Last night Wheat Ridge Cyclery had a ladies night extravaganza that I went to. It was a great time with wine, stuffed mushrooms and chocolates. Yum! There were tables set up for a ton of different companies, rides, and information about biking in Colorado. As an added bonus, everything was 15% off too! Needless to say I had an amazing time. I got to talk face to face with other female cyclists, something I realized I haven't ever done. I asked every person I saw which saddles and butt cream (technical term) they preferred. I questioned them on hydration choices, gels and powerbars, saddles with cut-outs, saddles without cut outs...you name it, I asked it of pretty much everyone. How much fun is that!? I can imagine you are reading this and thinking, hmmm sounds...fun I guess? BUT from my perspective I haven't had the chance to ask any females these questions really, and it was so nice to be in a huge store filled entirely with women who have figured out how to do long distance rides with relative comfort. I also scored a super sweet pair of shorts that have great padding but don't look like there is a diaper crammed in, and they were on sale for $60 from $130! Woot! In retrospect $60 probably doesn't sound like such a deal, but believe me when I tell you that cycling gear prices could make your jaw drop permanently.
Other then the frantic scrambling to finish all of my gear purchases before June there have been a few momentous endings in my life lately. I turned in my notice to vacate on the 1st, and am starting to gaze wistfully about my little studio and have mentally started packing all my things into boxes that I won't see for almost three months. I've got two weeks left of work, and I've been getting wistful there too. The little bean turned one yesterday and is so close to walking (running) that it's almost scary to think how much she has grown since I've known her! I'll miss her sweet tendencies, unexpected little kisses, ridiculous facial expressions and sleepy eyed snuggles while on the road! I finished the spring semester just one hour ago with a (hopefully) successful chemistry final and am working on securing my schedule for the fall. I am in the process of ordering a sleeping bag and thermarest, both of which I will become quite familiar with in the coming months, and I finally bought a new camera too! We've got "e-mails of the day" coming in now that the countdown has officially begun (36 days), which is a nice way to start the group feeling like a real group and not just a bunch of names on a list. One month from tomorrow is the start of the first leg of my journey: Portland, ME for four and a half days with my big brother and sister to send me off right!
2 comments:
i was thinking about how it would feel differently to talk to women about biking rather than men and so i thought about going to sibley bike depot's women's night like carol consistently said to do. on their website it makes sense, it says something about how women (and transgender people) are kind of marginalized by the general biking culture and how it's important to make those people feel more comfortable. so- it's really cool that they had a whole women's biking thing just for you! i guess you were really mostly talking about the physicality of being a women in terms of what saddles to ride, etc., but i bet it was cool to talk to other women about biking in general, yeah? also- joe and emily are riding with you for the first 4 days? is that right? if so, that's really cool!
you should TOTALLY go to the bike depot for women's night and get your bike all ready for the season. I went with Carol a few times and it was really fun, very laid back and chill. You could meet some bike people too and it would be great! Joe and Em aren't biking along, I am just going to visit them before the orientation on the 11th. i think they are both going to try to make it to San Francisco at the end though, so I am excited for that!!
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