The Hunt Continues

On Saturday, my 6yr old god-daughter, Emily continued to discover more about me and the woman I am. Emily is a lot like me in her personality(at times, much to the dismay of her parents!) She is very adventurous and active but also has a strong girly part to her; with a streak of mischief and bluntness. Emily likes many of my girly tendencies, long nails, coloured hair and my tattoo. Saturday, we celebrated her dad(and my dear friend) Geoff's 40th birthday. As I was sitting and chatting, Emily crawled into my lap for a cuddle. She then pulled opened the top of my t-shirt looked down for a minute and stated "You have Very big boobs". Yes, I do. What does this have to do with Sea To Sea?

Well, apparently, my breasts are so large that there is not enough micro fibre available to manufacture a cycling jersey to fit them. If I was male with the same chest circumference this wouldn't be as much of an issue. I'm a good shopper and I enjoy it but even this battle is proving to be a challenge. I have tried on every jersey in London, MEC and other various stores. Brian at my local cycling shop has brought in several styles. We have even come up with the name of the most common shirt. It's the "Second Week" shirt. It's a jersey that I can get on but is just a little too tight. Brian says that with all the cycling, I would loose enough weight that it would fit by the second week! Hence we have the "Second Week" jersey-Not exactly helpful. I even called the Canadian Cycling Association(who manage the Olympic team) They gave me their manufacturer-Louis Garneau to contact. LG was out of stock and they only go up to a size 14...until next year. They have had so many requests that 2009 will be the first year that they manufacture larger sizes for woman.

This is the official SeaToSea jersey. Although it does go up to XXL it is a full inch or more smaller than for example an Eddie Bauer XXL. Will it fit? I don't know. See when you get them for unisex or men at a XXL it does fit my chest but the shoulders and sleeves are too big. I know it's not SeaToSea fault-they probably checked out several manufacturers and got the best they could for the majority of cyclists. But even Sea To Sea, which has other clothing available, have XXL for men but not for women.

What this situation does is raise the issue that comes forward when someone my size(especially a woman) try to get active. In women's sports wear, an XL is a size 14. The average Canadian woman is a size 12-14-which we should be able to size as a Medium then...not Extra Large. What does it say to woman or girls who want to get active but are over a size 14? It feeds into the cycle of inactivity, I can't get the gear I need to exercise, so I don't exercise. Let alone the image that an average woman is seen as overweight.
What message are we endorsing? Why can an XXL man get clothing but an XXL woman can't?
For me, it's another reason to ride. Another example to set. Even if it is in my Old Navy t-shirts.

Thank God for standardized shoe sizes! No wonder women love them so much!