what it all meant and how much work it would entail, I told Toni: Kein Problem! [No problem!.]"
Chapter 2
The Apprenticeship
With a completely new and unexpected business plan in mind, Kalaš returned to Tábor [in Autumn 1990], where he immediately started making the necessary steps to set up his own production for custom cycle wear. He sought out the largest clothing company in Tábor, where he hired his first seamstresses and began to absorb the basic sewing procedures. Every month he made a journey from Tabor to Lugano, where the company for which he was to make cycling jerseys and shorts was based. On his first visits, he spent several days at the factory so that Toni could thoroughly initiate him into production and show him how to sew properly and with quality. With a head full of knowledge and a van load of fabrics, he returned to Czechoslovakia where he had to hand-sublimate the different parts of the fabrics by screen printing and have them sewn together before taking them back to Switzerland.
Čestmír Kalaš made countless regular trips from Tábor to Lugano through the snow-covered Alps.
From the first orders, it was already evident that the quality of the clothes produced by Kalaš in Tábor was of a high standard, and so more and more orders came in. As the number of orders grew, so did the need for larger premises and more staff. The Tábor clothing company Otavan, from which Kalaš had initially had his first orders made, ran into financial difficulties and was forced to make large-scale redundancies. Several unemployed seamstresses appeared on the labour market and Kalaš immediately offered them jobs. He found a suitable building on the outskirts of Tábor to set up a new production facility and was thus able to accept further orders from Switzerland. Toni's wife also came to visit him in the new workshop to pass on her experience and to train the new seamstresses, who sewed according to the sample jerseys and shorts.
"She was a lovely lady of Greek origin who spoke several languages. When she came to the production, she took off her mink coat, sat down at the sewing machine and showed us how it is done. We all looked at each other approvingly and marvelled at her skills."
The beginnings were not at all easy. Apparent desperation over the flood of jersey orders forced Čestmír Kalaš to expand production immediately.
Since making custom-designed cycling apparel requires machines other than sewing ones, of which Kalas had only a few, he had to start looking. At the time, however, such machines were not easy to come by. In the early 1990s, several textile factories sprang up in the South Bohemian border region. This gave them considerable competition with the Upper Austrian workshops, several of which soon went bankrupt. A Yugoslavian speculator bought up all the machines from the bankrupt Upper Austrian factories and offered them for sale in his barn. Toni Maier found out about this and together with his new subcontractor from Czechoslovakia went to inspect them.
Toni pointed out several basic machines that would be needed in Tabor for the thorough processing of custom cycle wear. However, Kalas had to invest in the machines himself out of his own pocket. In cash. He spent all his family savings, which at that time amounted to 70,000 CZK, to start his business. That was only enough to get started. Later, he had to invest another CZK 400,000 which he borrowed from the bank.
"I took out a loan for CZK 400 000 and had to guarantee it with our family house. My wife, of course, went crazy. She told me that I had no experience, that I would go bankrupt and that we would become homeless. It was a big commitment and I had to give my best."
New machines were not easy to get into the building. So, a wall had to be knocked down, the machines moved inside, and the wall rebuilt.
Of course, the business demanded a lot of time and it seemed almost superhuman that Čestmír Kalaš was able to combine his position as a national coach, trainer, and chairman of the Tábor club and take care of a start-up business in custom cycle wear.
"Of course, I couldn't be in so many positions. I remember one weekend we were at races in the Netherlands, I was running around the track all Sunday, then we drove all night to Czechoslovakia and were home by 3am. I slept for a few hours and went straight to the production. So, I gave up the position of national coach."
However, the orders from Switzerland continued to come in rapidly until they slowly began to exceed the time needed to make them, and Kalaš had to start looking for more seamstresses to expand his production. He managed to establish a new cooperation in Veselí nad Lužnicí (20km from Tábor). However, the cooperation did not last long.
