Regular readers (a list so short that it doesn’t even include my mum) will know I’m a bit of a fan of Rapha gear – I even started the Rapha Junkies group on Facebook – so when I got an email about their sample sale I knew from past ones that I would find at least one bargain if I could brave it.
The venue was Condor Cycles which wouldn’t have been my first choice for space. The previous one I went to was at Velorution which at least guaranteed plenty enough floorspace by comparison to the pokey confines of Condor (sorry guys, but it’s not the biggest shop in the world is it?) and so there was an unholy scrum forming by the time I got there with my girlfriend just before 6pm.
I loitered near the top of the stairs where the queue was snaking down into the basement and made sure I wedged myself in the moment things got underway. Luckily I’m sort of know a few of the guys from Rapha so I didn’t hesitate to ask them what was there and where.
After an hour of pushing, nearly being trampled underfoot and breaking a sweat I emerged in victory: 120 GBP of Rapha gear. Normally that’s not much more than a jersey and socks but on this occasion the haul was pretty good:
- 1x Black Stowaway jacket
- 1x Purple long-sleeved jersey
- 1x Purple winter hat with white contrast stripe
- 2x White socks with black stripe
- 2x Black socks with white stripe
I was really hoping to get more stuff for my girlfriend but fortunately the sizes on the stuff I got will fit her (or near enough). Of course I failed to get her the one item that she really wanted which was a Rapha-Condor-Recycling team Stowaway jacket. Good thing the black one fits her, and at 50 quid it’s an absolute steal.