Chpt3

You've all been just as excited about Sporting Club as we are here at CHPT3 - the first drop of kit sold out before opening up to the general public.

We always announce drops first to SCC3 members. Become a member via the link in our bio and be the first to hear about the next SCC3 drop.

Find your reason to go out and get it done.

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Some of you may have noticed us talking about Sporting Club CHPT3, seen images from our events, or even spotted testing the new SCC3 kit at the Traka last weekend. Behind the scenes, we’ve been beta-testing communities, events, and products with the founding members of Sporting Club CHPT3 crew. We’re still refining the cycling kit, but for now, we’re excited to share some of the off-bike styles with you. To stay up to date on everything Sporting Club, including when we'll be reopening the doors to new members, sign up via the link in our bio. In the meantime, you’ll receive a password that grants you access to the Sporting Club products we have ready to go.

In line with the CHPT3 vibe I've been rediscovering a new chapter in my cycling and sporting life. In the sense that it's not about racing against other people anymore, and it's no longer all about the bike, although needless to say cycling remains the main focus. I've become more open to trying new things to keep me in the best shape possible, running has become a go-to, but that's not what's been keeping me busy recently... Just over a week ago I did the Mallorca 312 with - that was the longest road ride I've ever done, and it was one of hell of an experience. Less than a week later I was down to do the 360, and I was intending on doing it as fast as I could, no holds barred. Unfortunately I came to a grinding halt after only 58km with a blown out and ripped front tyre. This was most frustrating because I was using it to wear-test the latest CHPT3 cycling kit under the guise of our Sporting Club. The Sporting Club is something I've created to embody my newly discovered love for cycling and sport in general, it's an ethos that I believe we can all benefit from, using sport to better ourselves. I'm enjoying riding my bike more than ever, and especially pushing myself to go beyond what I normally I would. I am learning anew that sport is about more than physical exertion, skill and competition, it’s also about social interaction and play, journeying into ourselves, finding and testing what we’re capable of and connecting our mind and body in a way that makes us feel better about everything. Sporting Club CHPT3 is the manifestation of this, a reason to go out and get it done, no matter how small or big. I ended up getting a last minute start in the Traka 100, not quite as epic as the 360 but probably more fun, it was the perfect opportunity for me wear-test the latest protoypes of our SCC3 kit. We'll be releasing this soon, sign up via the link in bio to be first to know.

From The Archives | “In 2018 we were invited to show Time Trial at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. I was there for a few days and one day decided to go out for a ride in Texas, something I’d never done before, ticking boxes and all that. We drove out of Austin into what felt like deep Texas, we found a random town that felt a billion miles away from the hipster cool vibes of Austin. I went for BBQ, I didn’t even know that was a thing - well, I knew it was a thing but not to the level of seriousness and commitment and near religious level that Texans take it. We hit Smitty’s Market in Lockhart, I got a ton a of meat and bread and sat at a bench table and had the most inappropriate pre-ride meal of my life. I then set off on a random AF ride from Lockhart, it was borderline surreal and I wanted to remember the weirdness, so we took pictures. It reminded me of how being a bike rider can take you to places you’d never otherwise go, it remains one of my most memorable rides, mainly because I felt like a total abomination out there, I had the impression that I was the only cyclist to have ever ridden the roads, a pioneer of old in a foreign country where cars rule the land and the landscape has been built to accommodate them. It was, in its own way, extremely beautiful.”

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From The Archives | “I’d seen on the news that snow was coming to Girona, this is a rare occurrence, in the seventeen years I’ve lived here it’s only happened twice. This was in the spring of 2018. I was terribly excited, mainly because I thought it would be amazingly strange, not to mention unforgettable, to go riding on my normally sun kissed roads in a snowstorm. Granted, probably not the safest thing to do, but that’s what was going to make it fun. On the Tuesday night the weather forecasts were holding strong on their prediction of heavy snow starting the next morning. I called up my friend, Nate, who was working for CHPT3 at the time, and told him that I was going out first thing and could he come with the car to take pictures and save me if things got too hardcore. Sure enough, things got too hardcore quickly, but it was so worth it. The Susqueda Dam was like something out of a movie, it was stunning up there in the cloud, surrounded by the blizzard, we almost couldn’t make it back down as the snow was settling so quickly on the road. Before long it felt like we were in Narnia. It was simply breath-taking in its beauty. The normally lush evergreen landscape was shrouded under a white fluffly blanket, the same roads where I had such vivid memories of being baked by the sun were now frozen and deathly still. Nobody else was out, Nate and I had the roads to ourselves. It was the first time I was using all the CHPT3 winter gear in extreme conditions, and to be honest I was blown away by how well I was protected, in the end it was my tyres that let me down, those were the days when 25mm were still a wide option for road wheels, unfortunately not wide enough for Mission Snowcapade...”

