At last, equipment built on a feminine scale
Although it may seem obvious that the female body is different from a male’s, the sporting goods world didn’t catch on until recently. Just five or six years ago, women had to make do with oversized, masculinized athletic socks, bike frames and brake levers, kayaks and paddles, wet suits, heart-rate monitors and more. But sheer numbers and buying power couldn’t be denied forever. Women of all ages -- flooding into gyms, triathlons and the great outdoors -- demanded the fit and flair to match their proportions and sense of style. The result: Female-specific gear, such as the four items described below, is now the hottest growth area in sporting goods.
-- Roy M. Wallack
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Paddling takes a new shape
Ocean Kayak Venus 10: A couple of years ago, Ocean Kayak stunned the recreational paddling world with its shocking discovery that not everyone is 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds with a narrow rear end. Many women who wanted to get into paddling often couldn’t fit into, or control, its too-heavy boats. Hence the Venus, the first true woman’s kayak. Now in its second generation, the 10-foot version of this open-cockpit plastic boat features a wider, higher seat well to account for women’s lower, hip-centric center of gravity; a pared-down, lighter-weight (34 pounds) design; and a specially located handle designed to make it easier for women to lift the boat up onto a roof rack. Built for flat water, moderate ocean swells or slow-moving rivers, the Venus is self-bailing, has an optional 6-inch storage hatch, and front and rear bungee cords for cargo.
Price: $529 (800) 8-KAYAKS; www.oceankayak.com.
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Watch that wrist for target-zone updates
Polar F6 Heart Rate Monitor: Good looks are just the start. The F6 is jammed with useful features for indoor and outdoor workouts. It counts calories burned, helps set correct heart-rate target zones (including audio and visual alarms), downloads workout data to a PC, and lends itself to custom training sessions. It also has a coded transmitter, preventing your monitor from picking up signals from other HRMs -- a common problem during crowded classroom workouts.
Price: $109. (800) 290-6330; www.polarusa.com.
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Make like a mermaid with this flexible outfit
Zoot Z-1 FS wetsuit: Because of the size differences in women’s shoulders, waist and hips, fitting a wet suit to the female body has always been a harder task than fitting a man -- which accounts for the long history of uncomfortable unisex suits for female triathletes. Zoot shapes up its top-end Z-1 FS by adding an extra contour panel at the bust line and by building the suit out of highly flexible Yamamoto-39 rubber with a stretch polyester lining. These materials easily accommodate different body shapes, including those of the less-buffed “regular” folk now flooding into the sport. The Z-1 gets maximum flotation by using 5-millimeter-thick neoprene on the chest and legs and thinner 2-millimeter neoprene on the arms for best range of motion. Zoot has five women’s sizes, from 4-feet-11 to 6 feet.
Price: $450. (800) 241-WEAR; www.zootsports.com.
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A cycle of change
Trek Madone SL 5.9 WSD: All the major bike companies are cranking out two-wheelers that provide a better fit for women’s relatively shorter torsos, longer legs, narrow shoulders, smaller hands and fingers. Trek’s WSD (Women’s Specific Design) bikes, such as the top-end, Lance Armstrong-inspired Madone racer, are designed to fit women from 4-foot-8 to 5-foot-9, with close-reach break levers, a shorter-length frame, narrow handlebars, shorter cranks and a wider seat.
Price: $5,000. (920) 478-2191; www.trekbikes.com.
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Roy M. Wallack is the coauthor of “Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100.”