LOS CAFETEROS.

A dedication to Colombia.

By Black Sheep Cycling

August 19^th, 2018

passion project.

In the second of our Special Edition kits celebrating our global community comes Los Cafeteros. A kit dedicated to Colombia and inspired by the Latin American country’s emphatic dedication to their national game – football. The kit, designed in home and away colours, is a nod to an era when the support for Los Cafeteros, the nickname for the national team meaning 'The Coffee Growers', was as wild as the hair of Carlos Valderrama, their star striker. Now, cycling rivals football for the nation’s attention. Names like Nairo Quintana and Esteban Chaves are as revered as Falcao and James Rodríguez. This Special Edition kit perfectly combines Colombia’s deepest passions.

Our love letter to Colombia, written by a gringo friend of Black Sheep, Ben Hitchins, sparked the following beautifully touching response from Juan Ayala, co-owner of Bella in Sella, our Authorised Dealer in Colombia. It is with a great sense of pride that we share his words as we continue to cast our loving eyes on a country we fell for deeply.

an open letter from Juan.

I was born in a year of deep violence, where cocaine was worth more than human life; unbelievably because of a rich biodiversity and a great fertile land, we changed from being an agricultural country to being a country of drug trafficking.

I grew up watching the news full of bombs and blood, so much so that at some point in my life, all this violence became routine. And at some point I thought that it was normal. That every country was like ours. Today, now that we have a totally different country, I realise how wrong I was.

Thanks to God, the great majority of Colombians and even more so of my generation, we understand what happened to us, and we work every day, for a better country for our kids. Today, we have a country flourishing, with wonderful people, always wanting to demonstrate that what happened 20-30 years ago, made us better people, a better country and better citizens of the world.

This is why I have never agreed with all those television programs that make it seem as if we have never overcome violence, as if we are still living in darkness; these programs generate fear towards our country, nothing more erroneous to the reality where the only risk is wanting to stay.

Cycling has helped us to reduce this stigma, which is why we are very proud to work in this industry, because it has given us worldwide recognition of good cyclists and has brought us many visitors like Ben, who have fallen in love with Colombia, and they have become ambassadors of our country.

What Black Sheep has done for our country has touched me, you are helping us to change the Narcos stigma, showing Colombia that we really are the country that we love so much and of which we are deeply proud.