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From The Archives | It’s the end of the year, not much is going on, so we thought it would be fun to go through the CHPT3 archives; a little refresher/reminder before heading into the new year. Over the coming weeks David is going to be digging in and sharing what he finds: “It all began at a corporate lunch in London back in 2015. Coffee was being served at the end of proceedings, people began to mingle, and out of nowhere a large chap appeared and asked if he could sit down at our table. It was Will Butler-Adams, the CEO of Brompton, he asked me if I was the “Tour de France bicyclist...” I knew nothing about Brompton and urban cycling, Will knew nothing about the Tour de France and road racing. This made our conversation all the more interesting. He shared his frustration that there was such a gaping divide between our two worlds, at the time I was a prime example of this, for me cycling was about performance not practicality. Owning, let alone riding a Brompton, was anathema to me. He told me about Brompton, the history, the mission, he wasn’t selling a bike, he was selling an idea. Bikes can change the way live on a daily basis, improving it on countless measures. Will hand-delivered a Brompton painted up in CHPT3 colours to my mother’s house in London, I picked it up next time I was there, the next weeks were spent constantly getting the fold and unfold wrong, but I didn’t care, I got it immediately. I felt like a kid again, my younger self from the 1980’s who relied on his BMX for everything. It became my vehicle of choice for getting around town, I enjoyed the journey as much as the destination. I was inspired to make the Brompton CHPT3 as close to the BMX of my childhood as possible, stripped back and sped up with the knowledge gained from 18 years pro racing.

From The Archives | “In the spring of 2017 I went on a promotional tour with Brooks to the US. It was focussed on the west coast and the trip concluded with a ride and hang out at Golden Saddle Cyclery aka GSC. GSC recently closed its doors for the last time, which is genuinely sad as it was a truly unique shop. Everybody talks about community these days, and often it’s done as a commercial x marketing exercise, outsourced and monetised rather than organically grown from a genuine social vibe. GSC was old school in its attitude, and 100% authentic in how it did things, especially its community. It was the sort of bike shop you would visit simply to spend time and enjoy the company, it was chaotically and interestingly stocked with all sorts of random stuff, it was the antithesis to the modern boutique bike shop or brand concept store. The crew that worked there were genuine outsiders, hip without being hipsters, bike lovers to the core, anti-uniform and individual to the bone. I can't imagine any of them being Strava addicts or having ever been on a home trainer, let alone own one. Lycra is worn, and when it is, it is worn with panache. Although just as popular, if not more so, are t-shirts and board shorts. The current trend of gravel bikes was never a trend a here, it appears to be a way of life, their bikes are designed for adventures and expeditions, machines built for travelling and voyages near or far, if the apocalypse comes I want to be near these guys and girls, they'd know where to go and how to get there and what to do once they arrived. It was so refreshing to hang out with them, it felt like the cycling I had got into in the 1980/90’s when it was alternative and a little bit mad.

