On the mend - bibs that is

I bought a pair of bib shorts on a post Thanksgiving Day sale last year. They have almost made be a bike snob. I have worn them extensively for about 10 months. I would wager that they have seen thousands of miles. However, they have developed a small hole where the leg meets the chamois. I started to notice it about a month ago. It still used the bibs on the trainer.

I wore them on a group ride a couple of weeks ago and someone pointed out the small hole. Not wanting to be that guy I decided that I needed to take action. I went to the fabric store last week looking for an iron on patch. At first all I could find was decorative patches. I picked out a penguin at first but I then I would the denim type patches. Right next to them was a black nylon type iron on fabric.

The follow pictures show the procedure. I will report back in a week or so on how the patch holds up.

The hole in question.

The hole once again.

What the rider behind me saw.  Or the behind that they saw.

The iron on fabric.

The patch.

Ironing.

The mended hole.

To be honest the patch started to peel almost instantly.  I pulled out some rubber cement from my inner tube patch kit and gooped it up.  I will report back after I wear them again.

Speaking of being on the mend - I did take it easy Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week. I had two very good rides this past weekend and a satisfactory ride. On Saturday there was a small group of us. My friend had a new bike and it started to shift sporadically during the ride. We were on a hilly section and he only had the hardest 3 gears. The chain was jumping out of the higher gears when he went to apply power. Out of sympathy and to build strength I decided to tackle the rest of the ride in my hardest gear. It was very difficult. You see, I am a spinner not a masher. I do not have the leg strength. This workout was very valuable. My legs burned from the exertion. I need to incorporate this workout on a regular basis. This will make me a stronger rider.

On Sunday I did an easy 6 mile run. It was uneventful. The run was hot and humid but successful.

The Sunday afternoon ride was also successful. My friend had his shifting all sorted out. After Sumrall we had a pretty aggressive ride through the country side. I was feeling pretty strong and attacked a couple of times and chased down a couple of attacks. It was a good time.  All in all I ran 100 miles and ran 6 miles.  A little light on the running but the cycling was solid!