Review: Spring CycleBox

It's Cyclebox time! Always a fun surprise when my box arrives and this was a GOOD one:

So much great stuff. I was immediately into the snacks (because...snacks) and the Bumblebar was eaten almost immediately. I saved the IPS Egg White Ch(ips) for an afternoon work snack and was really surprised at how satisfyingly crunchy and tasty they were. The Body Armor sports drink was particularly nice because it's made of real ingredients, including coconut water, and nothing artificial. The rest will be definitely be used on a ride (looking at you, chocolate espresso Pocket Fuel) and I'm really interested to try the Fruigees 24 Carrot Orange squeeze pack in place of a gel, as real food is always a better option for me when possible.

Another great Cyclebox full of items that are interesting, new to me and carefully chosen for athletes!  Here's the info:

RunnerBoxes are available in three varieties - Runner, Tri and Cycle. They come every other month and cost $19.95 plus shipping. Aside from the bimonthly subscription they also offer gift boxes and right now there's a limited edition Mother's Day box. Very cool.

Lady Business.

I'm sure you're dying to know what I've been doing with my time, right? Of course! So, spring finally arrived and I've been riding my mountain bike as often as possible. Yay! But, as usually happens in the spring, my ass is suffering for it. Boo. My current saddle is a Terry FLX which I like okay, but it's not perfect. I'd previously been using a Terry Butterfly which is very comfortable (and very unattractive) but was almost...too padded. I like to be able to slide my weight around easy in the saddle and I felt like the Butterfly slowed me down a bit.

I'm unknowable.

Previous to that I'd been using the very popular WTB Deva saddle but it was complete torture on my mountain bike. Just horrible. However, it was expensive (and I'm stubborn) so I tried it on my cross bike and it's perfectly fine and I raced a whole season on it with no problem. This makes ZERO sense but I'm not going to question these things. Saddles choice is extremely personal and what can you do.

Moving on, I have a confession to make. When Giant came out a few years ago with a women-specific line of really nice mountain bikes, I was unimpressed. Not because the bikes weren't nice (they are) but because they were given ridiculous names like "Lust" and "Obsess." The men's bikes are called "Anthem" and "Trance." Why do the lady bikes get the sexualized names? It bugged me. A lot. And, while I love that Liv Giant bikes are completely designed by women, why did they have to do this to them?

That is a...busy bike. It's purple! It's bright blue! It's got a funky print design! It's lady-friendly! The Lust is a seriously nice bike and if I am going to lay out that kind of cash I want a bike that looks f'ing cool. This does not look cool, it looks like an Easter basket. I'm sorry, it does. 

HOWEVER, I hadn't actually ridden it, so I went to a Giant Demo last weekend and tried out the Lust Advanced 0 and holy shit, that thing floats over rocks. It was SO much fun to ride. I'd forgotten what a nice full-suspension set up felt like (and of course I was riding the super-high-end version with carbon rims, so.) I stand corrected, Liv Giant. I'm sorry for making fun of you. 

Obviously I don't have 8K to drop on a bike but if I did, I'd be tempted. Except, I still can't deal with that color scheme and I wouldn't want to spend crazy money on a bike that wasn't easy on the eyes. Why can't they just make one in black? (<-- please apply this to everything. Thank you.) It's probably a good thing I don't like the colorway or I'd be busy selling off all my possessions to buy one. So, I guess I should thank Giant for not bankrupting me. I guess.