Biking Outing
We had planned on being lazy today, maybe do a bit of cleaning, some yard work and laundry.
Then around 11am I got the IM from Musevia asking if we wanted to go biking. My first inclination was to say no. My Weather.com icon in the systray was registering 81, my kitchen required additional cleaning… Then I thought nah, let’s get out of the house. B&E came down to our house and we biked over to Vilas Zoo (a very pleasant ride); saw some very hot, sleepy, lazy animals; established that yelling “ca-caw” does not entice a peacock to show his beautiful plumage; put Adam on the carousel for one ride and headed home.
Here’s the really weird thing: We biked just under 5 miles and I was neither tired nor in pain for any portion of the ride. Whenever I bike or walk on the Monona bike path I have a terrible time. Something about that path makes my legs ache — I’m convinced it’s a combination of the sloping angle that leaves one leg discernibly higher than the other and the wind that blows across the lake and the bay. Is that crazy? Am I totally imagining this?
Bah!
So I’m the only one whose butt hurts? Every time I bike my “seat bones” (sit bones?) hurt like hell. I know from experience during summers when I could not yet drive that this goes away with regular riding. Now that I can drive, I’m no longer a regular rider. It’s sad, I know. If you see me sort of shifting around uncomfortably when I’m riding, that’s why. Maybe I need a cushy seat cover…
Maybe these short rides are the way to build up that tolerance. I think when we would go 12 miles on the towpath in OH is when I’d hurt the worst, just from balancing all my weight on those bones for a couple of hours straight. Today it felt like we might have been on our bikes for 40 minutes total.
B doesn’t seem to know what I’m talking about when I complain about this particular pain. Is it worse for women?
I get that too.
I don’t have any men vs. women data, but it does happen to me too. I usually don’t bike during the colder months, and every spring after my first few rides I get what feels a bit like bruising on my “seat bones.”
It almost feels like I develop calluses there, because usually by about the third ride or so it doesn’t bother me. As long as I ride at least once every 10-14 days, I don’t have problems until the next spring.
A few years ago I even bought a new seat that had a gel insert — but I still experienced that same ache in the spring.
Ok... that makes sense
I guess I just need to toughen up and get out every 10-14 days as you say. Our neighborhood here is pretty nice and flat, so I might be able to do that. Warm weather isn’t going to be here for long, though.
When we lived in Cleveland I wouldn’t ride around our neighborhood for fear of traffic and personal safety. We’d have to drive 30 minutes to a nice flat path. Here I have fewer fears.