From The Archives | Over the coming weeks David is going to be digging in and sharing what he finds: “In 2015 Brooks broke free from their traditional manufacturing process, they launched the Cambium C13 which used carbon and vulcanised rubber instead of their renowned steel and riveted leather - the rivets remained, yet that was the only nod to their heritage. They approached me to test and launch the saddle, it seemed the perfect mix of past, present and future, and embodied everything I was doing with CHPT3. We went to the north of France to test and shoot on the infamous pave of Paris Roubaix. Finlay Pretsell and his team from Time Trial were there to create the film, and Tino Pohlmann was shooting the stills. It was one of the first times I got to test the final production version of the CHPT3 x Castelli apparel, and I was riding the original Factor Vis Vires bike. We shot repeatedly on Arenberg, my battery died on the bike so I was stuck in a huge gear which made it a joy of a day as I was having to ride way beyond my fitness for every shot, which in hindsight probably wasn’t a bad thing as pavé is monumentally s**t when ridden slow, but still, by the end of the day I was on my hands and knees. Fortunately, Finlay and Tino managed to edit out my gradual decline and fall into a state of less-than-impressive exhausted weakness. The Cambium C13 became my go-to saddle for many years across all my bikes, we created CHPT3 C13 special editions, the vulcanised rubber allowing us to embed off the wall designs into the surface. The Brompton CHPT3 V1 had a Fire Red Cambium C17 saddle as standard, to this day arguably the comfiest saddle we’ve equipped our Brompton’s with.”

From The Archives: Nadav is widely regarded as one of the finest photographers of our time, I met him in 2011 when a mutual friend, Kadir, recommended him to shoot the cover of my first book, Racing Through The Dark. Nadav and I became firm friends from that first meeting, he has since shot the cover for my second book, The Racer, as well as the poster for the film I made with Finlay Pretsell, Time Trial. He shot that first campaign in a style like nobody had done before for cycling apparel, perhaps even athletic apparel, it doesn’t look so wild now in 2023, but in 2015 it was weird AF, which is exactly what we wanted.

From the Archives: It’s the end of the year, not much is going on, so we thought it would be fun to go through the CHPT3 archives; a little refresher/reminder before heading into the new year. Over the coming weeks David is going to be digging in and sharing what he finds: “The recent Fear of God x Adidas campaign inspired me to look back at what we’ve done – you may think there’s nothing in common, but bear with me... When we launched CHPT3 in 2015 I was determined to do things differently, not for the sake of it, but because I could do what I wanted. It was my first year out of the professional cycling world, the actual beginning of a new chapter, one where I could write my own rules, do things my own way, freed from the traditions and norms that had dictated my life for nearly two decades. Castelli were up for the challenge of creating a collection of cycling apparel that could fulfil my pro racer performance expectations while also delivering an aesthetic that was as far removed as possible from the human billboard I’d become. I wanted a military palette, black was banned, we only had Army Green and Navy Blue as colourways for our shorts. Nobody was doing that in 2015. We had buttons on collars to thoroughly express the non-racing attitude and rebellion I wanted CHPT3 to represent, style has always mattered as much as speed to me, the buttoned collars were an eccentric way of making that clear. For me, this shoot with Nadav Kander perfectly depicts the essence of my third chapter. Anyway, Back to Fear of God x Adidas, it was Nadav that shot the recent launch of their Athletics collection; so we have that in common.

Last month, we had the pleasure of visiting in Taiwan. It was great to finally meet the team and discuss exciting new projects that we have in the pipeline. Thanks for having us!

Black Friday Sale!

The colder days are well and truly here but we have you covered! Our Thermal Streamliner Jersey with natural performance with the most advanced technology in natural fibres. This is a form fitting, aerodynamic merino blend jersey is designed to keep you comfortable from colder early starts until the end of your ride.

We're offering 50% off this Jersey and other products, along with additional reductions and deals when you reach the basket.

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Black Friday Sale!

Our Aqua Teal Technical Henley Gravel Jersey was designed for adventures and made to perform on your wildest rides. This jersey features 37.5 technology which regulates temperature, neutralises sweat and keeps you feeling fresher for longer.

We're offering 50% off this Jersey and other products, along with additional reductions and deals when you reach the basket.

GRAB IT WHILE YOU CAN!

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Black Friday is here - grab it while you can!

While we may not have huge amounts of stock, we are utilising Black Friday as an opportunity to clear the decks and make room for some exciting new products lined up for 2024. This could mark the end of certain colorways, presenting your last chance to stock up.

We're offering up to 50% off on select products, along with additional reductions and deals when you reach the basket.

GRAB IT WHILE YOU CAN!

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Get a free Women's Cycling Kit!

