So long

[Bikingmomof3]

Ester,
I think you are doing great! You are being hard on yourself. I am 37 and when I started biking I recall being absolutely giddy to make it 5 miles. It takes endurance and practice. Unless you are planning to race soon, does it mater how fast you are going as long as you are enjoying the ride?

[farrellcollie]

I think you are doing great. I have always been fairly active - but my partner has not - she is now walking and riding a little (50yrsold) - we have found it is better to build up slowly than to overdo it and get too sore or burned out so you can't or don't want to go out.

[Geonz]

I have gloves but I mostly forget to put them on. I have these incredible calluses ... but I have a genetic condition that means I have them anyway.

I don't know how important they are in a crash. When I crashed big, I landed on my elbows anyway - but I think most people would have taken the fall on their hands (I automatically went into my "swimming pool entry with goggles" and did this great belly flop onto the gravel, splaying my arms to "spread out the splash," which, ahem, does NOT work as well no gravel as it does in a swimming pool!! Perhaps fortunately I was at the back and nobody saw...) They'd have been pretty torn up by the gravel... I suppose. But let's see if anybody pipes up and says "gloves saved my hands!" I do know that my totally minimalist buddies who don't even wear padded shorts most of the time do have helmet, toe clips, and gloves all the time, but I k now some people need 'em or their wrists and shoulders hurt. (I thank my piano teachers for getting me in the habit of good wrist placement...)
There are "lite" gloves - you might want to go the LBS and try some different kinds.

[7rider]

But let's see if anybody pipes up and says "gloves saved my hands!"

Not from my own experience...but recently another rider and I stopped to help this woman who was clipped by the trailer being towed behind a pickup and sent sprawling into a gravel driveway. Truck kept going, of course. She had only a brief time to ride while her husband watched the kids, so she rushed out the door, forgetting her gloves. Fortunately she had her helmet, at least! But she was really cursing her misfortune, and the truck, as she picked gravel out of her scraped and bloodied palms.

Yup....gloves are a necessary accessory in my book!

[Kathi]

When I went over the handle bars on the NCR trail in Maryland. I was rolling about 17 mph on a gravel trail. Something got caught between my front wheel and my brake. My bike stopped and I went flying. Graceful me, I stuck my left arm out when I hit the ground. I must have landed on the palm of my hand (the glove was covered with dust and tiny pieces of rock) then slid on my elbow. There was blood running down my arm from a nasty wound around the elbow. It hurt like crazy.

I ended up in the emergency room in York, Pa. My elbow had a decent size stone under the skin, which they dug out and I wound up with medial epicondalitis (golfer's elbow). I was off the bike for the rest of the summer, in pt, with 2 cortisone shots to calm it down. I still have a nasty scar on my arm from the crash.

So, yes, I can say gloves saved my from some nasty road rash on my hands.

[Fredwina]

Execpt for my last crash, I've shredded the gloves I had on at the time. I'd rather not have to deal with scar tissue, and only having to one hand. Having your arm in a sling is bad enough...

[esther231]

Alright, alright. I think enough of you are saying gloves are important that I need to make peace with them. Yuck though. lol

Clearly the ones I have - pearls - aren't making me happy. Which ones have any of you had luck with? I think it's the gel that's annoying me to death. Seemed like such a good idea when I bought them.

Great suggestions. I do stretch. I don't do weight training. I think it would help, it makes sense. And stay in low gears. Making circles - instead of up and down - did help today when I went.

OMG, do I go slow on inclines or hills. Miracle the bike stays upright. lol

I'll visit the nutrition threads and see what's been written there.

Again, much thanks. This would be so much harder without this forum. Like having a cheat sheet for biking!!!