A tale of eBay woe

I'm forever on a quest for better bike shorts.

Better pad, better waistband, legs that don't ride up or cut off circulation, etc..

But mainly a better pad. I usually wear Mavic shorts, and they're certainly comfortable, but after about 50 miles, I'm in pain and no amount of fresh chamois cream will do anything about it.

So while browsing everyone's favorite online auction site, I found a pair of shorts that looked to have a promisingly thick pad.

So what if they were an off brand and priced at only $30?

All that stuff my grandma always told me about getting what you pay for? 

Straight out the window. I bought the shorts.

They arrived the other day and this morning was my first test ride on them.

I had originally planned to do 80 miles up PCH today, but about 10 miles in, the shorts (or the spirit of my grandmother. I can't tell which) took their vengeance.

The pad, so soft and comfy at first, immediately compressed to the point where it was beyond useless and actually causing chafing, but that wasn't the main problem. The main problem was the seam up the back of the shorts with a very poorly placed tag that was rubbing the skin off the small of my back. It's amazing how the little things get you.

I figured that eventually the lady bits would numb out, but that seam/tag combo - I couldn't ignore it. The more it rubbed, the more it annoyed me, to the point that I started getting really snappish and mean to passers-by and riding buddies.

That, for me, was the signal to pack it in.  It wasn't going to get any better.

So I headed home after riding a grand total of 25 miles. I've got a patch on the small of my back that's rubbed raw, and my lady bits are hamburger.  Hamburger, I tell you.

So, lesson officially learned.

No more discount off-brand bike shorts for me