Ibis partners with Jenny Rissveds and Team 31

Team 31 was cre­at­ed out of a desire to do some­thing dif­fer­ent. Rather than per­pet­u­ate the pres­sur­ized struc­ture of elite rac­ing, with its focus on podi­ums, fol­low­ers, and engage­ment, the goal is to have fun and inspire others.

At the upper ech­e­lon of rac­ing, it is easy to for­get that rid­ing bikes is fun. That is why spend­ing time with chil­dren is so impor­tant. It is a reminder of why we ride and more impor­tant­ly, an oppor­tu­ni­ty to inspire the next gen­er­a­tion to stay active and healthy. 

The team’s name also brings atten­tion to Arti­cle 31 of the Unit­ed Nations Con­ven­tion on the Rights of the Child, which states that ​“every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recre­ation­al activities.“

The Team was inspired by the per­son­al jour­ney of Olympic Cham­pi­on Jen­ny Rissveds. After over­com­ing a per­son­al bat­tle with eat­ing dis­or­ders and depres­sion which caused her to leave cycling, she has returned to the sport and become a major pro­po­nent for men­tal health. 

In addi­tion to Jen­ny, the team includes return­ing mem­ber Kelsey Urban. Kelsey is the 2019 U‑23 Nation­al Cham­pi­on and a US Nation­al Team Mem­ber. The third mem­ber of the team is Linn Gustaffzon, a Swedish Nation­al Rid­er rac­ing on her first fac­to­ry pro­gram. Togeth­er, the team will focus on the UCI World Cup events.

Team 31 will be rac­ing on the new US-made Ibis Exie. Tom Mor­gan, the Pres­i­dent of Ibis Cycles said: ​“When we designed the Exie we aspired to make a bike capa­ble of com­pet­ing at the high­est lev­el of the sport — part­ly to show what we could do, but also because we’re huge fans of World Cup XC racing. 

The idea of spon­sor­ing Team 31 and Jen­ny seemed like a fan­ta­sy — she is one of the ath­letes we’ve most admired in rac­ing. Not just because of her race results, but because of the incred­i­ble work she’s done to raise atten­tion for the rights of chil­dren. After a hec­tic few weeks of work­ing with the Team 31 man­age­ment to put togeth­er an all-star ros­ter of equip­ment spon­sors the fan­ta­sy became a reality.

It’s great to be work­ing with Linn Gustafz­zon and Kelsey Urban as well. A Swedish Nation­al Team mem­ber, Linn joins what Jen­ny and Kelsey have start­ed and we’re excit­ed to see what she’s capa­ble of with full team sup­port. And it’s great to be work­ing with Kelsey, a for­mer NICA ath­lete from the Bay Area, who adds a local ele­ment to our Swedish connection.”

Team 31 held its train­ing camp in San­ta Cruz in ear­ly Feb­ru­ary. Dur­ing the trip, they had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet with Ibis employ­ees, tour the new solar-pow­ered Exie fac­to­ry, and ride with one of the local high school teams.

”Ibis have proved that they are ready to take a step in a dif­fer­ent direc­tion. That’s exact­ly what we as a team are look­ing for. I’m very excit­ed about this part­ner­ship and excit­ed to help push the sports indus­try towards some­thing health­i­er. Togeth­er with Ibis, we want to show the next gen­er­a­tion that sport can be play­ful, fun, and free from pres­sure, and not only about win­ning, los­ing, and fight­ing men­tal­i­ty. Sport is for every­body, and we are hap­py about final­ly find­ing a bike brand who is will­ing to go on this jour­ney with us,” said Jen­ny Rissveds. 

Kelsey Urban echoed the sen­ti­ment. ​“It’s unique to rep­re­sent a brand you feel con­nect­ed to, one where you can see the peo­ple, per­son­al­i­ty, and mis­sion behind the logo. Work­ing with Ibis has been just that. Not only are they build­ing bikes to last and work­ing on clean ener­gy solu­tions for car­bon man­u­fac­tur­ing, but they also are sup­port­ing us in rac­ing at the top-lev­el as peo­ple, not just ath­lete robots. I feel immense­ly lucky to take on the com­ing chap­ter with them behind us.”

All the Team 31 spon­sors are keen to help achieve their goal of pos­i­tiv­i­ty. As Linn Gustafz­zon said, ​“Our goal is to show what is impor­tant about sports, it should be FUN, healthy, con­fi­dence build­ing, and for everyone.”

The new part­ner­ship with Ibis is a sig­nif­i­cant devel­op­ment for the team, but it is not the only change. Anoth­er impor­tant devel­op­ment sup­port­ing the team as its hel­met, eye­wear, pro­tec­tion, and appar­el part­ner will be POC. As a Swedish com­pa­ny with exten­sive expe­ri­ence in per­for­mance and pro­tec­tion, there is a nat­ur­al Swedish con­nec­tion to the team and rid­ers, as well as a long-term col­lab­o­ra­tion with Ibis.

Eliz­a­beth Reed­er, Head of Glob­al Sports Mar­ket­ing Strat­e­gy for POC, said – ​“As Team 31 is a Swedish based team work­ing in col­lab­o­ra­tion with our long-term part­ner, Ibis, the syn­er­gies and excite­ment was obvi­ous from the very begin­ning! But it also rep­re­sents sig­nif­i­cant­ly more. To be able to sup­port some tru­ly world-class female ath­letes and help them achieve their per­for­mance goals is an amaz­ing objec­tive. On top of that, to bring about a big­ger debate on par­tic­i­pa­tion and bring the younger gen­er­a­tion to the joys and ben­e­fits of cycling is a vision wor­thy of all our sup­port. It promis­es to be an amaz­ing season.”

You can fol­low Team 31 on Insta­gram and via their web­site.