[Sportsandrec] Fashion Statements and Hiking Poles

[Thornbury, Kelly]

Ah, the beloved bike shorts...Makes you feel like you are wearing diapers...To really get into the experience, try "Butt-Butter." Its a cream you rub on your bum (and surrounding areas) to help reduce Chaffing...Really makes you feel like you left something in those diapers. When I rode on the road, I reserved this "trunk junk" for rides over 4 hours or over several days, but wouldn't recommend it necessarily for spinning classes (consideration for the next user of that bike is one reason, and explaining exactly what is all over your shorts is another). Another technique for reducing chaffing is to not wear your "unmentionables." Less modest but effective if you have a chaffing problem. As for the "fashionability" of the shorts, I miss the late 80s and early 90s, where I went through my entire senior year of high school wearing these shorts (we had a mandatory seven class day, so I had five gym classes). I still break out the spandex, but now I usually cover them with a pair of regular cotton gym shorts (I wear the spandex for the compression support they provide). 

The sore bum will get better over the course of a week or two typically, and another helpful hint is to go for the harder, narrower saddle. Counterintuitive I know, but the firmer saddle allows you to rest your weight on your "bum bones" as opposed to "soft tissue" areas, and is overall more supportive. I usually avoid the gel seat covers because the types of saddles I use combined with the way the covers are usually stitched cause chaffing and wear holes in the legs of my shorts. 

Bike shoes are great, an absolute must in my cycle workouts, but I've never been able to talk a spinning instructor into letting me swap out their pedals for mine, and have to stick to using my martial arts shoes for spinning classes (they are light weight, small enough to fit into the toe clips, and stiff enough to help prevent foot discomfort. 

Hiking poles...and I couldn't tell if this was directed at me or not...I use a collapsible ski pole from Leki, with the baskets removed. This allows me to adjust the pole to different hiking terrains and conditions, and I can make it long enough to use as a travel cane to and from the trail head from the car. Leki also makes, or used to make, hiking-specific poles (usually meaning it was sold as a single pole rather than as a set for skiing), and the nicer ones were collapsible and spring loaded to absorb shock. In my opinion the next best thing is probably a folding (rather than a telescopic) cane because if you do have a hard plant it won't collapse. 

Kelly