Customer Stories: Chasing Rainbows

Chasing Rainbows

Kalas has custom cycling clothing for everyone, but not everyone has earned the right to wear a world champion’s jersey. Dutch amateur rider Martha Maltha was allowed to do that as UCI Gran Fondo world champion. Kalas helped her with the design, but more importantly, with clothes that fit her 1 meter 86 (6 foot 1 inch) frame.

Maltha lives in Sneek, in the north of the Netherlands. She works as a doctor in the emergency department of a hospital, but she also trains between 12 and 15 hours a week on the bike. It's a busy life and certainly not an ideal basis for a world title attempt. But that's exactly what she did in 2022. In Italy, Maltha became UCI Gran Fondo world champion in her age category. She started her sports career in a completely different sport though.

“I have been playing volleyball from a young age. I played with the Dutch national team in the juniors and even with the seniors for a while. That didn't last long because I prioritized my medical studies,” she says. “After I had done my internships on the Caribbean Island of Curaçao, the bike came into my life. Well, of course there was already a bike because as a Dutch teenager you go to school by bike in all weathers. I didn't like it at the time, but that changed later,” she says with a smile.

“After I had done my internships on the Caribbean Island of Curaçao, the bike came into my life.”

Maltha bought her first real race bike through a friend who later became her partner. She didn't have much experience, but she was always up for a challenge. When she was asked to fill in a vacant place for The Marmotte, a very mountainous cyclosportive in the French Alps, she said yes.

“I had never ridden in the mountains before, so my friend and I went to Mont Ventoux to train for The Marmotte, but also to get to know the mountains. That holiday is still my best holiday ever. Being active together, being outside, enjoying nature, but also afterwards a nice rosé with some snacks. This was in 2012 and since then we never go on holiday without a bike. It really is part of who we are.”

That one Marmotte led to another, and more major cyclo’s such as the Dolomiti Marathon in Italy in 2016. The competitiveness that Maltha has from volleyball was now also reflected in cycling. She mainly wanted to improve herself and started looking for a trainer. She found the well-known sports physician Guido Vroemen.

“I already rode a lot of kilometres, but then I started to really train with a focus. I immediately noticed that I was getting better. At my workplace they really like what I do and try to be flexible too. I train between 12 and 15 hours a week, but if I have a long ride of six or seven hours, I sometimes go over those 15 hours that week. I don't think of training as a burden, and I really enjoy it. My work schedule is not always ideal, and my biorhythm is sometimes quite disturbed though,” she continues.

“The night shifts are especially tough. I am also obliged to work a few weekends per month so I can't do any cyclosportives then. On the other hand, I can ride whenever it suits me. That is different from a team sport such as volleyball. I can go for a ride the next morning after an evening shift. I also live close to the hospital, so I have no travel time.”

"During the climb, there are many thoughts. You think of everything, and also of nothing. When I'm at the top, I often don't even remember what I've been thinking about."

At her job as an emergency doctor, Maltha experiences many things, from a broken toe to serious accidents and fatalities. For her, the bike is the way to deal with this.

“I need to move. That's always been the case. If I am forced to reduce my time riding due to a busy study or work schedule, I notice it immediately. My work is very much a mental exercise and then a physical activity is important to balance that. That's what I love about climbing in the mountains. During the climb, there are many thoughts. You think of everything, and also of nothing. When I'm at the top, I often don't even remember what I've been thinking about. I really like that constant rhythm, that flow that you get.”

Maltha lives in the ultra-flat Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands, where you can easily stay below 100 meters in elevation on 100-kilometre rides. Still, her talent on the bike is in climbing. She started to notice that herself after the results came. In 2021 she won her first Dolomiti Marathon after finishing third in 2018 and second in 2019.

“I'm 1m86 and many of my competitors in the Gran Fondos are a lot smaller and lighter," she laughs. “When I started working with Guido Vroemen as a trainer, he saw my watt output. He told me I had the qualities to ride onto the podium. That surprised me too, but it also made me feel more competitive. In the Netherlands I sometimes do races, but cycling in a peloton is not really my thing. The chance of crashing and breaking something is substantial and not worth it to me. No, give me the mountains despite my height,” she says with a wink.

"The design that was made by Kalas was actually spot on. When I saw it at the office in Sneek, I was immediately sold. It has turned out to be such a beautiful jersey that I enjoyed riding with so much.”

Maltha did not only win the Dolomiti Marathon but also the UCI Gran Fondo World Championship in Trentino, Italy in 2022. That comes with a real champion’s jersey. Kalas could help with that.

“The UCI rules about what is allowed and what’s not in a world champion's jersey are quite clear. The designers were able to work with that. The design that was made by Kalas was actually spot on. When I saw it at the office in Sneek, I was immediately sold. It has turned out to be such a beautiful jersey that I enjoyed riding with so much.”

At Kalas she not only found custom kit, but she also found cycling clothing that matched her body shape. As a tall, slim, ex-top volleyball player with an athletic build, she does not have what some might describe as a “typical” female body shape.

“Before the design was made, I already visited the Kalas showroom in Sneek. They showed me all the kit and I tried on all kinds of clothes. They actively advised me what would suit me in different weather conditions or competitions. I was pleasantly surprised when they told me that I could also get bibs and jerseys in a unisex cut that were longer but not wider. In the standard sizes of other brands, jerseys often crept up. Despite my height, I have a slender, athletic build, and therefore need a size small. But those other jerseys were also quite short. I now have jerseys that I don't have to constantly pull down. That provides much more comfort."

"I was pleasantly surprised when they told me that I could also get bibs and jerseys in a unisex cut that were longer but not wider."

"I also really like the bibs where the legs don’t stop halfway down my thighs, but really reach to the knee,” she smiles. “In addition to the comfort, those longer sizes mainly provide an aesthetically nicer picture, I think. I feel really good in these clothes. You actually only know what you were missing in clothing when you have some new kit that really fits well.”

Maltha really enjoyed this year World Championships course in Glasgow but didn’t have the legs on the day. “Because the course was relatively flat with only 1,500 vertical meters the race stayed close together. I could easily maintain my position despite the legs but unfortunately on the final incline my chain came off. It took too much time to get it back on. It was too late to get back to that first group and that’s how I ended up in seventh place. Next year the world championships are in Aalborg, Denmark. The course has not been announced yet, but I hope to be there to fight for the title, and that jersey, again,” she says with a smile.

“Even though I am no longer be allowed to wear the champion's jersey, I now have many more beautiful things from Kalas in my closet. The PASSION Z3 Temps jersey is a particular favourite, as I wear it in the spring and autumn, as well as early mornings and late evenings before or after my shifts at the hospital. The colours that I have selected from that PASSION collection are beautiful, but I would prefer to win back the right to wear my own rainbow design custom clothing for another year. That is the ultimate motivation for the next World Championships.”