Coeur Shorts Review

Due to my Ms Susie saga I found myself in the market for some new shorts and I decided this time I need to spend a bit of money to get some very nice shorts. Coeur was a brand highly recommend by the Ironwilled Women Who Tri group as well as other women on several boards I frequent so they seemed like a logical choice.

I ordered the cycling shorts in the Supernova design and when they arrived the first thing I noticed was the quality of the fabric.  They were very soft and shiny, I was excited to test them during my hour spin session.  Once I got them on the first thing I noticed is they were quite short although I am all leg so on someone of normal height they might be the perfect length.  The big issue is that there were no grips around the leg openings and when I started to cycle the already short shorts rode up on each leg. I ended up trying to pull them down while riding and I have no idea how I could manage them on a long ride.

The chamois is very nice and I really like that it goes all the way to the legs and is seamless but for the price paid I was extremely disappointed.  I will be returning this pair, however someone mentioned that the tri shorts do have the grips so I have ordered a pair to test out.

The saga of Ms Susie

Now that I have aero bars on my new bike I have run into quite the issue while doing longer rides.  PAIN.  I'm not talking a little bit of pain, I'm talking raw, chaffing, extreme pressure.  Ms Susie is NOT happy and if Ms Susie ain't happy, ain't no one happy.  I began the search to find a solution to this issue a few weeks ago to no avail.

Last weekend during my 70 miler I came to a completely breaking point, during part of the ride I couldn't even sit in the seat it hurt so badly. After sitting with some frozen peas I decided I needed to take immediate action to ensure that I was able to complete my Century Ride this weekend.

I realized that my kit shorts were feeling pretty baggy which means they tend to shift and bunch a lot while I am riding, I think I shouldn't have ordered mediums on top of the fact I have lost weight/body fat recently.  On a few trainer rides I tried other shorts I bought last year but nothing was able to fix the pressure.  I ended up ordering bike shorts from Coeur because they were highly recommended on several boards. Another friend suggested Fushion shorts and I ordered a pair of those too.

I also read up online about seats including a very informative article on the Cobb Cycling site that I HIGHLY recommend for anyone having issues.

http://www.cobbcycling.com/articles/Innie_Or_Outie

Their female fit specialist is extremely responsive and I ended up rush ordering a Plus seat. My bike mechanic, other wise known as Z was able to watch several online videos and we got the seat all set up.  I did a very short spin on it and I think it will be MUCH better for my ride.  The opening in the seat is very much at the right spot and I felt that I could get fully down into aero without any pressure or pain.