Seeking Peer Support & Motivation!

I read that thread about the road pedals and fear. If you continue to have trouble, it's perfectly OK to use clips and straps 'till you're used to manuevering in traffic. I think clipless pedals get pushed on to people much too early now, because it's more stuff to sell and the people in even the best shops forget that they had it one step at a time. Bikes used to come with beartrap (toothy platform) pedals and after you got used to the bike and traffic you added toe clips. Clipless are only about ten years old. Sports are actually learned in the body as much as the mind and a road bike with Looks is a lot at once. Even road shoes are a big trick to put down a foot in. I'm using beartraps and clips with no straps right now till I get stronger, and I love clipless, but I'm relearning stuff. Lots of people are scared to death off clipless pedals- I talked to a woman at a festival (my last) three years ago who was terrified of them but used them because her husband told her to. There's no shame in putting off clipless if you get overwhelmed by it all. People ride singletrack on MT bikes and BMX pedals. Cycling equipment is so fashion driven and you should scale down to your best comfort level if you need to. You can add stuff back on later.
Maybe not BMX pedals on a road bike though:eek: Too weird!:p

Missliz

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Originally posted by NW_Meg
well, uh, ok, I feel compelled to get us back on track...

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thanks.
disclaimer :rolleyes: the following comments are my OPINION, no one has to agree with it. Anyone is welcome to disagree politely, just don't attack me

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Sorry one woman (Penny) felt let down by someone who could have been a role model to her, and I have to concur with the last post: ***** or not, I have immense respect for anyone who fractures her pelvis and gets back on her bike.

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there is that... However when I look at a role model for myself or my kids.. l look at the whole package, the whole persona: how are people treated, attitudes and so one... how much of that would I want my daughters modeling? There are plenty of excellent and awesome atheletes who don't use a "bad boy" (bad person) persona to make their way.

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I'm sure anyone in the ambulance with me after I got hit would have had much worse things to say about me... and I didn't have a bike career at stake...

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last note about an encounter I had with a certain racer: Serious trauma I can understand. But a broken toe that needs to be retaped? Give me a break.

More opinion, no one has to agree:
There's a lot to be said for a drive to keep going under injury. But there's some things I file under the stupidity category. That''s just my opinion. I've got a lot of respect for someone who knows when to quit, too. Even my freind with breast cancer says "no" on some days.

Other women to look up to: Julie Furtado, Cindy Devine, Jeannie Dywer, Aliesha Kline Kasha Rigby, Lynn Hill....

speaking of Lynn Hill, her memoir on climbing ( she's the best female rock climber in the world ) is an awesome read. "Free Veritical" is the name of it.

penny s

Get a life, lady. Your kids already have a role model in the house to teach them how to be judgmental and self centered. Meg NW wanted a little scratching behind the ears as she struggles through the hardest scariest turning point in her rehab, and suddenly it's all about you and your tiny little world view. You made an attack and got called on it. How does calling somebody you don't know ugly names support Meg, or Goddess, or womens cycling? Dishing Missy Giove is as far off this topic as you can get. Missy as your role model? Since when are you a gutter punk peirced gravity drop junkie? She's not anybodys role model, she's a one of a kind. And you might try out the realities of the great Gioves situation- If she blew her event that day, didn't finish, was this when Cannondale was getting ready to drop her, you have no idea what goes on in other peoples lives and the kind of pressure cooker elite athletes are subjected to. She probably lives with a chronic pain problem from her years of injury, as did Furtado from her knees. (She was no peice of cake to deal with either I hear). Missy has enough history of head injury to be almost guaranteed Parkinsons and will pay for her career just like Muhammed Ali- A great athlete in a frozen dyskinetic body. She knows it too, talks about it very calmly in interviews. A broken toe? How about the mounting choking terror that builds with every trip to the first aid tent? Every race could be her last. Her career was really dicey back in '99, and thats the last I really heard, I've been distracted by my own injuries and career gone down the tubes. She doesn't know how to do anything else but ride gravity, and probably can't even use pain meds 'cause of the doping rules. You never had a hideous overwhelming last straw day?
Why don't you back down and check yourself, and I think you owe the thread an apology for throwing the B word at a complete stranger. I'm referring to the posts you had deleted rather than just apoligize for, as well as the one above. Until you've been hauled off in an ambulance you shouldn't dis anybody who has.
In New Orleans we have a saying- Be Nice Or Go Home. You made a nasty little attack and got called on it. You had a chance to just drop it and didn't. Karma will be around to bite you on the *** shortly. I won't be even reading anymore of your posts, though, so you can call all the nasty names you want. I think when you come after me, and girls who call nasty names throw them at everybody, you'll want to throw in slob, ****, shameless Jezebel, pushy **** ( I'm straight and really pretty, but get called that a lot for some reason :p), foul mouthed, fashion victim, smart ***, and I'm sure you'll think of some more. Like unpleasent belligerent *****. Whatever. I'm off to enjoy the shameless Jezebel thing at Galatoire. Wish you were here, Meg. The oyster season is starting, yum!