Chapter 3
It takes two
Kalaš expanded his production in Veselí nad Lužnicí (a town not far from Tábor) in the former Lidové družstvo Blata (People's Cooperative Blata), which manufactured knitted products for the army and police. It was a reliable cooperation from which both parties mutually benefited. However, over time it became clear that the production of custom designed cycle wear was much more complicated than it first seemed, and to maintain the quality of the products and ensure the smooth running of production, Kalaš decided to shift the production all under one roof in nearby Tábor. This meant he had to hire new employees and purchase additional machinery.
"I was very grateful for the help I received at the Lidové družstvo Blata at that time. Although all the logistics between Tábor and Veselí nad Lužnicí were sometimes complicated, I am glad that they helped us out with the production at that time."
One of the first seamstresses who was at the birth of the expanding Tábor cycle wear workshop.
As orders increased, so did the frequency of regular trips across the Czech border. When Kalaš took the finished clothes to Switzerland, he had to go through customs on every trip. As it is the case with successful people, those who are blessed with unique qualities (in Čestmír Kalas' case, diligence, and tenacity), usually they have weaknesses in other areas.
"I've always been rather sloppy with paperwork. A lady from customs told me one day during an inspection: ‘Mr. Kalaš, get your papers together or you'll end up being arrested!’ I replied: ‘Would you like to work for me?’"
Since the customs office was downsizing, Petra Filipová accepted Kalaš' offer. She had no idea, however, that she would not just be in charge of checking the documents needed to export clothes abroad. As the production prospered, she gradually started to do the bookkeeping, order processing, and even organizing the production. On days when the seamstresses were under time pressure to hit deadlines, she also sat down at the sewing machine to make sure that the promised orders could be finished in time.
"After a few years, when I realised how important she was to the whole running of the production, I offered her a share in the company, and to this day she is one of the important and leading figures in the company."
Petra Filipová, whom Kalaš offered a job at customs control, held several positions in the emerging company. She took care of accounting, order processing, production organisation and recruitment of new employees.
The Tábor workshop was thus managed equally by two people of different natures who complemented each other in the business and thus ensured its smooth running. Petra Filipová formed an important counterbalance to Kalaš' sometimes unrealistic visions and steered him back to earth.
Orders from Switzerland to produce the Swiss brand were normally very regular, but even so, there came a period when the Tábor workshop had nothing to sew. The uncertainty caused Kalaš and Filipová to fear this could be the end. With several employees to pay and little work coming in, the business was at risk. They needed to find additional opportunities, so agreed with Toni Maier that they would start selling cycling clothes in Czechoslovakia under his Swiss brand. Thanks to Kalaš' extensive connections in the world of Czechoslovak cycling, he quickly saturated the demand for custom clothing and was able to secure the extra work for his employees.
"Word quickly got out that we were making quality custom clothing in Tábor, so there was no shortage of new orders from domestic customers."
In the days before the internet, orders were sent by post or handled by telephone.
Customers had to rely on their own artistic skills and imagination to convey their idea for production.
Before Kalas even started making cycle wear, the clothing for the Czechoslovak national team was already supplied by the Swiss brand (for which the Tábor coach later set up a workshop in Tábor). At the beginning of the 1990’s, the national team was growing, which increased the demand for more clothing. The then secretary of the union, engineer Houba, picked up the phone to arrange more clothes for the Czechoslovak national team in Switzerland.
"The sponsorship at that time was handled by Toni's wife, who, after hearing the request for more kit uttered the historic sentence: ‘Monsieur Ýba, genug!’ (Mr Ýba, enough!). And with that she ended the sponsorship from Switzerland and decided that the Czechoslovak national team would receive clothing from Kalaš at our expense."
The moment Kalaš could sell cycling clothing domestically, all the equipment for the national team began to be made entirely in Tábor. (PHOTO: Archive of Luboš Lom)
To be continued...
IrishCycleSport & eletewater offer the most effective ionically charged electrolyte sports hydration drink in the world.
