Thursday, August 1, 2013

Moving to bib shorts

Anyone who has thought about trying a pair of bibs I say go for it. I recently needed a new pair of shorts and pulled the trigger on a pair of Cannondale bibs on The Clymb. Since they were only $50, I figured I wasn’t putting that much money at risk.

I’ve now been out on 4 or 5 rides in them and I love them. As a bit of background, here in Phoenix it’s very hot (duh!) and you can get very sweaty. Riding a lot combined with lots of sweat and a chamois that can move around a bit is a recipe for saddle sores, and I’ll admit that I started having problems in that area. The bibs seem to really hold the chamois firmly in place and prevent it from moving which in turn prevents the skin abrasion that can give bacteria which cause saddle sores a foothold. It may also be that my new bibs have a better chamois than my shorts, but whatever the case, the issues I was having seem to be solved and my butt has never been happier.

It took about 1 ride to get used them, and now I find them more comfortable than my regular shorts. This is because they don’t roll down in the front because of my gut. It was weird the first day because I felt the bib on my stomach as well as my HR strap and my brain seemed to put those two together making me feel like the bibs went up to my sternum. That weird feeling went away after the first ride.

Anyway, if you’ve never tried bibs I would say go for it; you may never go back to regular shorts again.