Swimming trunk + running shorts = padded cycling shorts?

Yesterday morning (June 25) I took my HASA road bike out again for another 47 km cycling ride at Guthrie Corridor Expressway Shah Alam after my first ride last Saturday. 

Today I have found myself to be still struggling with gear changing and going downhill. I guess it would take me a while to improve my skills and cycling technique. 

Below is the comparison of my first 2 rides (47 km distance) in terms of speed. June 18 18 ride was with running shorts only. June 25 ride was with running shorts + swimming trunk. :)

June 18:  1st 20.21 km @ 2.46 min/km;   2nd 26.89 km @ 2.35 min/km; total time: 2 hr 05 min

June 25:  1st 19.46 km @ 2.23 min/km;  2nd 27.28 km @ 2.40 min/km; total time: 1 hr 59 min

I'm very happy for the slight improvement in time. But I was totally exhausted during the 2nd half of the cycling ride back. I think I was trying too hard to pedal for the first half of the ride. 

I shall learn how to ride more efficiently, especially on how to endure for 90 km. Phew!! Tough tough tough but I will try my best!

But for today's sharing, I would want to share my personal experience of riding a road bike with swimming trunk and running shorts instead of cycling shorts! :) I'm sure some of you would be laughing already..... saying I'm such a weird person! lol!! 

Anyway, please allow me to share my logic behind my "experiment" today yeah... see if it makes sense to you or not... 

It's a trial and error time for me as a newbie in cycling. In the back of my mind, it's not only the cycling part that I'm thinking about, it's more of the swim bike run  (triathlon). 

I wanted to solve this question, 

"How best can I swim, bike, and run without butt pain during cycling 

if I don't want to wear padded shorts? " :)

Swimming Trunk + Running Shorts = Padded Cycling Shorts?

My HASA's Selle San Marco bicycle seat and saddle. It's already quite comfortable as is. 

After I shared my first ride experience with running shorts last week, many have asked me if I have butt pain. :) And I was also told by one cyclist that cycling without padded  cycling shorts or cushion might cause blue black bruises too at the sensitive area. :) 

Since my sharing, I have been advised by many seasoned cyclists and triathletes to buy a pair of cycling shorts or tri shorts for long term. It's very nice of them to give me advice. Sharing is caring! :) And I totally agree with them about cycling shorts or tri shorts.

So I went to Sports Direct at Sunway Putra Place during weekday to try out cycling shorts thinking of buying one for this morning's 47 km ride. 

After trying out in the fitting room, I still felt that there seemed to be something stuck in between the legs. Of course - that's the pad!! haha! 

Another reason I don't feel comfortable is that I'm not used to wearing tights. 

Therefore, I ended up not buying the cycling shorts.

Even for running, I have tried out 2XU, 2ndSkin and Nike compression tights before. But somehow, I feel odd and uncomfortable when I see myself in the mirror. :)

Without any harvest from shopping, I decided to wear SWIMMING TRUNK & RUNNING SHORTS for my 2nd 47 km ride. 

No padded cycling shorts to prevent butt pain? :) How about swimming trunk + running shorts? haha!

This is also to simulate the triathlon environment whereby BIKE + RUN will be after SWIM.

If I could use my swimming trunk as a "soft pad" for cycling leg, I can then also wear running shorts + swimming trunk to run as third leg. 

If my experiment is workable, that means I might not even need to buy tri-shorts or cycling shorts. 

Alternatively, I could also buy a padded "gel" type saddle. But after doing some survey, I realised that this might not be a good solution for my case. And I love my Selle San Marco bicycle seat and saddle. I find that it's rather comfortable for me. And I would like to keep it that way as much as I can. 

How did I feel wearing swimming trunk and cycling shorts to bike?

Surprisingly, I felt great. After 47 km ride, my butt was still in 2 pieces. And I didn't feel as much pain as last week's ride without swimming trunk. Or perhaps I get used to cycling a bit more the second time around.

I guess for 47 km I still feel alright. I'm not sure about actual distance of 90 km though. 

Look forward to have a longer ride next weekend to test out my "swimming trunk + running shorts" theory!! haha! 

Written on 2016.06.26