Super Annoyance with "Bike Bling"

**Update**
Bike Bling has refunded me 10 bucks for shipping.  Much kudos to Kerry.


I haven't been writing very much lately, and I am sorry about that.  Road riding has been taking a lot of my time, along with birthdays, travel arrangements, valentine's day, etc. 

I have been riding on the road alot lately, as well as spending time on the stationary - since I hate riding at night on the road bike.  I ordered some new tires for the bike:  Michelin krylion carbon tires.  My old ones were looking pretty bad.  Accidentally I got the 700x20mm tires. Whoa, these puppies are thin and were an absolute bitch to put on.  I am amazed the tubes didn't end up with a thousand pinches.

The 'Annoyance' in the title of this post refers to an order I placed with BikeBling on the 23rd.  I purchased a Garmin Edge 500 for 219 (review when I get the thing).  This is a great price.  I have the HRM strap and cadence/speed sensor already from my old Edge 305.  So I pay for the thing and pay 11 bucks for 3 day shipping on the 23rd thinking I should get it by friday.  I get an email back the same day asking if I want it by friday or monday.  I tell him I want it by friday.  Another email later saying that it will cost another 6 bucks but he will ship it the 24th using 2-day, and I will get it Friday.  I think 'great!' 

On the 24th I check my order status and it still says that it is processing.  I check my bank statement and I get charged 6 bucks extra for shipping. Im a little nervous, but you know how these things are - sometimes they ship out and the status doesnt get updated right away.  I get an email the next day - the 25th that it has shipped. I check the email - and it JUST shipped on Thursday 2nd day - to be arriving on Monday.  Great - ordered tuesday, shipped thursday.  I will get it on MONDAY (after my Tour de Cure ride is long over) Get this.  I pay extra money shipping so I could specifically get the item before my ride.  This irks me to no end.

Sometimes it pays to just buy from someone you trust from the internet. I.e: Amazon.

Tour De Cure in Orlando Florida - Update

Looks like I have made my 150 dollar goal with a couple of weeks to spare.  I sent out an email at work, and quite rapidly folks donated.  I work with generous people!  Its funny - I sent an email out to people at my previous employer and got not a single donation.  The moment I send an email out at my current employer?  Goal met.  Im glad I left that place to come here.  Needless to say, I am working hard to get some road miles in.  I rode 65 miles this weekend.  A week and a half is not much time to prepare for a century - if I do indeed make the 250 dollar goal.  Luckily I have been riding pretty consistently for the last year. 

The 60 mile ride should be absolutely no problem, however, 100 miles may pose a bit of a challenge.  I will ride like hell for the next two weeks and take a couple days off before the ride to rest my body. I want to raise as much money as possible, but the 100 miles worries me a little. haha. Whatever, its going to be a pretty flat ride with a group.  My plan is to just find a group where I can suck wheel for a long time, stop and stretch every other rest-stop, and generally take it easy.  I switched seatposts with the mtb - because the mtb seatpost wasnt quite long enough.  So, I need to dial in my position a little. 

They call this 'work'

Tour De Cure in Orlando Florida

Wow, two posts in one day!  I thought this deserved its own post.  The Tour De Cure is going to be ridden in my neck of the woods this month. Id really love to ride in it - but only have 3 weeks to raise 150 bucks.  Here's the deal:  I havent ridden a century in years. However, if I manage to raise 150 bucks I will ride 60 miles.  If I raise 250 bucks - I will ride the full 100 miles.  Please help me raise enough money to ride a hundred miles!

Click here to donate!

Endura Humvee 3/4 shorts and a muddy ride.

Last week I pulled the trigger on some Endura Humvee 3/4 shorts (knickers ?)  These are the 'shorts' that go all the way down to your calf.  I wanted something that would cover my knees and assist with keeping them warm, as well as something that I could wear on casual rides without looking like a spandex warrior.

These are lightweight shorts that come with an internal snap in liner short made entirely in Great Brittain. The liner short is a pretty nice spandex short with a full chamois.

 

They have 4 points where there are 3 little snappy-do's that hook to your outside short.

The material for the interior short is just like any other lycra cycling short you have worn, really.  The exterior short is made of a lightweight ripstop fabric and seems to be double and triple stiched everywhere.  There are articulated knees, meshy fabric behind the knee/calf, and little velcro tabs that let you tighten the cuffs to fit nicely around your calves.

  

There are a bunch of pockets.  There are two back pockets with velcro tabs that are very low on the butt to keep from interfering with the saddle.  This seems to work really well.  I rode with my wallet in one of the pockets and it didnt bug me at all.  Theres a little 'cell phone' pocket with a velcro tab closure, a couple of zippered front pockets and a 'cargo' pocket that you could maybe fit a couple of clif bars in.  Theres also 2 zippered vent pockets and a keyring.

Cellphone Pocket

Key clip

I rode these for about 3.5 hours in a pouring rain on saturday.  They are extremely comfortable.   The inner short is very nice and feels just like a good pair of cross country/road bike lycra shorts (it even has a little endura logo, in case you want to ride with just the inner short).  The pad is substantial, and quite comfortable.  Im thinking that someone who is not used to riding with a chamois would think it is weird, especially since this pad is quite thick.  The articulated knees worked well along with the cuff closures to keep the calves from ballooning out and becoming weird.  

All in all, my ride in Santos was a fairly miserable one.  It was just barely raining for the first hour.  The skies opened and began dumping buckets after that.  I was riding through a good 6 inches of mud and water for most of the way.  

Check out those nasty shorts.  Totally and absolutely soaked, muddy, and pure disgusting.  Hey, they washed up okay.  All of the clean pics from above are from after the ride, and a wash.  I washed them in the washing machine, but would recommend against that.  I noticed some threads loosening already.. (after one wash!)  So - wash them by hand.  I would highly recommend these shorts.  They are comfortable and relatively cheap by comparison.  They can be yours for the low low price of 89.00 from amazon.

Oh and - support me for the Tour de Cure.  Im only riding the 60 mile course, but I need to raise 150 bucks in less than 3 weeks.. Donate!

Sponsor me in the Tour de Cure