Liz Claiborne

So back to the important topic of this thread- It's Sunday, and Meg had planned to ride. How'd it go? I had forgotten about the evil bugbear of biking on the Gulf Coast- Sinus trouble. I haven't been able to ride again all week, got a fever and a scrip for antibiotics. I'm frustrated, and my knees ache from lack of exercise. Please, everybody tell all about your weekend rides. I'm going to go down to Galatoire and eat Oysters Rockefeller, but I wish I was on the bike instead. I need an adventure and can't go have it, but if you all would share yours it would help a lot.

Miss Liz

I now have my maiden voyage under my belt! The big one for me is the distance from my house to my office (Washington State Ferries kindly help with crossing the Sound, but the rest is all me). I did it today! I was trembling as I left my house, really trembling, but I did it!
I rode mostly bike trail along the water and stayed clipped in about half the time.... except when I approached an intersection at which I clipped out, hopped off and WALKED through... but I feel ok about it. When I actually arrived here at my destination I was jumping up and down in the hallway yelling "I ROCK! I AM A GODDESS! I AM THE PHOENIX!" I'm, uh, feeling very proud right now.... total ride was only 7 miles with three hills worth mentioning... but it's 7 back for a grand total of 14 today. Weee haaaa! I feel fantastic. I figure if it takes till summer to warm up to riding closer to traffic, so be it.
Btw, MissLiz, I am from the Gulf Coast, too -- originally from Tarpon Springs Florida but many years now a Northwesterner. Riding in 40 degree wet weather -- like today -- still does not feel right. Have a great time this afternoon and thank you for all the support! Wee haa!!!! Oh... and I put my favorite sticker on my new bike.. it's flourescent orange and depicts a person shooting a tv (reflecting my personal disdain for television, which I think keeps too many women needlessly indoors....) and I seem to have named her Georgia.
OK.... gotta finish work here so I can get back on my bike and do the glorious reverse commute!

meg, i am so proud of you!!!!!!!!!!!! way to go. my legs were trembling last week on my maiden voyage too. i know what you went through.
so cool that you stayed clipped in and ok. i don't know what else to say but great job!!! i am speechless! you made my day. go get yourself a foot massage, back massage, or something to reward yourself. or better yet, if you feel comfortable doing so, give me your e mail and i will send you a little surprise. don't worry, i am about as harmless as they come.

great job girl!!! ride on!!!!

goddess1222

Yup, and I rode better on the return 7 miles (well, at least more consistently, though mostly NOT clipped in).

I'm tired and sore, my lower back is throbbing and I feel wonderful! Life is SO beautiful!

The challenge, of course, will be to do it again....

I'm really glad I found these boards, this is making a huge difference simply having other women to 'report' back to! Thank you thank you!

New Bike? Merry Christmas! What did you get?
I'm so proud of you, and thats not half as proud as you are of yourself which is great. You go girl. And ferry rides? Crossing water is always a little something extra, a little more to the adventure. Thats so neat.
You're gonna be sore tomorrow Miss Pheonix- we want the second ride report post 48 hours. Rest. And stinky Ben Gay really helps.
I think the fact that the new bike told you her name so soon is very auspicious. Course putting a smart aleck sticker on a bike is like giving a lapdog a new rhinestone collar. Instantly curries favor. Sounds like you're groovin' girl.

missliz

Ouch.
I did ride again today -- the 14 mile commuter round trip, plus about 5 miles at lunch with a friend practicing clipping and shifting and managing traffic. I am feeling much 'smoother' on my bike now, like she's becoming an extension....
But oh my god am I aching from head to toe. My butt bones I think are bruised. My back is throbbing. My arms now, and right between my shoulders.... and even my thighs and calves. Was I always sore before? Am I just old enough to feel it all now? Or am I this horribly out of shape?
So, hot tea and a hot bath tonight... and tomorrow I'll cut myself a break and not ride.
I am going to check out a wide flat saddle like missliz mentioned -- I have a damanged SI joint which I regularly sprain, which often triggers that whole cycle of back pain, pelvic pain, back pain.... it makes sense that our saddles are pushing those bones apart. My butt deserves so much better :p
Nonetheless, I gotta say, I love being back on a bike and it's worth all of this. Must be in my blood or something...
I'm looking forward to hearing about your next trips out!

