HILDEBEAST'S Magnificently Motivational Mentor Group - CLOSED!!!! (Page 23)

Locks of Love.  It's a charity that makes wigs of real hair for kids with cancer....

Have you had a professional fit on your bike?  Just double checking, because I had a similar problem from my seat being in the wrong spot and causing me to push onto the bars too much.  If your fit is good, then go for it with the gloves or try out the recommendation for aerobars (which I also second!).    Good luck!

Joe and Louise hit the nail on the head. I had the same problem (even progressed to cyclist's palsy, which is a little scary when you work with your hands). The main thing that helped was (a) getting a better bike fit, which allowed me to (b) spend 95% of my ride in the aerobars. Definitely keep up the core work- especially things like planks- and I like padded gloves, too. And, your hands probably WILL toughen up a bit, but if you get any numbness after riding, stop immediately and get a better bike fit.

x 1,000 on this one.  I took so long to get in line at my first HM trying to calm my nerves that I barely made it out of the POP when the gun went off, and given that I was already stressing, it definitely made things worse.  Still glad I went because I would have hated to stop while the race was in progress.

Good luck!

Yes gloves will help. I get sore hands on even short rides (read under 20 mins) mainly because I grip the handles so hard (I could see the imprints of the nobbly bits when I did a ride without them the other day) and the gloves definitely help cut this down although right now I'm wearing an el-cheapo pair of weight training gloves rather than bike ones but I'm hoping to rectify that soon

x1001 on all of this. Having a good bike fit is SO worth whatever it costs (my LBS massively discounts the fee for a fit if you buy from them, and didn't even charge me for the fit on my tri bike!) Aerobars are lovely once you get used to riding in them, and gloves certainly help. I'd also recommend doing some core strength work as well-- that'll probably also help: certainly won't hurt!

Speaking of bike fitting, I took my tri-bike to the LBS today for a couple of small tweaks: AMAZING what a difference some seemingly small adjustments can make! Totally worth driving there and back in the snowfall amid crazy drivers to get it done...

Have lovely, safe, and warm weekends, everyone!

Alex

Jen - I thought it'd be something like that

Yeah, so Tammy Turtle had cyclist's palsy and she's a freakin' airline pilot!!!!!  Who has passengers that arrive on her plane leaking S**t!  Scary thought that she is flying the plane and might not be able to feel the controls!!!!  No wonder that man didn't want you to be his pilot!!  Just kidding, but you can throw donuts at me!!

I second the aerobar thing... sooooo much more comfortable.  I started to wear gloves when I had my roadie, but thought about transition time putting them on, and never wore them again.  Now I only wear gloves for warmth, but never for just regular riding.  Can't hurt to try them, and of course everyone is different.  And as well is being OCD about color coordinating, I'm kind of a freak about TAN LINES!!  Bad enough I have the bike short line, but having one so obvious on my wrists?  NEVER! 

Love the new suits Tammy!!  Yes, no worry about color coordinating to tie dye!!  Guess they'll see you at the bottom of the pool if those 3200 yard workouts get to be too much!

Hilde - I take it you don't wear a watch?

Oh and on the color coordination:

I sort of unintentionally did it today

Ok bike and helmet already match - gold and silver bike, silver helmet but the clothes today (of which I usually just grab whatever looks ok to keep wearing) were a pair of black tracksuit pants (lycraish but not too close fitting) with a grey and blue top to them - I'm convinced these are reversible and wear them as such (so I can either have total black or black with other colors) and my blue running top which although it is mainly dark blue has a couple of light blue (maybe a few shades darker than the pants top) accents under the arms.

Now if only I could work out a way to not have all my tops ride up on when I'm riding

Here's a little inspiration (read: kick in the pants) for those of you trying to dig yourselves out of the winter doldrums:

http://angesdrivetotri.blogspot.com/2012/01/its-not-supposed-to-be-easy.html

As someone who likes to stay in her comfort zone, I need a little boot every now and then!

Tammy, that was an awesome read!!  The more training we do NOW, the better we are going to be on race day!! 

Here's a fab tip I picked up over on the regular Triathlon Forum....

http://www.sportsbasement.com/  is having a sale, 20% everything even sale items and they have tri shorts for $20  (that's $16 w/ the discount!!!!)  Go check it out, I'm gonna pick up a few more pairs of tri shorts, you can never have too many, right?!

Thanks for the tip, Hilde! KILLER prices, 20% discount AND free shipping! I needed tri shorts, too- my old ones were loose, and I nearly swam out of them in the one non-wetsuit race I did! I never realized how snug your gear has to be, because I'm always in a wetsuit! Of course, while I was there, I found all kinds of other bargains, but I saved a ton!

Tammy, I LOVE those suits!  Super fun.  Now can someone please elaborate on the sh*t in the pants story?  I keep seeing tidbits about it and I think hearing it would make my day.

Speaking of sh*t, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Hilde's training log entry the other day.  The pool was closed due to diarrhea.  However, I noticed Wilson's response was "The same thing happened to me..."  I really hope there was not more than one pool in America closed "due to diarrhea."  Wow.

Anyway, on a brighter note, our weather is supposed to sneak up towards 50 tomorrow and there is a group ride posted on our Cycling Club's website.  I haven't had the bike out since before my marathon on Nov6, so really hoping the rain holds off and everything works out.  Spin classes are great but I miss those long bike rides.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Ooh, maybe this is my story about a passenger we boarded in Vancouver. Older lady, traveling with her husband. I happened to notice she had her sweater tied around her waist when she got on. Shortly after takeoff, I get a call from the flight attendant that the lady had lost bowel control (BEFORE boarding), and was asking for Immodium and sitting on a stack of newspapers! She also defiled the lav at some point. Ew. By the time she deplaned 2 hours later, there were brown stains on her white sweater. Honestly, would you get on a flight after losing bowel control?? We had to call out the biohazard crews to clean the airplane!

Sadly, this is not the only poopy pants story I have from work, just the one I had the most direct experience with! You work with the public long enough, you see some really nasty sh*t!

loved this, just the kick in the pants i needed!!

Happy weekend, everyone!  It is snowing like crazy here right now, booo!!  Winter is finally here. 

I had my bike fit appointment today.  It went well, took about 90 minutes.  I think Erin was asking about what's involved...  I had to go to the LBS with my bike shorts and shoes.  The guy adjusted the cleats on my shoe to make sure I was clipping in at the proper point on my foot. He had me do some random knee bends and march to see how my legs were angled, etc.  And then he worked his magic on tweaking my pedals, handle bars, stem, seat post...  Oh and I obviously had to pedal a bunch on the trainer so he could make some of these adjustments.  All so that the bike fits me properly to make it comfortable and prevent injury.  The fit was included in my bike purchase, but you can also go there if you purchased your bike elsewhere.  If I do decide to go with clip-on aerobars, I have to go back for another appointment b/c the fit will be much different with aerobars.  Now I REALLY REALLY want to get on my bike and ride it!! 

Thanks Hilde!  I always like a good deal (and free shipping!).  Now I've got a new tri top and shorts for me and for my hubby!

That's probably why I tend not to care about it,lol.