Whoooooeeee am I slacking.....

Have I really been off of this thing since OCTOBER?!  Hard to believe that considering that this ride consumes most of my thoughts every day. And I am ever so sorry to leave you hanging with a vagina seat teaser. How could I?

A lot of gear has been purchased, and Santa was super good to us so I have lots of fun things to update you on...but first things first....as promised, The Vagina Seat.

This magical seat is actually called the "Terry Liberator X Gel".

Here's the deal...I value my hoo ha. I enjoy having feeling in it. I recognize that it was not meant to endure pressure for long periods of time. It's my delicate girlie flower...and who wants to crush their girlie flower? (girlie flower is really hard to type with a straight face)

Anyway,

Your body makes contact with the saddle (seat) at three points: Points one and two are your sit bones. The third point is the soft-tissue between your legs. Whereas sit bones are designed to withstand body weight and pressure, the soft-tissue of your genitalia is not. During long rides, the pressure exerted on soft-tissue can cause painful skin irritation and constrict blood flow. This can deaden the nerves.

Thanks Doc. Wait...DEADEN THE NERVES?

Yes. Deaden the nerves.

Okay. GULP.Go on...

The more stretched out you are on your bike, the more pressure you put on your soft-tissue and the greater the possibility of sexual health problems. The study found that a cyclist riding a bike with her body at 30 degrees to the horizontal can experience as much as 70% reduction in the blood supply to the genitals.

Yikes.

Guess what ladies? The number one thing you can do to avoid this is to get a seat that is right for you. (there are other things that help too.  We will chat more later.)

The Liberator is made with all of those scary warnings in mind.  First of all, the rear of the seat is wider because we of course have hips. The wider back provides extra support to keep more pressure off of your soft tissue. The cut out down the middle helps to relieve pressure as well and allows for air flow. It also has a nice cushy gel inside, and a leather cover that doesn't sweat which will prevent friction and irritation.
Here it is... 

So, turns out the Liberator is in fact, liberating.  We can all rest easy and continue to "ride it and love it"...

*Blush*

The men folk have it a lot worse by the way. This sort of a ride can cause impotence and erectile dysfunction....

Hey.

Wait a minute.

Wes

Heed! Pahnts! Nau!

Sorry to have left you for so long my stylish pedaling minions.  Er. I mean. The few friends who have actually read this thing.

So, once my bike was purchased I decided the next important step was to protect my HEED! (Or, if you are not a KFC loving Scotsman, my "head".)

I started scoping  helmet pricing online, then took a trip to REI with the boyfriend to try some on. After trying a couple of options he said "What do you think?"

"I don't know, I need to look in a mirror."

"I don't think you want to do that."

That last sassy comment was overheard by a random lady who promptly hated my boyfriend's face and took me under her wing to explain the nuances of ladies helmets.  She clearly didn't understand our sense of humor.

IE...  "She looks ADORABLE!" (glare)

Anyway, random angry lady directed me to a helmet model made by Giro called "Skyla" which is made specifically for women and comes in smaller sizes.  It even has a spot for your ponytail.  I liked them, but wanted to do a bit more research before committing.

I was drawn to this helmet...

because it made me laugh, but unfortunately it would be WAY too warm on the ride.  The melon humor would probably wear off in a hurry too. If you love it, it is made by a company called "Nutcase" which is pretty much awesome in itself.

So I continued to look online and based on the pricing and reviews decided that the Skyla was really my best bet. I now of course had to pick the cutest one.  There was a turquoise and white that didn't quite feel like me, and a black and gold that was cool. But, word on the street is that the black option isn't great if you bike a lot because lighter colors give you better visibility. Fair enough.

  

I picked this one ...

When I first saw it I thought it may be just a touch too, um, pink, for such a beefy excursion.  I felt way better after seeing lots of ladies biking around town with it.  Up close it's flowery and pink, but seeing it on the road it just looks well balanced and cool- literally and figuratively.  It has a knob on the back to make sure you get a balanced fit, and it has 20 vents to keep your gargantuan cranium cool. OH and the visor piece snaps off  in case I ever have the desire to feel a little less nerdy.

What I was really hoping for was to find some unique online shop that specialized in custom airbrushing on helmets or something....but let's face it. I'm on a budget anyway. This helmet was around 40 bones and will be more than adequate for the ride. (but if you know of some fun custom site let me know. Buyers remorse is fun.)

Next time, TALES OF THE VAGINA SEAT.

Intrigued, no?

Wes

First things first.

So, let's start at the very beginning.  (a verry good plaaace to staaaart... Name that show tune!)

To go on a long ass bike ride, you need a bike.

I'm a fast learner.

As mentioned before, I haven't owned a bike since the early 90's.  I have certainly wanted one,  but it never quite made it into my struggling budget.

And, as mentioned before, my lovahhh has been a total stud about researching the necessities for this trip.  He found what he declared to be a screaming deal and the perfect bike for me on E Bay.  Before purchasing it we had to make sure it was the right size,  so we headed over to a bike shop to stand over the same bike and figure it out.