At CHPT3 we wanted women to take the lead in creating our entire women's line. A female-led team carefully crafted our collection and made every product decision. We wanted to create pieces that are for strong, fast and fearless women.
And we want YOU riding in it. We have 10 full Women's kits to giveaway to help you achieve your riding goals. All we ask is the price of postage in return for a full riding kit.

Follow the link below to find out how to enter.

https://chpt3.com/pages/womens

Get a free Women's Cycling Kit!

At CHPT3 we wanted women to take the lead in creating our entire women's line. A female-led team carefully crafted our collection and made every product decision. We wanted to create pieces that are for strong, fast and fearless women.

And we want YOU riding in it. We have 10 full Women's kits to giveaway to help you achieve your riding goals. All we ask is the price of postage in return for a full riding kit.

Follow the link below to find out how to enter.

https://chpt3.com/pages/womens

Discover CHPT3 Women's Cycling Jerseys.

The best cycling jerseys for women in the world. We’re not bias….

Speed without compromise.

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It looks like a sports bra, yet it’s a technical fitted sports crop top that gives you maximum support for hard, all-in sessions.

Inspired by competitive swimsuits the Studio Crop Top offers the right amount of compression and comfort to keep you fast and focused.

There’s only a few left in selected countries so don’t miss out!

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Instagram asked us to “Write a caption….”

Our caption is that our women’s range is perfect for the changing weather that’s ahead.

We have our outdoors and indoors range left in select counties, so don’t miss out before the cold days set in!

Keeping you warm when the colder temperatures set in.

Our women’s long sleeves and gilets are perfect for those evening and morning rides.

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We hate to say it, but Indoor days are coming…. But threat not, we got you covered.

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The Bikes: Felt F1
People always ask me what my favourite bike was while a pro. It doesn’t take much deliberation; it was my FELT while at Slipstream, especially the 2010 versions. There are three reasons for this...

1. I had arguably my best ever season in 2010 while on FELT.

2. Jim Felt (creator of the FELT brand) liked racing bikes and built his bikes for racers.

3. They were relative newcomers on the road scene and were maverick in their attitude towards the sport e.g. they also made low-rider beach cruisers, they would bring fleets of these to the Giro and TdF starts for us to ride to sign in, this was not normal road bike brand behaviour.

Read more about the Felt using the link in our bio.

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Felt F1
People always ask me what my favourite bike was while a pro. It doesn’t take much deliberation; it was my FELT while at Slipstream, especially the 2010 versions. There are three reasons for this...

1. I had arguably my best ever season in 2010 while on FELT.

2. Jim Felt (creator of the FELT brand) liked racing bikes and built his bikes for racers.

3. They were relative newcomers on the road scene and were maverick in their attitude towards the sport e.g. they also made low-rider beach cruisers, they would bring fleets of these to the Giro and TdF starts for us to ride to sign in, this was not normal road bike brand behaviour.

Read more about the Felt using the link in our bio.

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Add 4 pairs, and only pay for 3. Our tube socks are the definition of athletic elegance.

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Here’s a couple of rider photos of our CHPT3 x Bromptons. Look how stunning they are.

Where are you taking yours this week?

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Unfollow

After the initial drop sold out in 72 hours from launch, the Unfollow Tee is back in limited numbers.

Unfollow embodies the CHPT3 ethos: of leading, being someone, not everyone. It will mean something to those that know.

Still made from our heaviest weight organic cotton. Still regular classic fit. Still serves as reminder to chart your own path and embrace your individuality.

Screen printed in Birmingham using water-based inks, and available in all sizes S to XL.

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Every person has their third chapter, What's yours?

There is no clear path, there is no wrong answer.

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The Bikes /// 03.

CHPT3 x Factor
You’d think during my 20 odd years of racing I’d have collaborated on numerous bike designs and ridden countless prototypes.

You’d be wrong, I’ve only collaborated on two bikes, the first was my custom-made Dave Russell (currently MIA) when I was 17 and the second was my MBK TT bike when I was an amateur in France at the grand old age of 19.

The story of the CHPT3 factors are now live. The link is in our bio 🙌🏼

Half way through the riding week going at speed without compromise.

Comfort, quality and feather weight. It’s how and what you’ll feel through the lanes in CHPT3.

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