Quote Originally Posted by BigDLou
One reason I want to ride is because walking is too slow. I begin feeling very agitated and frustrated, and I tend to overheat. When I was younger I would break into a run for short distances just to move faster, but have never been in very good shape, nor have I ever stuck to any kind of exercise for long. (See my user title.) My theory is that if I'm moving faster AND creating a breeze, I'll feel better about it all. Does this make sense or am I kidding myself?

And those of you with heavy periods -- how do you go commando then?
Hehe! I think walking is too slow too...it seems like you never get anywhere. I like cycling b/c I can cover enough ground to see a bunch of different stuff and people. I also agree that creating the breeze helps. I usually don't realize how much I'm sweating until I get off the bike. I realized that it's not that I don't like to exert myself (well, too much!), but I hate to sweat. It feels icky to me. Hate it running into my eyes. So I'd rather bike, or swim. Motivation for me is hard too...I found bikejournal.com and you can enter your miles and its pretty cool...I can now say that I've gone 165 miles since July 1 (not a lot for some of the ladies here, but for me, it's great). Plus I can look at my log and see how many rides per month I've averaged, my total biking time, etc. It makes me feel good about what I'm doing for myself.

Regarding heavy periods...check out the Diva Cup thread!