Another new newbie!

Hi everyone!

I'm finally gotten off my butt and am taking up cycling as a sport. I've wanted to do this for years and years but lack of time and a bad attitude kept getting in the way. I took up spin for fitness and discovered that my attitude was unfounded. I can do this!!

So now I find myself training for my first century at the end of August. I'm currently living in the mountains (abt 8400 ft) of CO but will return to suburban Chicago this summer where the century will be. I'm so glad I found this forum. I have found a wealth of information so far.

Any recommendations on shorts/knickers for someone who is not comfortable in the super tight lycra type? I've got big hips and would prefer something baggy, but also need it to be suitable for long distance rides.

Thanks!

Congrats on getting bit by the cycling bug! Other ladies here are sure to have advice on apparel. What kind of bike do you ride??? We love pictures here, so if you have any, feel free to post them. :D

My bike is a Giant OCR 1W. It's brand new so I don't have any pictures of it yet, or any pictures of me riding for that matter.

I'll take a few and post some soon.

Welcome! Wow, so you get to train in high altitude . . . pretty cool!

I've got Peal Izumi Superstar Capris, http://www.teamestrogen.com/products.asp?pID=29962

which I commute in since I'm not thrilled about walking through my office wearing form-fitting stuff. They're very comfortable. The only downside is sometimes the baggy parts get caught on the nose of my seat if I'm going from standing-over to seated.

I think I also tried out the Shebeest Boardrider capris, but I thought they made my butt look really big . . . and I'm a small person, and not that curvy.

TE seems to have a pretty good selection of knickers, both fitted and baggy. It's worth ordering a few to try them on and then you can just return what isn't working for you. That's what I did.

I have a friend that feels the same way, she wears skorts which are bike shorts with a kind of skirt attched. Very comfortable and eliminates the 'everything shows's dilemma. You should b able to find 'em on the Estrogen website.

You might find something here



.

I wear skirts (regular slightly above knee length) skirts over my cycling shorts (lycra) when I am riding many miles in traffic, doing errands, etc. Or I wear regular shorts.

I would highly recommend that you wear nicely fitting lycra shorts with a chamois on any rides you do over 40 or 50 miles. If you do enough group rides during your training phase you will see enough lycra on enough body types to de-sensitize. Riding for many miles, the comfort of a good lycra short can't be beat.

The last group ride I did I only had my short lycra shorts with me. Somewhat embarrassing when I thought about it, but I wanted comfort during the ride. At the end of the ride, I got off my bike and pulled on a skirt over my shorts. No biggie.