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The elete range of 100% natural, ionically charged electrolyte products are derived from the solar evaporation of the mineral-rich water of the Great Salt Lake in Utah with nothing else added. elete contains all four of the key electrolytes (magnesium, potassium, chloride and sodium) in an ionically charged form together with other beneficial naturally occurring trace and ultra trace elements which, together with water, assists the body to:
- Maintain hydration
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These benefits can help during all forms of exercise including training, when competing and can even aid a faster recovery. Common symptoms like dehydration, cramping and loss of energy can regularly hamper performance, but these can be assisted by using elete whose perfectly balanced, ionically charged electrolytes enable quick, effective assimilation of essential electrolytes.
Further Benefits of elete
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elete REDUCES AMOUNT OF WATER NEEDED TO HYDRATE BY MORE THAN 40%* - when compared to water alone, a significant benefit when considering how heavy water is to carry. This was revealed in a peer review published study using forest fire fighters in California in the summer of 2008 and carried out by The University of Montana, in which 8 fire fighters were given water with elete added and 8 were given plain water over a period of five days of intense forest fire fighting. The results were astounding; those with elete in their water on average consumed 42.6% less fluid. see the full article
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A Perfect Balance of Ionic Electrolytes – Magnesium being the key
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Team Joe Barr - REBORN IN THE USA
You can also rent via teamjoebarr.com 3000miles of non stop racing. A performance full of grit and resilience. #endurance #cycling #Documentary
“Abraham Lincoln once said 'give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe'. I've been sharpening my Race Across America axe."
Joe Barr .
Western Challenge 2022 Registration Update
Loch Na Fooey.... Just one of the breathtaking sights to be seen on The Western Challenge this June.
The 300k solo option is now at 70% capacity and will sell out shortly.
We have seen a steady flow of registrations for the 525k solo and teams option and also the 300k 2 person team option. These options still have places available but they are limited for year one.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact [email protected] or 0871507952.
To Register please click : HERE
Give the gift of Endurance cycling this Christmas
Gift Voucher are now available , if you want to give this great event as a surprise or just for that extra push to get someone you know signed up.
Buy the gift of a challenge this Xmas, vouchers available in 50.00 100.00 150.00 200.00 250.00 euro denominations
The Western Challenge Gif Vouchers are now available to purchase : HERE
GCN - 6 Golden Rules for Endurance Cycling
While all topics form an integral part to preparation most are physical actions , preparing the bike , training , eating etc. In this video the guys kick off with undoubtly the most important aspect of endurance cycling preparation, your mindset, something that can be overlooked a lot of the time
Enjoy the video, let us know about your Endurance Preparation and of course if you have any tips you may like to pass on please drop them in the comments
GCN presents Endurance by the fastest person to ever ride around the world, Mark Beaumont: the complete 244-page guide to riding any distance, from 50 miles to a circumnavigation of the globe.
Covering everything from psychology, planning, bike set-up, equipment, training and nutrition and much, much more, Endurance will help inspire, empower and equip you to realise your riding dreams one simple pedal stroke at a time.
CONGRATULATIONS Kalas Sportswear 30th Anniversary
WE CELEBRATE 30 YEARS
This year marks 30 years since Čestmír Kalaš began to build a brand that is recognized at the very top of the world peloton with his indomitable determination. Cycling has always been and remains everything to Čestmír Kalas. At the beginning of the 1990s, when the Tábor cycling team lacked financial support, he made a risky decision. Without any previous experience, he set up a factory to produce cycling clothing, from which some profits ensured the survival of the team. The company has maintained its family tradition to this day. It has over 200 employees and sells to more than 50 countries under the management of the son of Kalas Sportswear co-founder Petra Filipová, Josef Filip, and Mr. Kalas' grandson, Jakub Věncek.
Čestmír Kalas' original intention to start making clothes so that he could support young cycling talents in the early 1990s inspired us to follow up on his dedicated efforts 30 years later. That is why we have decided that on the 30th anniversary of our company, we will donate all sales from our e-shop, which will be made on December 3, 2021, to support youth cycling in the Czech Republic. If you buy any product on our e-shop on Friday, December 3, you will also contribute to the support of young Czech talent.
IrishCycleSport would like to thank Kalas Sportswear & Kalas Ireland for their support over the last 3 years as we look forward to representing this quality clothing brand again in 2022
#RideOn #StandOut