A Variety of Problems Solved

I set out today to remedy all the things I discovered to be lacking yesterday. First, the sippy cup. I found during my ride that I have trouble drinking enough before I have to shift because it's so dang hilly around here, and I don't like having something in my hand while biking in general, other than the handlebars. Clearly, I need a front-loaded straw-delivered water bottle. I don't want to buy a 30-dollar sippy cup, so I have created my own. Craig, you would be proud. It was absolutely free. I took an old "Urge" container from Uni-mart, 32 oz, and shoved it between the aeros. It fits tightly, somewhat crushed in there. I then rubber-banded it to the bars so it doesn't go anywhere. I bought a second cheapo bottle cage for the down-tube, and got a free water bottle thrown in with it from the generous fellas at The Bicycle Shop. Okay, so now I have a 16 oz, a 20 oz, and a 32 oz jug on my bike. Since the 32-ouncer is squashed, it will be somewhat less than 32. Chalk up three pounds of fluid when fully loaded. Since I lost 5 pounds yesterday on the bike, I guess this has to be acceptable.

Next, my shorts situation. Riding in the jammers wasn't fun. So today I tried wearing the jammers first, then a pair of old compression shorts on top of those. Bingo. That gives a little extra padding (about as much as those tri-chamois), and it also allows a little slippage between fabrics. Much better. Felt great, although my quads were weak from yesterday.

The age-old issue, nipple-chafing. I had some bad ones on the run, which I assume started on the bike. I was wearing my race shirt, so that's no good. I have solved this, by shaving some chest hair and buying those tattoo band-aids that don't come off in water. Without my shirt on, it kind of looks like an angry face on my torso, with band-aid eyes, belly-button mouth, and angry chest-hair eyebrows. I am thinking I should just go with it and paint a face on there for the race. Where would I find waterproof body paint?

I didn't mention this previously, but I got a bug in my eye yesterday, and it sucked. I couldn't get it out, and it was burning and preventing it from remaining open. Then another one got stuck in my other eyelash. (Lots of bugs in the woods around here). I was blinking and shaking my head trying to prevent it from getting to the eyeball, which I successfully did, but this experience gave me food for thought. So I bought a pair of shooting glasses today with the yellow lenses that make everything look so pretty, and a Chums glasses-strap to hold them onto my head. Fortunately, I had received a Dick's gift card for my birthday, so those were free too!

Time to test everything. I start riding. Glasses are sweet. No more crying at high speeds. Shorts are great. I've completely forgotten about the nipple problem, because I can't feel a thing. I go to take a sip from my sippy cup...I can't reach the straw! Plus it was splashing out of the air vent. Finished my 8-mile ride and went back to the lab. Straw is longer now, and the splashing problem has been addressed by a non-aerodynamic splash-dampening riser rod. Works like a charm.

I think I'm ready now. If only I could run.