Learning and Shopping

After trying out the Trek bike last weekend, I've been doing some research on bikes. I leave the technical stuff to Pete. (Big surprise there!) He does the best he can to simplify it and help me understand the benefit, or the difference between bikes. Pete mentioned Terry bikes to me. Their web site is a bit frustrating, but if you can find where you want to be, there is some good information on there. They actually have a video on designing a woman's bike for a shorter woman and the challenges that comes with that. It all makes sense when you think about it, but it's a lot more geometry than I usually like to think about. It shows me how much work they've put into designing a good bike for a shorter woman though.

While doing my online research, I decided to finally research plus size padded shorts. What better company to start with than with the company that made my summer jersey? Would you believe they have recently launched their plus size clothing. They actually did research into the different body shape for a plus size woman and how that would adjust the padding in the shorts. Shebeest took it a step further and developed a special chamois elastic fabric for the plus size clothing.

According to the Terry Bikes web site, there is one store in Texas that carries their bikes. Since we were going to Houston this weekend, we figured it was a perfect opportunity to take a look at the bikes in person. Pete looked up stores in the Houston area that carry Shebeest and mapped out our route for Saturday.

Our first stop, after a healthy Jamba Juice breakfast, is REI. I'm familiar with the chain from Seattle, and I don't have high hopes of them carrying plus size cycling shorts, but it's worth a check. No luck in the shorts, but they did have a great variety of Camelbaks. It gave me an opportunity to try on the 3 liter size in a woman's fit. It really is more comfortable on my back than Pete's (which I've been stealing this week.)

The next stop is an older store front and mom 'n pop type shop. I figured they would not have the plus size line either, but we were here, so it was worth looking. The guy was helpful and pointed me towards the right racks and directed me to the fitting room if I needed it. He actually had the shorts I was looking for in stock. On top of that, he had my size shorts in stock in the Trek line of shorts too. The Trek shorts were half the price, and the padding looked thin and poorly constructed. I'm not skimping on the shorts! The Shebeest shorts, he only had the one size and I wasn't sure if it really was the right fit, or not. The padding seemed awfully far forward, and when you're sitting on your butt, I'm not sure the padding was positioned correctly on me, which could mean I need a different size.

Onward, we are now on our way to the Terry bike dealer. When we arrive at the address, we're in the middle of an industrial park and there is no sign for the store. Around back, we see two small trucks/vans with the store name on them. We realize this is probably a regional warehouse for the chain and not a retail store. After a brief lunch break, we head to one of the stores and are told they can get a Terry bike for us, but they don't stock any. Well shoot! The whole point was to see one in person, stand over it, and maybe even go for a test ride. I'm not ordering a bike to be delivered to Houston.

Our final stop is another local shop, but seems to be well-known in the Bike MS community. It could have something to do with their store being across the street from the main start location for the Houston event. The guy who offered to help us was great and knew exactly what I wanted. He acknowledged that it's a popular line and their stock is low on Shebeest right now. He went in the back and sadly they were out, but an order had just been placed and was expected within the next two weeks.

That was it for our shopping excursion in Houston. Shopped the morning away and we were headed home without test riding a bike and without any shorts. Of course, now it occurs to me, I got my jersey at Bike World, but I never even looked at their shorts. They may have them in stock, if not, they can order them for me too. I completely forgot about it because I did all my research online. Hmm... maybe I'll have them order the Camelbak too.

Now I have to decide if it's worth the trial order of Terry bike, or if I should stick with a Trek bike that I've tried. Think I'll go for another test ride of the Trek bike first, at least.

Goals
Today's Miles: 0
Total Miles Achieved: 183.7
Financial Investment: $863.55
Total Weight Loss: 0