THE STORY BEHIND BOMBA

After the launch of the newest collection and the CX team BOMBA JOIN, questions are being asked. What is BOMBA? Where does the name come from? You are about to find out. 

What’s up with the name BOMBA?
To explain the Bomba, you have to know a little story about a man called Eros Poli. Eros Poli is from Italy. And when he was a pro cyclist in the 90s, he was the type of guy, that, besides being dead fast on a bicycle, could squeeze lemons between his biceps and underarm. Not to mention his impressive length of 1.94m...Not really your typical modern day skinny cyclist. When he succeeded in winning a big mountain stage in the 1994 Tour de France, after a long solo on the Mont Ventoux, he became instantly famous. Laurens and him met during an InGamba cycling holiday trip in Italy, long after Eros had retired. Laurens was still a pro cyclist back then and Eros was curious to know what Laurens was taking in the final hour of the big stages. Not really sure what to answer and maybe a bit overwhelmed by this question, Laurens responded: ‘’I don’t know, nothing special really. A bit of caffeine and maybe some painkiller, if needed.’’ Well, that was when Eros smiled and let him in on the big Bomba secret.

Eros Poli for Mercatone Uno in the Tour de France of 1994 Stage 15 - Eros won in Carpentras following a 171km solo break.

A piece of advice from Eros
 ‘’That is not enough. Let me tell you. What you should take, is this: for the grand finale, you need some strong stuff. So you take two egg yokes, right? You mix them up, you add two espressos, you add a shot of grappa and you mix in some sugar. Or a lot, if you like that. Shake well and bottoms up. That, my friend, is what we Italians call a Bomba.’’

Of course Laurens tried it himself, when he got back home. He did not dislike the taste of it, but the idea of having raw eggs in a warm bottle in his jersey was just too much. Not much later, the team at LSRF designed a hip flask and named it the Bomba, after Eros’ recipe. We filled it up with many things, but no egg yokes were included. The Bomba was our friend on camping and bike trips, all-nighters and 5 to 9 adventures. At one point, the Bomba Tour was created, which was basically yet another excuse for Lau and Stefan to go on a little cycling adventure and to check out the local moonshining business. That Bomba needed to be filled, right? Do check out the movie of that trip later - it’s linked here. 

The story keeps inspiring
S the original Bomba was a small flask Italian riders carried for the final hour of a race. 
A boost for energy. Against the pain. For morale. We loved the story. It inspired our rides, our apparel, and eventually an entire CX pro team. For us, BOMBA became the push to take things further. Now it's here for you. But before the push, you need to be prepared. And that's what BOMBA is really about. It means showing up when it's cold. Showing up when you're tired. Showing up when motivation is nowhere to be found. The hours. The rides. The races. The adventures. They all start the same way.

JUST. SHOW. UP.

And when you need that little extra...BOMBA.

The BOMBA collection is available in sizes S-XXL. Shop de collection here. 

Want to know more about the CX team BOMBA JOIN? Check out the Instagram page.