Look Back Sunday #7: Bodyglide and Clipless Pedals

Another end of the week, Another Look Back Sunday!

A refreshing week, that’s what this past 7 days have been.
After my Indoor Bike Adventure of last week the weather got, let’s not exaggerate, phenomenal. Which gave me the oppertunity to finally get out and try some new stuff. The sun really gives me the energy I need and I can certainly use him in this final 7 weeks of preparation!

To continue I first have to make a confession: I’m stubborn. Not only to other people but also to myself.
For example, last week, after my long run I had terrible chafing under my arms.

So, why don’t you just buy some Bodyglide or Vaseline and try again next time?

Well, you see, triathlon has made me so poor that I have to debate myself for a full week if the purchase of a $15 is really necessary compared to the immense pain that my armpits are in. I seriously hoped that my body would magically adapt and next time it would be immune for chafing. You know, just like the way our muscles adapt to increased training, I had hoped that the same principle would count for chafing. How wrong could I be.

There I was, 1,5 hours into my 2 hour run of this week… and I found out that I wasn’t immune. No, I was in pain, severe pain. The pain that makes running impossible kind of pain. The kind of pain where you just stop moving your arms while running so you look like somebody trying to act huge pain. After pulling through for half an hour while telling myself that I’m a complete idiot for even trying this, I decided that: Yes, the purchase of a $15 dollar Bodyglide stick is indeed necessary.
Mythbusters for idiots.

Onto another revelant topic of this week: Clipless pedals.
For those of you who don’t know what they are: you click you cycling shoes into your pedals so that they don’t get loose. In order to get out of them you have to slightly rotate your foot and then they click loose so you can get of your bike.
Where every normal cyclist has not problem with this mechanism I have proved myself that clipless pedals and me are never going to be friends.
Why?
Because yesterday, on my 100K bike ride, I literally fell over. Not once, not twice but three times.
2 of them happened while I was stopping for a traffic light and one happened when I tried to turn.
Now there is nothing wrong with falling from your bike at a reasonable speed, you know, when you fall at speed you at least have your dignity. You’re a cyclist, you go fast, you fall, that happens.
But the shame you carry on you when you ride a superfast-looking triathlon bike in your brand new, exactly fitting, tri-suit and then FALL OVER because you haven’t yet mastered the art of clicking loose in front of a traffic light, that shame is just immense.
After finishing this Ride of Shame I still had to run.
ooh yeah, had I already told you about the chafing of the day before?
AAAAHH. No, It wasn’t gone, NO NO NO it wasn’t.

Stupidity is a never ending process. let’s conclude with that.

Have a phenomenal week doing what you like and see you at the next blog!