A collective is nothing without its community, and this week we had a quick chat with Willis who has been a great help to giving us feedback and insight for our product development. As we lead up to our Kickstarter launch we will feature more of the collective and get to hear their unique individual stories and opinions!
Q: Hey Willis, so awesome to have you share more about your cycling journey with us, let’s jump right into it, when and why did you start cycling?
A: My work involves helping clients financially and through one of my clients about 2-3 years ago, I got properly introduced to cycling as a regular hobby/sport. My client was someone who was very busy but always managed to stay fit and I asked him how he kept up with exercising, and cycling was the answer. So with his encouragement, and also my personal goal to try something new every year I got my first bike from Decathlon and that’s how I started my cycling journey.
Q: What has your cycling journey been like and are you still using the same bicycle?
A: I didn’t know that by getting into cycling I would be introduced into a world with great communities that regularly meet up to ride and connect, so that has been amazing for me because I really enjoy making new connections. After about 7-8 months of riding my decathlon bike, I could see that it was really worthwhile to upgrade to a Cervelo bike in order to enjoy my rides more especially as I got better at it.
Q: Would you encourage others to pick up cycling based on your own experience?
A: Definitely! One thing others may not realize is just how easy you get to make friends that uplift you when you get into cycling. Because of this common interest it becomes easy to make connections and join communities that make your rides more fun, and widen your network and horizons. It was through the cycling friends that I made where I first got introduced to Colligo Collective and learnt about their product development!
Q: What do you think about the Colligo Collective, having been a part of our journey so far?
A: Seeing the growth of the products from the first prototype to the last version of the gloves at the community event, it's been so great to see that the team really does listen and incorporate feedback given by the collective members. Pointers like how the gloves could use more stretch and different sizing were taken into consideration, and I look forward to seeing the final product after the last round of conversations.
Q: What feedback did you suggest at the last event?
A: Upon seeing the prototype gloves in its red colour, I felt that it would be really nice if it came in a green or white colour instead because that’s the colour of my Cervelo bike frame. As I don’t cycle as regularly as I used to, now I hang my bike on the wall at home and it would be great to have gloves that matched my bike and the feel of my home, hence I suggested that the gloves come in a variation of colours that make it easy to match the home space. I cannot deny the function of the gloves to keep stains off the walls but it would be perfect if it matches the home interior too!
Q: We really appreciate your feedback and hope to surprise you with our selected glove colours at the launch, but as we wrap up our chat, what would you want potential cyclists to know?
A: Have fun! It’s important to enjoy your rides and be open to meeting all the wonderful cyclists our there in various communities, you never know what you might learn and how your conversations could end up inspiring the creation of products that can benefit an entire community like the gloves. The gloves were something I never really considered before but now I do hope to have a matching set for my bike on display. Cycling has so much to offer not just as a sport but as an activity that brings people together, so anyone who wants to make new connections should definitely cycle!