I am all of 5 ft 3 inches tall.  The rule of thumb when you stand over a bike to size it is that you should have about a half inch to an inch of clearance between the cross bar and your crotch.  Fun fact from the BF:  A mountain bike should have more like 2 inches clearance because you may be standing on more uneven terrain when you hop off the pedals.  We don't need to be nutting ourselves now do we ladies? No. We don't.

So, anyway...  we got to the bike shop and I stood over the same kind of  bike that was posted on E Bay. I felt like I was getting intimate with the cross bar. It was right up in my business. I took the bike for a spin around the block, then tried the next smaller size.  The smaller one definitely gave my hoo ha more dance space (this is my dance space, this is your dance space. Let's cha cha)  So I declared the smaller bike to be the winner.

The BF was skeptical. Are you suuuuure the other one won't work?  I told him that I didn't want to choose my bike just because it was a cheap deal, and then end up miserable on it for a year and a half.

He pointed out that I was wearing flats, and maybe I would feel better on the bike if I  as wearing shoes that I would normally wear on a ride.

Logical. Okay. Compromise.  I told him I would head to the bike shop by myself the next day and try it out again. 

I did just that and lo and behold, the first bike DID feel much better!  I asked the awesome bike shop dude (who was rocking a killer red bushy goatee beard look) about a zillion questions about the bike and finally decided that this was the one for me.  It worked out well, because if this bike ends up being wrong I can hate his beardy face instead of the BF's.  Isn't compromise swell?

Next step was for the BF to sign into the bidding war on E Bay.  I thought he would love it since he is competitive like me. Instead he was so stressed he almost threw up.  We learn a little something about each other every day. It's special.

Anyway. HE WON!  Wanna see it?

OOOOH.

It's called a "Surly Long Haul Trucker"

Could that name get any better?

Here are the specs:

- Bike size 46 centimeters.  In layman's terms....that is the distance between the top bar (where it meets the seat post) and right where the pedal is sticking out of the gear. Got it? Okay.

- Tubus cargo 26 inch rear rack (we'll chat more on this and the rest of the "gear" included later)

- Ortlieb Ultimate 5 Plus Handlebar bag

- One pair Ortlieb Back Roller Plus panniers

- SKS P65 26" Fenders

- Rear 4 D fender Toplight

-Schwalbe Marathon Supreme Tires 26X2 Kevlar bead.  (Here's the deal people, if you are planning on riding out of the country, 26 inch tires are the most universal. If you get some other size you may have trouble getting repairs done in some crazy part of the world.)

-Shimano Pedals PD- M24 LE (SPD on one side, platforms on the other)  I have no idea what this means, but I will, then I will tell you!

Isn't learning fun?

You know what? If I continue on this list it is going to be the worlds longest single post. I'm going to break this all down later.  We learned about bike sizing today.  That's a good start.

You may also be curious about the cost of the bike.  We got this bike and all the fixin's for about $1200.  This WAS an amazing deal.  Just the bike without the upgrades and gear would typically be about $1000.  The BF scours various sites daily for bike stuff. He is still looking for his bike for the ride. In case you are curious, "Jaxed"  http://www.jaxed.com/  is a search engine he uses to dig through everything on E Bay and Craigslist and one other site. He just plugs in the name of the bike he is looking for and it pulls up matches. Give it a shot!

I will leave you with one last bit of information...

This is in reference to tire size.  The Surly does not mean to offend.

-Wes

What's up with this?

I met my boyfriend just over 2 years ago.  On about our third conversation we were having one of those amazing tangential phone marathons and at one point he said "Wanna ride a bike with me from Alaska to Argentina?"  "Suuuure." I laughed into the phone, not knowing him the way I do now.

Fast forward to today, and yep. We're doing it.  In just under a year from now.  The boyfriend (who I have to find a nice code name for) has been amazing about researching the gear we will need, and the best routes to take.  I like reading up too, but it's hard to find where to start.  I mean let's be honest, prior to a couple of months ago my last bike was a high schoool 10 speed and that was (GULP) almost 15 years ago. AND...here's the other thing, and the ultimate reason for this blog...

There just isn't a lot of info out there for girls who want ot do a bad ass bike tour and still feel at least a LITTLE like a girl.  I have all this stuff bouncing around in my head...what do I do for birth control?!  What about when Flo checks in? WHAT ABOUT BODY HAIR?!  Bottom line is, the ladies who I have read about are total studs and super efficient and I admire that to no end. 

I cannot have hairy legs and armpits.

Maybe a few hundred miles in I will feel differently, but today I'm coveting my razor. Don't judge me.

So my goal here is to let you know what I find and hopefully learn as much from you as I can as well.  Ideas and resources are very welcome!

And, the Pedal Pushers name. I know know.  Doesn't seem very creative right?  Trust me, I wanted to wordsmith the heck out of this thing  call it...I don't know  "I'm On My Cycle" or something....but when I hear "Pedal Pushers "I think of that awesome old photo of Audrey Hepburn on a bike looking all spunky with her legs flying out to the sides.  Pedal Pushers were meant to be functional pants for bike riding, and instead became a super darling fashion craze.  See what I'm getting at here?  I want all of the spunk and adventure and perpetual curiosity, I just want to be able to feel a little good and girly along the way.

So, here we go!  Next time we'll start diving into the gear.  Lator gators,
Wes