Well it will get better, and you were only ocasionally sore before. So what kind of new bike is this? What color?
I'm ready to train- and still sick, doc said not to ride yet. Went to the gym to stretch and keep the habit, asked about spin class, and some aerobics bleached blond type told me she didn't think I could handle a spin bike. Time to throw down. Handle what? Hopping the potholes in the aerobics studio floor?
I've only ever done one competitive cycling event,a time trial, but I won it in perfect inexorable spin form. I don't display my trophys, they're kind of meaningless a few days after a meet and catch dust, but I dug this one out and had a little cyberchat with the head of the Cute Guy Bike Racing Club, actually the New Orleans Bicycle Club. He reveiwed a few basics, like time at intensity, I found my heart rate moniter, it still works...
Bring It On, Kelly. My butt may have gotten big, but I have new knees.

I've been back at the real gym one month, and I lost ten pounds! Progress.


Miss Liz

Hello NW Meg!
Way to go girl! Keep it up! Sore butts are a pain but if you keep biking it will get better! You gals are giving me motivation! Lately I haven't been biking because of the weather, work, my husband working overtime (he's my riding buddy), tired but that's going to change starting right now! Joe (hubby) and I bike hard all spring, summer and fall but once winter and the rains of the pacific nw arrive we stop. As if a little rain will melt us! But not this year! Nope .... I'm glad I found this forum and this thread .... this weekend for sure Joe and I are biking. Saturday on our mountain bikes and Sunday a nice long road ride! I hope the same goes for everyone else out there!
Thanks everyone!
Susan

You're so inspiring! Someone telling me I can't do something is a sure fire way to get me to do it. (Being nice, of course, helps me continue doing it). You will show that woman! Just remember: you are doing this for yourself. Let her enrage and inspire you -- but this is all about you!

I've been thinking about spin class, too. I feel strong now (finally getting strong), but the cardio... well... could use a little work!

Georgia (my new bike and first road bike) is a black matte Cannondale RW700. And she is beeeeeautiful. She's angled slightly more upright than a traditional road or racing bike, but very slick.

Unfortunately tomorrow is a suit day (as in biz suit), so no bike. But Thursday, I just can't even wait! Bring on the rain -- nothing can hold me back again!!

Tell me when you start spin class -- let's comiserate!

Welcome! I have really been inspired -- especially by the amazing encouragement and candor of fellow biker girls MissLiz and Goddess here...
I'm just figuring out all the waterproofing and would love to hear how you manage the wet rides. Keep us posted!

I'm on the Kitsap Peninsula and commute to Seattle -- plenty o' rain.

Thanks NW Meg for the welcome! Yes, MissLiz and Goddess are very inspiring! I've heard a lot about spinning classes from friends who bike. They swear by it and say it really helps them to keep in shape all winter long. Joe and I do belong to a gym and maybe we should check it out. By the time Joe walks through the door it's after 5 and very dark outside! Forget road riding in the dark! Too dangerous even with lights. We do however mountain bike in the dark, now that is a lot of fun!

But anyway, the Kitsap Peninsula! How lucky! That is a beautiful area to bike. I did the Kitsap Color Classic last month! A good friend of mine lives nearby in Indianola. She's been road and mountain biking for years! She's my inspiration because she just celebrated her 60th birthday and she's still going strong! She's trying to talk me into doing the Courage Classic with her this August. I told her I'll let her know! I live in Pierce county in the town of Bonney Lake between Sumner and Enumclaw.

You're so lucky that you can bike to work! And as far as water proofing goes .... LOL .... you just try the best you can. I have the gortex jacket and the booties but even so you're still going to get a little wet. That's life in the NW this time of year!

Wait until Joe finds out we're going to the gym tonight! :D

well, she says you can't handle the spin class eh? i got my degree in health and fitness. that is a huge black eye on my profession. she is an insensitive and uneducated person. i am glad you are not listening to her. i love spin. i go twice a week, more if i can. it really supplements the riding. what i don't understand is that since spin is such an individual sport in a class atmosphere, where is she getting her information that you can't handle it? ohhhhhhhhh, makes me angry. women like that give all us good women a bad name. what i learned in school is that encouragement is the key to creating a fitness program and developing good habits. if you would have been talking to me, i would have gotten your number and called you until you gave in and joined a spin class.

report back and let us know how it goes....

goddess1222