The title isn’t as gross as it seems. Then again, maybe it is. There’s this ‘butter’ stuff, and yes, it’s called Chamois BUTT’r. You can get to smear on your … butt … to relieve chaffing and butt-sores. The worst I’ve suffered is a little bootie tenderness (sitting on a new saddle will do that to you) and stiff muscles in the morning, but once I get going, I hardly notice. I had one instance of a Charley Horse from my seat post being too high, but with a massage it went away.
There’s a ton of similar products out there, but the one that really caught my attention was Anti-Monkey Butt Powder. Which I will gleefully accept as a gift from anyone who wants to be amusing.
One thing that worried me about Bike to Work Week was the whole WEEK of biking. I average 3 days a week, weather permitting, right now. At first I was really sore and tired. I’m getting tougher, though, and less tired, but still, I notice what I’m doing. Yesterday was my first day biking in RAIN (and it really was a deluge at about 4pm), and since it was cool (60s) my annoying PVC rain jacket didn’t make me boil. Actually, the wet wasn’t a problem so much as my glasses made it nigh impossible to see. Nothing is quite as fun as rain-blindness. Thankfully I was able to tug my hood over my eyes enough to block the rain, and at the loss of some peripheral vision (made up for by constant shoulder checking), I made it home without issue. My friend Rae offered me a ride home in her car, but I was and am determined to bike every day this week! Rain, sleet or snow!
Ever since blogging about them on Monday, my two bromantic commuters have vanished. Either they read this blog (hi, guys!) or they decided gossiping loudly in front of a 30 something who wears an ‘I’m blogging this.’ shirt is a bad idea. No, I don’t have that shirt. Still, my commute has been nice and quiet, which is fine, because I like to read on the train. Right now I’m reading Kathy Reich’s Deja Dead which is slow going, but interesting. It’s not a sensationalistic book, but almost feels real, which is nice, if disturbing. Of course, reading books about dead people tends to make commuters not want to talk to you, which defeats my purpose of promoting bicycling. Can’t win ’em all.
Our train was seven minutes late today, and I got mounted and ready to go a few minutes after the shuttle bus to my office had departed. To my surprise, I caught up with the bus, passed it, and was all bagged up and ready to get inside at the same time the shuttle riders crossed the street. Go me! I hit about every red light I could on the way there, and nearly plowed into a pedestrian crossing against the red, looking the wrong way on a one-way street. I shouted ‘HEY!’ at him until he looked, and told him to “Open your eyes!” I refrained from adding on the ‘shmuck’ I was thinking.
I’m pretty zippy on the bike, and bagging her up is similarly easy, though I’ve got a weird ‘tear’ bruise on my shoulder from where the bag cuts in. Ce’st la vie! At the halfway point of Bike to Work Week, I feel great. Got a good night’s sleep and everything is coming together. I remain aware of my knee (it’s not happy, but it’s not hurting) and the rest of my body is gradually loosing aches and pains. My legs hardly hurt at all (save the knee), and my upper-body recovered from Sunday’s bowling. Tomorrow will be wet again, but at least I can wear jeans.
The title of this post also comes from Overheard Everywhere:
The Dressing Will Lube My Inner Thighs for the Next Long Ride
Sad dude: The great thing about being a bike courier is that my muscles no longer respond to commands unrelated to bicycling. For instance, I just spilled a Caesar salad all over my pants.via Overheard Everywhere, Aug 21, 2007