Thread Take OVER: Sweat today, Smile tomorrow!

Bike Nashbar is local to me. We've several friends who work there. They put our bikes together.

The padded shorts don't really make a huge difference for him -- his seat is from schwinn, I think. It has a cut out for the tail bone. I actually find it TOO padded.

I really think it's how my husband is built. He is all muscle with very little fat. He's 5'10 and weighs 150-155 soaking wet with cement shoes on. LOL. He was/is a soccer player all through HS and college -- and a runner.

Frankly, I like biking just David John and I. It's alone time where he can tell me all his little secrets and fears.

I'm "tapering" for my big bike ride, so nothing huge for the rest of the week. I rode 33mi on Sunday and took yesterday as a rest day. Today, Wednesday, and Thursday will be 30 min on the spin bike.

I'm super excited for RAGBRAI! Assuming I'm able to do the whole thing, it'll be 215mi in 3 days, plus 10 - 15mi for a warmup ride the day before.

That sounds amazing, Julie! I am up to 32 km per one ride on my bike (that's just under 20 miles). I want to work myself up to being able to do 50 km per single ride (about 31 miles). I have a big heavy Townie by Electra and she's super comfy but not fast, so it would take me several hours to do 50 km, but I plan on getting there, lol. My bike ride the other day was so hilly I thought I'd die, lol. I made it up about half the hills on my bike, but had to walk the bike both up and down the other hills because they were so windy and steep, and narrow. I wimped out. I'm going to avoid that long hilly trail from now on and stick to the roads for a bit.

32km is a big deal-- go you for being able to ride that far!! Especially when there are hills, you get bonus points for those, even if you need to walk!

The best rides are nice and long, I think. I like to make an afternoon of it and stop every 45 minutes or so for a snack. You'll hit a half-century (50km) in no time!

Thank you, Julie!

I agree; I love long rides. They're all long rides for me as I'm still so slow (I can only do about 10 km per hour). I stop often to take photos, and I usually bring a cheese string and pepperette and some fruit for meals along the way. I have a big basket at the back of my bike and it holds my cooler bag, a lined picnic blanket, and my book perfectly with room for lots more stuff should i need it.

I bought panniers too, and will be using them for the first time tomorrow, I think, when I go on my first overnight bike camping trip, weather permitting. Super excited about that. I just hope the weather holds. I don't want to go if it rains as I haven't sealed my tent yet, lol.

Do you track your cycling at all? If you use an app like MapMyRide or Strava, it'll run GPS while you ride, and then you can get reports on speed, distance, that sort of thing. I've found it's super motivating to be able to see how you improve from week to week-- even if you don't go further, you might still go faster!

Your setup sounds fabulous! So jealous that you can go bike camping, that sounds like a blast but it's far too hot to do that here.

I use map my ride but don't pause it for breaks any more because when I do, I always forget to turn it back on again, so my timing is super slow as it includes all of my breaks.

I'm lucky where I live because it doesn't usually get too super hot, but we have long winters with lots of snow so our riding season is pretty short. We consider 80 F hot here, lol. If it gets into the 90's, everyone complains, so I don't know how people deal with temps in the 100's. I can bike ride if it's 90 F or less; warmer than that and my asthma is triggered to much (we get lots of humidity here).

Here's my bike:

If you go into the settings in MapMyRide, there's an "auto pause" feature. It'll pause tracking when it sees that you're not moving, and turn back on again automatically when you get moving. It's super helpful!

And ohmygosh, your bike is ADORABLE! Cruiser bikes are so darned cute, I bet it's a ton of fun to ride :)

Thank you sooo much; that is super helpful to know.

I fell in love with the bike as soon as I saw her, lol. She's super comfy and I love riding upright (my old mountain bike hurt my neck and back awfully). The only downside is it's a slow bike; I was faster on my mountain bike, lol.

Who cares if you're slow? You're riding in circles around everybody who's at home sitting on the couch ;)