My latest obsession...

No, it's not a new "craft" rather it's an activity.  I've wanted to get back into bicycling for ages. So, when my husband and I were at a bike shop getting a bicycle packed up so we can ship it to our son in South Dakota- well I started checking out the bikes there. You see, I'd gotten hooked on watching the Tour de France and knew pretty much which bike companies bicycles I wanted to take for a test drive. It was down to 3; Trek, Specialized and Cannondale. I left with a new bike helmet and a new bike. What did I buy? I got the work bike by Specialized and I love it! Here's a picture of my new bike

I also happened to have bought myself something else that I've wanted for quite some time...a Nantucket Bike Basket.

Needless to say, I took BOTH with me on a recent trip to Martha's Vineyard. All 3 of us (myself, my husband and daughter) road all over the place on our bikes and had a blast! I want to ride and explore the area in which I live on my bicycle! Now unlike riding in California, around here there aren't any designated bike lanes. There are loads of bicycle enthusiasts out here. I'm excited to say that I see a great number of bike teams riding around in our area. I'm working on my endurance levels and bike riding makes me feel good about myself.

Okay now for the funny side (with me there's always a funny side)...I'm a skirt wearing kind of girl, everyone knows that. Alas if there's one thing I know, it's not to wear a skirt while riding a bike. I did wear one on our trip to the bike shop and even while taking a bike for a test drive- that was a hoot! I kept worrying about flashing my panties to everyone in the bike shop (talk about a laugh out loud moment). I didn't realize that I was getting myself a bike that day. So any way I need to finish this to make you see the funny side of things and have you laughing with me...
I'm on Martha's Vineyard riding my bike with my family in tow. My saddle (that's the bike seat) was just a little out of adjustment and yes it felt off (I thought I'd just ride through it). Heck after crashing my bike and landing in a gravel filled ditch ( yes, I was scraped up and bruised up), having my saddle feel a little off was nothing! Apparently it wasn't just nothing. I ended up with bruises on the inside of my right though like no one knows and a very sore crotch! Those bruises were the ugliest scariest looking things I'd ever seen! I had to go to the gym and work out and every single person there who looked at me grimaced when they saw my leg. Okay lessons learned- 1-no you just can't pedal through it and 2- I need to wear padded bike shorts.  Alright now for the laughter part- Unless you are model skinny and even then, bike shorts are not a good look as they do hug every curve! And lets face it, we women are curvy. You've got to have a lot of confidence in order to feel comfortable walking around in padded bike shorts and I'll admit it right now, I'm not feeling that confident with having people look at me while wearing them. Now, unless you are a professional cyclist and you happen to be say...Lance Armstrong, Christian Vande Velde, Tommy Danielson, or Tyler Farrar, well then by all means please do walk around in those bike shorts ;-) Now where was I going with this? Oh yeah...I'm not about to go out and about in said bike shorts (did I mention that they have a padded crotch/seat in them? As if I need to have that shown to the public eye) and that's when I discovered something super cool- there are some companies out there that make skirts to go over said bike shorts! So I ordered myself some swanky bike riding apparel! Once it all gets here, well then I will get my daughter to take some pictures of me sporting said apparel! No more will I suffer with having a sore crotch or bruised thighs when going on long bike rides for me! There,  I know I just made you laugh! Trust me the more I think about it the more I laugh!