Is it possible to look feminine and to drive a bike?

[Crankin]

Duck, the only thing I buy in Europe is SHOES. Especially those casual type shoes that you wear instead of sneakers. I have 3 pairs now and i always get stopped and asked where I got them. When i say "Vienna" people look at me like I'm nuts. I've seen some of these in Boston, but they are hugely expensive.

It's almost time for me to travel again. Need more shoes!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

iFKA,
I just wanted to say your English is very very good! And the very few little language mistakes you make are cute. But one thing you probably should know for writing in a bike forum is that in english we "ride" our bikes, we don't "drive" them. Just like you say when riding horses. We ride our bikes, we go bike riding, and we go for bike rides. But we drive our cars. Hope you don't mind, I'm just trying to help.

[Blueberry]

iFKA,
I just wanted to say your English is very very good! And the very few little language mistakes you make are cute. But one thing you probably should know for writing in a bike forum is that in english we "ride" our bikes, we don't "drive" them. Just like you say when riding horses. We ride our bikes, we go bike riding, and we go for bike rides. But we drive our cars. Hope you don't mind, I'm just trying to help.

Hee Hee I *like* to say I drive my bike - means I have the same rights/responsibilities as cars (unlike the fellow who blew through a stop sign I stopped at meaning I had to pass him twice on my auto commute this am - yes, it's OK - but it may annoy other drivers who will then take it out on me when I ride my bike)

[Point understood Lisa - I just thought it was funny that it happened to be a grammatical construction I intentionally use ]

[mimitabby]

more to the point, that's the title of this thread, driving a bike!! I cringed
and now someone in Croatia thinks we talk like this??!?! Do we??

[Dianyla]

I seem to recall having heard some people (British, perhaps?) refer to driving a bike as well. Since the OP is in Europe and presumably learned British English, this may be what she was taught.

[ridethewind]

When I first saw the title of the thread, I thought she was talking about motorcycles.

[Wahine]

I seem to recall having heard some people (British, perhaps?) refer to driving a bike as well. Since the OP is in Europe and presumably learned British English, this may be what she was taught.

I think you're right Dianyla, I seem to recall that European English does sometimes use the verb to drive to refer to riding a bike and being in Europe, this is likely what iFKA learned. i love the little differences between European English and American English, (us Canadians are stuck in between). I want to live in a flat and take the tram.

[velogirl]

When I tour, I have a few little things that I bring to make me feel "pretty" off the bike. First, I live in skirts. If I'm wearing tight lycra all day long, I want to "breathe" when I'm off the bike. Skirts are definitely feminine. I also bring along a scented hand creme. Not something super perfumey, but rather a more musky, sensual scent. This keeps my hands feeling smooth and soft and also gives me just a tiny touch of feminine scent -- so subtle you'd have to kiss my hands to smell it.

I also have very long hair. It's very fine but I have a ton of it. I have to wear it in a ponytail with multiple ties down the entire length of the ponytail or it will get very knotty. But the nice thing is that I sweat, and my hair is almost always wet, so I can just take the ties out, finger my hair, and it looks great in minutes. And sweat is salty, so it makes your hair look thicker.

[Bron]

I seem to recall having heard some people (British, perhaps?) refer to driving a bike as well. Since the OP is in Europe and presumably learned British English, this may be what she was taught.

No, sorry, we ride our bikes in Britain too.
However, I know in German you "drive" a bike - radfahren - in the same way that you drive a car - autofahren.

As for the looking feminine when cycling, I'm another one with long very curly hair and I always put it into plaits when I cycle which stops it getting tangled.

Nobody has mentioned a buff so far - great for keeping hair in order or covering it up when it gets a bit messy.

Bron

[iFKA]

As for the looking feminine when cycling, I'm another one with long very curly hair and I always put it into plaits when I cycle which stops it getting tangled.

Nobody has mentioned a buff so far - great for keeping hair in order or covering it up when it gets a bit messy.

Bron

Plaits... that idea never crossed my mind. I like it but it's very expensive. I have to pay over 150 dollars. agh... no more going out for me...

I stopped learning English 5 years ago, and for the last two I'm learning German, so I guess that confused me. Although, I must admit, I got used to the term "driving a bike" that now sounds so normal to me, especially cause in my language we use the same word for bike, or car or motorcycle and that word is "driving".

Hope you don't mind, I'm just trying to help.

of course not, I like this site cause it not all about bikes, I can learn something more about your language, culture, opinions, relationship ... and bikes

[Bron]

[QUOTE=iFKA;164252]Plaits... that idea never crossed my mind. I like it but it's very expensive. I have to pay over 150 dollars. agh... no more going out for me...
/QUOTE]

Opps, another language error here. When I said plaits, I just meant the sort you do yourself, what are they called in US English? Braids? (In German "Zopf")

So many differences and people think that it's the same language...

Bron

[iFKA]

All your advices are great, and some of them I've tried before. I just forgot to say that we ride (not drive) our bikes along the coast so we swim in the sea everyday, and there aren't showers on every beach. And the main problem is the salt that greese my hair.
You helped me finding the solution. I think I'll cut my hail a little bit, and make a hair party I'll persuade my friends to make me plaits (each one for 1/2 an hour ) and I'll try to find some small samples of hair balsam.

I have question for European divers...
could you recommend me some not-so-expensive web site that has women bike clothes. Here I can't find myself a normal short-sleeve shirt that looks "girly" I buy myself small sizes of "man-shirts". I think, no one in our stores ever heard of bike skirt TE has great things but the postage costs are quite big cause I'm over the ocean. I'm waiting to finish my colleage and to get a permanent job, and than I'll afford myself cute TE things.

[Bron]

I know the problem with ordering clothes from the US. Not only postage costs, but customs too.

The following shops are not as good as TE (how could they be?), but they have the advantage of being in Europe and most of them have sales on at the moment (cycling clothing can get quite expensive):

Fit in style: http://www.fitinstyle.de/ this is German but they import a lot of their clothing from the US and Italy.

Girls run too: http://www.girlsruntoo.co.uk British site for all sports

The minx: http://www.minx-girl.com/ another British site

also if you are ever in Germany, the Karstadt chain usually stock some good clothing including their own range which is cheaper than a lot of brands and still good quality.

I hope this helps.

Bron

[caligurl]

[QUOTE=Bron;164256]

Plaits... that idea never crossed my mind. I like it but it's very expensive. I have to pay over 150 dollars. agh... no more going out for me...
/QUOTE]

Opps, another language error here. When I said plaits, I just meant the sort you do yourself, what are they called in US English? Braids? (In German "Zopf")

So many differences and people think that it's the same language...

Bron

yes... braids... but now i'm curious... what are these plaits that cost 150 dollars? yikes!!!!!

[mimitabby]

[QUOTE=caligurl;164312]

yes... braids... but now i'm curious... what are these plaits that cost 150 dollars? yikes!!!!!

maybe she means like african braids; dozens of them on your head?