JENN KRISKE: I was training and training and training,
getting more and more frustrated with the clothes.
I was as hardcore as they come, and I
felt like I didn't have a place in that culture.
This idea that you have to get thin
before you can even ride a bike, because you
have to wear those clothes, this is a barrier
to women doing the sport.
JEN KYLE WHALEN: I'm Jen Kyle Whalen.
I have brown hair, blue eyes, and a boy's middle name.
My love for bikes started at a very young age,
and now, it's a full-blown obsession.
I've raced road bikes around the world with some of my idols.
Now, I'm hosting this talk show on bikes as an excuse
to hang out and ride with some super interesting people.
My next guest is a true boss, Machines
For Freedom entrepreneur Jenn Kriske,
a women's cycling brand that really changed the industry.
JENN KRISKE: On a basic human level,
what people need the most is connection.
When you go to a lot of these group rides,
there's really no women's community.
So I spend a lot of time riding with different groups
all around the city.
It's really cool now to see women coming together.
That's such an important part of cycling,
and that's what makes cycling so special.
JEN KYLE WHALEN: Can we take a peek?
JENN KRISKE: Yeah.
This is where the magic happens.
JEN KYLE WHALEN: What's some of the unique features
that you are proud of with yourself?
JENN KRISKE: The big part is the fit.
When I was developing this, I worked
with a pattern maker that had worked for pretty much all
the major brands.
And people were still bringing her men's patterns and saying,
can you just grade this down?
You can always tell when you put one of those jerseys on too.
The sleeves are weird.
It's tight here.
JEN KYLE WHALEN: It actually goes in the hips.
JENN KRISKE: I just received my first order of MFF,
and I'm stoked--
in bold.
I've been searching for new kits for months.
I've been rocking a single set of terribly padded shorts
in an old stretched out Jersey for over a year.
I tried my kits on tonight, and I literally
did not want to take them off.
I look so cool and I feel amazing.
They fit like a dream.
They feel like a dream.
I cannot wait to get on my bike tomorrow.
Thought I'd send some love your way.
Happy cycling.
Store it away.
JEN KYLE WHALEN: It's so special what you're doing.
It really is.
JENN KRISKE: Thank you.
Do you want to keep this?
JEN KYLE WHALEN: I might be a little hormonal.
JENN KRISKE: Do not apologize for your emotions.
JEN KYLE WHALEN: These are real feelings.
JENN KRISKE: No.
They're real feelings.
JEN KYLE WHALEN: I'm obsessed with the models that you pick.
You have every range of body.
You have a lot of ethnicities represented.
JENN KRISKE: We talk about it, and we're
very conscious about it, like, is there's someone in here
that we feel is not being represented?
The minute we started incorporating a curvy figure
into our photo campaigns, we sold out of extra larges.
Whether it's shops or whoever saying,
hey, the size doesn't sell-- and I'm like,
the size doesn't sell because people are not
expecting to find what they need in your store.
JEN KYLE WHALEN: How did the name come to you?
JENN KRISKE: I was looking at like women's relationship
to bikes.
Women weren't even allowed to race until the '80s,
so all of these pictures you see that are glorifying
racing in the '60s and '70s, it's cool and all,
but we literally have no place in that history
and in that story.
The bike basically became a symbol
of this women's liberation.
My whole goal with Machines was like,
I want this to be as big as possible
to prove to all these people that this market is worth
listening to.
That MO collided with lots of much bigger topics
around representation and body positivity,
all of these bigger cultural conversations that are
happening in the world today.
You go to that place, it's like, I'm just making cycling
clothes, like what can we do?
And one of the things we can do is
we can put out positive images of women.
I think it's a huge win for all women in this industry
and all women in this sport.
When you think of women on bikes,
Machines is going to be the first brand that
comes into your mind.