Just got my bike 2 days ago! Help with clothing!?

[Caprice]

Hi, my husband bought me a bike on Wednesday. He, my daughter, son-in-law and even my 7 year old granddaughter have been biking for a couple of years. They are serious bikers in that they all have really good bikes and ride often. My husband paid $400. for a kids "Specialized" model for the 7 year old!! She and Granddaddy went on a 12 mile ride last Saturday. I finally realized that I was missing out and being left behind! I exercise and maintain a healthy weight but at age 61, I never thought that I could ride a bike again, after about 40 years! I have secretly wanted to try it and a wonderful sale at a shop downtown motivated me to check it out. I ended up with a hybrid and felt like a little girl all over again. I was so excited! My first ride was with my granddaughter and we rode through our neighborhood. I did O.K. Later, my husband and I went out and I was thrilled! We rode for 4 miles and I was able to learn how to change gears without crashing!! Yesterday my little granddaughter led the way to what she called "a surprise ride"!! We saw gorgeous Fall leaves, squirrels everywhere, and a small herd of deer. Exhilerating! We rode for 5 miles! So for a 61 year old Granny, I'm not doing too bad!!

OK, ladies I realized the need for comfortable clothes. I have read the posts and assume it is a matter of taste. Here's a question: Several mention wearing tights or capri's over shorts. When you say shorts, are you talking about the spandex cycling shorts? Also, might anyone have any suggestions for kinds of apparrel for me to try? My problem is that I am barely 4'11" tall. I have not seen anything on the net for petite or short women. It was chilly yesterday, so I need something to keep my legs warm. Yesterday, I wished that I had brought my chapstick and some tissue. I have no idea what to use to carry small items including my cell phone. I don't want to buy something that is expensive and ends up not being what I need.

I welcome any ideas and thanks to all who might read this!

[Aquila]

Congratulations on your new bike! Way to go. I hope you have many happy rides together!

Picture, please :) (We love bike pictures!)

As for clothing: You'll definitely want gloves (long fingered if you get cold hands in winter, not if you don't) and a helmet. I wear a beanie under my helmet when it's cold.

I wear the lycra stuff because it's very comfy for the way I ride. You might want to try a pair of lycra shorts, because they avoid having seams in the places where seams aren't comfy. If you're worried about how you look, you might look into mountain biking shorts, which are sometimes looser fitting, or have an overshort. But if you're on a bike, you have to know you're looking great anyway :)

Biking tights work great to keep you warm, as do leg warmers, knee warmers, and just plain sweats if that works well for you. The important thing for me is to keep the clothing seams from chafing. I wear my biking tights over my biking shorts to take care of the seam issue. (The longer you ride, the more likely this will be an issue; a few miles is usually okay with whatever is comfy, helmet, and gloves.)

This very site (Team Estrogen) has a nice selection of shorts, and great service and advice (you can call and talk to a human!); if you live where there's a good bike shop, you can also go try some things on there.

For chapped lips, make sure you're drinking plenty of water.

You can get little "bags" that fit under the seat or on the handlebars; you can also get a biking jersey with back pockets; they're very handy in all sorts of ways (and comfy!). Some people wear backpacks or little waist bags, if that works well for them.

Welcome to the community and congrats again on your new bike!

[ny biker]

Hi Caprice. Congrats on the new bike. It sounds like you're having lots of fun already.

Regarding tights and capris over shorts, yes they go over spandex bike shorts. I suspect regular, looser shorts would get too bunched up under tights. Another option for keeping your legs warm with bike shorts is to wear leg warmers or knee warmers, like this:

http://www.teamestrogen.com/product/apparel/extremities/knee-warmers/c0-c1-c55-c57.html

http://www.teamestrogen.com/product/apparel/extremities/leg-warmers/c0-c1-c55-c58.html

But if you're not into buying special bike clothing or you want to ride more before deciding what to buy, you can always wear regular sweat pants or any comfortable pants. Just make sure they don't get caught in your chain -- sweats that are snug around the ankles or putting something around your right ankle to keep the pants leg tight should work. Ankle bands like this are good because they're also reflective to make you more visible:

http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodNN_2020N.html

As for petite clothing, I don't know much about that. It looks like Team Estrogen sells some petite apparel. Hopefully some other folks can chime in on other sources.

Regarding carrying stuff, there are all kinds of bags and carriers available for carrying things when you don't have any pockets or your pockets are full. Seat wedges that attach under the back of your saddle come in various sizes. Handlebar bags can also be good. You might want to ask your husband, daughter and son-in-law if they have any spare bags that you can use. If they're anything like me, they've got one or two old ones lying around that just weren't the right size or otherwise needed to be replaced for one reason or another.

Good luck!

[Bike Chick]

Well you've started at the right place! Congrats on your new bike. You are really going to enjoy this, I can tell. And, pictures! We want pictures!

The other ladies have given you some great advice. This site-teamestrogen.com is about the best there is for women's cycling apparel. Another place you might check is www.terrybicycles.com. They have petite (short) cycling clothing. Those are the only 2 sites that I buy clothing from.

As far as having a place for tissues, cell phone and chapstick, you might want to get a bento box. It's the next best thing to having a purse on your bike. You don't have to get this brand....the one I have is made by Bontrager and is completely different ....but it sits on your top tube and is a handy place for cell phone, etc. And since you have a hybrid, a handlebar bag wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Enjoy! And don't forget pictures!

[Crankin]

There really isn't petite specific cycling gear. But, there are companies that make large varieties of x small sized jerseys/shorts that I buy from.I mostly buy from Terry, but Sugoi, Shebeest, and Sheila Moon all have xsmall sizes. They are not cheap, though. You can find some good stuff in the sale area of TE and Terry web sites. You can buy shorter shorts, too, although I tend to wear 6-7" inseam ones because I like the feel of them.
There are petite sized non-cycling tights that can be worn over your shorts.
I am 5' 1" and I have plenty of choice (too much, actually).

[staceysue]

Congtratulations on getting into cycling! That's exciting. It's so wonderful for you that your family members are in it and you have such a sweet grandchild to take you on a "surprise bike ride!" I would love it so much if I had family to cycle with!

Time for me to buy Sonny Boy a bike and get him into it so that when he has kids he'll get them into it and I can have a cute little grandaughter to take me on bike rides!

[Kris]

I'm in your age bracket, and started riding my hybrid 4 years ago. I also like it because it reminds me of being a kid. Unless you're going on long rides, you don't need special clothes yet, at least I didn't. I wore (and still wear most of the time) regular sweat pants. If it's cold, I wear long underwear underneath. If I'm going far enough that the creases and seams could be a problem, I've got bike shorts that I wear underneath. It works for me so far, but I'm getting ready to upgrade my bike, probably to a road bike of some sort, and I think I see more cycle-specific clothing in my future.

[Possegal]

I second the Bento box. I have one on my road bike and love it, use it constantly. Need to get one for my new bike now too!

As to the clothing thing - my niece is 4'11" and she doesn't buy anything different than I do, at my huge 5'2". :) Maybe the shorts hit a bit longer on her, and maybe there is a little more at the ankles on her tights, but she hasn't needed to search out "petite" sized bike clothing for her height.