Learning to Enjoy the Ride: Chicken Ride 2014

What a crazy year. Last year, we did the Hudson Chicken Ride and it was miserable. Well at least for me. I learned the hard way what bonking was, the wind and heat were not on our side and I wasn't quite in shape for this long of a ride. The long route of the ride is 54 miles. Last year was a test to see if I would survive the mileage, this year we thought if it's gross and windy we are doing the short course. We waited to decide the morning of, seeing as weather forecasting in Kansas is a bit of a guessing game. Now if you're not from here, or don't live here, you won't understand that. But we've had days that the forecast said no rain, and it poured all day. Anyway, we lucked out this year. We had very cool weather, starting the morning in the upper 50's and ending at noon in the 80's. With a slight wind coming from the northwest to push us back the last quarter of the route. Perfect weather.

I just am in awe of how much can change in a year, a month or a week. This years ride I was on my road bike, last year my hybrid. Makes a difference. This year the mileage shouldn't have been intimidating because I'd already done higher mileage days before. However, with my new saddle, the tailbone issues, the ankle issues and not having rode high mileage I was a bit nervous. Here is the outcome. Yes, I am out of shape...bad. I kinda quite going to the gym after school got out, my excuses are laziness and my workout buddy went to China. I say excuses because that's what they are, and honestly if I'd known that it would make the large of a difference I would have been more motivated to go. The strength training had helped with my lower back fatigue, my shoulder fatigue and my endurance. I knew on this ride that I was not up to par. Lesson learned, I guess. On the bright side. no ankle pain and only minimal tail bone pain. I'm pretty sure that I bruised the bone somehow and it's just not completely healed. But I can tell you not hurting for several hours or days after the ride means that the seat is doing it's job. This is also one of the few rides that I've finished that even though I was tired, I was in a really good mood when we finished. I attribute that to two things, eating consistently on the ride (No Mental Bonking) and this being a benchmark ride for us, knowing how much I've improved over the last year. *Side Note: the awesome weather and not fighting the wind also helped.

I'm now going to talk about clothes and gear. A few things you should know about me is that I don't like to be cold, and I sweat a lot. This can actually be an interesting problem because once you are sweaty, it makes you cold. Anyway, I just want to show you what I wore yesterday.

Now the top half is SheBeest. No that is not a long sleeved jersey, but actually my short sleeved Bellissima Wings jersey with SheBeest Armwarmers. Now whoever invented the armwarmer is a genius. Basically, they are sleeves with elastic tops that you put on to keep you warm and as the day gets warmer you can take them off, and they fit in you back pocket. I'v actually used them quite a bit on my longer rides, and they come in handy. There are many different brands of these things, but this is the only pair I've owned. I think I've talked about them before but thought I'd review. So far they haven't stretched out and are still very snug, with no slipping during use. If you try a pair for the first time, you might be uncomfortable as they are tight, that's how they stay on, but I don't feel them after the first 5 minutes or so and they are quite comfortable. One thing my friend Melanie (bike shop person) has said is that these don't have the rubber grips on the inside like many other brands. This is something I'm grateful for as I'm sure that would catch all the little hairs on my arm. Anyway, if you find you too are having this cold to warm problem, check them out. I love mine. And again, thank you to whoever thought them up.

Okay, legs. It's August and we've had a very mild summer. Like I said, we started the day off in the upper 50's. So no shorts for me. Underneath my capris, I'm wearing a Pearl Izumi padded Liner (thank you TJ Maxx) and I got my super cute capris at my local Walmart last week. This whole outfit is getting very close to being matchy-matchy, and I like it. Just a reminder that your workout stuff doesn't have to be expensive, but if you sweat, I would look for performance fabrics, makes a difference.

Lastly I want to talk about headbands. As previously stated I sweat, a lot. It's gross, and runs down my head and into my eyes. Now if you've never had sweat in your eyeballs, feel lucky, it hurts and stings. So my first solution was the cotton head bands from Walmart, then I tried the thick terry cotton workout bands from the 80's. The thin cotton ones, only worked for a bit. The thick terry cotton ones worked while in the gym, but were too thick for my helmet and didn't dry out very fast. As in took almost a week to air dry. I did some research online and found a website of a company based in Colorado called BolderBands. They are cute bands and they work!! Not only that but they dry super fast. It can be super soaked, but left to dry on my handle bars in the Kansas wind and sun and they are dry in about 20 minutes or so. Great product, they are going to be offered at the Buckle soon, so start watching for them. They are about $15 each, but I loved them so much that I have 3.

Anyway, I wanted to share some of my thoughts from this ride and share some insight about clothes. Below are some pictures from the ride and links to the places where you can find some of the stuff I talked about.

SheBeest BolderBands WalMart Capris