May the Forza be With You: Desoto's Miracle Fabric

 for a conservative guy, i have worn more than my fair share of tight fitting, tiny, colorful, spandex in public places.  this is the part of being a triathlete that, in my experience, makes non-triathletes snicker most. grown men, husbands, daddies even,  prancing about in tight spandex and even tighter rubber products, greasing themselves up with lube...is this triathlon or life on the down low?

and, i think, if we were honest, most triathletes would admit that they have had their moments of  self-doubt and embarassment, upon donning their race kit. these are those moments where we realize that we are not craig alexander, we are not chris mccormack, not only do we not run and bike like them, but we don't look like them in spandex either. and we have all had moments when our packages felt just a bit too much out there. or else we felt just too squeeezed. or our kit was just not designed for the mesomorphs among us. not enough fabric holding things in. too thin. too tight. too flimsy. too see-thru where you don't want it to be. 

well, along came desoto, this cool looking triathlon company with extremely attractive models of both sexes on their website, posing on glorious, cliff lined beaches. the models look like triathletes, but somewhat less cachectic than our kona heroes. they have bicep bulges, nice delts, defintion, butts, pecs. wow, these look like clothes made for people with some muscle on them. i thought i would give them a try and i have never looked back.

 wow, these people look great. gimme forza!, that miracle fabric invented by emilio desoto, savior of my pride, my quads and my gonads!

what is this miracle fabric, manufactured by desoto, a small but visionary triathlon garment company based out of san diego? the simple answer, is that, like secret sauce or like kfc batter, we will never know. it is secret. proprietary.  desoto does claim however, to be the first to make compression wear. and apparently the fabric has been studied in university athletic departments and shown to actually increase athletic performance. they also allude to their own proprietary articulating stitch secrets,which bind the forza together in ways which maximize comfort and performance. having worn a number of forza products over the past four years, i can say, first hand, that all of this is true.

the forza line of triathlon garments are my first choice for training and racing. they are comfortable, supportive, attractive, and i don't feel the least bit ridiculous in them. i have worn the tri-suit, the riviera shorts and top, the low-rise forza shorts, the four hundered mile bike shorts, the skin cooler top and loved all of them. they each have their own characteristics and qualities that makes me reach for one or the other on a given day. i may, in fact,  review each of them on this blog on their own. but i thought i would start with a general commentary on what makes the forza line so different, and focus today's blog on the riviera race kit i wore last weekend in New Olreans.



my race kit for  IM 70.3 NOLA

 let's start with bottoms, because this is where i have felt the benefits of forza most. i have worn most other major labels of tri shorts available to me in Canada. i have several major criticisms that are relevant to all of them. 1. they don't support my family jewels at all. 2. they provide very little if any compression. i might as well wear a short cut speedo. 3. they fit way too high in the waist and i either have to wear them like charlie chaplin, pulled all high up my waist, or else fold them over. 4. the inseam is never quite the right length, most often, too short for my tastes. not as long as my bike shorts.

forza compressor fabric does what is advertised. it has a firm, supportive feel on your legs and it really does feel like my compression tights, but i would say, less flimsy and even more supportive. they feel great for running and for biking and the support is really helpful as the miles pile up. in fact,  i have taken to wearing forza shorts as my undergarment for all of my running, whether off the bike or not. there is a distinctive pinstripe running through the fabric, which i rather like. it almost makes the garments look dressy.  the stitching is unobtrusive and provides attractive accents. the cut and the panels allow a great range of motion. the fabric is doubled in strategic places, and it is thick enough not to become sloppy or see-thru when wet.

drying time is fast also. the inseams are just right. not too short. just like my bike shorts.

for me, one area of struggle with tri-shorts, and bike shorts, is the crotch. too much padding can be as uncomfortable as too little. if everything gets pushed up too far, that is just as bad as if things are hanging too low. every pair of desotos i own shines in this department. i don't get chaffing from the pad rubbing me. my privates are tucked away nicely, but comfortably. i have learned from these shorts that support is in many ways more important than padding.

last weekend i raced IM New Orleans 70.3 wearing the riviera shorts and top. i have worn the low waist forza shorts for all my other 70.3 races. i must say, that the heavier pad in the riviera shorts was not invasive, as i had worried about, and it did make a difference for my rear. anyone who has ever ridden in the 400 mile bike short will know the type of comfort that provides. this is basically the same pad, a bit thinner, and comfortable to run in.  i have ordered pair number two, and will likely be wearing these when i do full ironman. they are slightly shorter than the regular forza's, and the waist, while higher, is still a manageable height for me compared to other brands. i wear medium in the regular forza's but ordered large in these. they are a tighter, smaller design overall.

the top is something quite unique in triathlon clothing. it has a firm, even tight fitting, waist, which uses forza fabric to provide lumbar and waist support. i must admit that at first, it seemed weird pulling my shirt on like a full suit, but i quickly got used to that. the top was great to race in. three large pockets, so more like a traditional bike jersey than most tri tops in back! it was fitted, cool, and i didn't notice it at all, which is probably the best sign.  the overall effect of this kit is like wearing a tri-suit, but with less pull in the middle. you get the firm feel of a full suit, but have the added flex of having two pieces of clothing on instead of one. i really liked it. people who like to pull their top up to expose their six pack may prefer another jersey.

finally, i have to add that first on my wife's list of deserted island garments are her 3 pairs of forza capri pants. she says they are the most comfortable things she has ever worn. she looks great in them. they are both sexy and functional for those days when you don't want to show too much skin.

the focus of this review has been on the forza products as a whole. they are all fantastic and it is really the compressor fabric that makes them so amazing to work out in. i may follow up with individual reviews of products over the next few months, discussing in a bit more detail the features that appeal to me in different conditions.