Bib shorts - a serious (well sort of) question

zardoz

Ok so a bit of a light-hearted question, up until recently I have been wearing normal shorts with tights and several top layers in the cold weather. Stopping for a pee was never a problem, pull down the front of tights and shorts and away you go. Then I bought some bib shorts decided I needed to stop for a pee and .........well what do you do? I had to take off all top layers to lower the straps on the shorts to go. (Actually I didn't bother as it was too cold!)

Have I missed something obvious?

danlikesbikes

Can't you just push the shoulder straps off the top and down your arms a bit to give you enough room to let little Zardoz do his thing?

I find with most of my bib shorts/tights this is enough, but TBH I sometimes do have to unzip my top to get enough slack.

zardoz

Danlikesbikes wrote:

Can't you just push the shoulder straps off the top and down your arms a bit to give you enough room to let little Zardoz do his thing?

Hey! Not so much of the "little"! well I did say it was cold......

danlikesbikes

zardoz wrote:

Hey! Not so much of the "little"! well I did say it was cold......

Unless you've had plastic surgery little was in reference to big Zardoz being you!

TBH honest I couldn't come up with anything other without having to use @£%& or similar and you get what I mean.

I don't but do know others that roll up their shorts and take care of things from the other end if that helps?

antfly

I would question why you are always stopping for a pee, are you cycling all day ? I think I have peed two or three times in 5 years, whilst out on the bike.

DavidJB

antfly wrote:

I would question why you are always stopping for a pee, are you cycling all day ? I think I have peed two or three times in 5 years, whilst out on the bike.

Don't be silly..sometimes after a couple of hours I need to pee or sometimes I can go 4 hours without anything. I always make sure I go just before the ride but we're all different some people are camels, some are not. The other day I needed to go 50 minutes in!

redvee

Some bib shorts have a lower front waist for these moments, my DHBs aren't a problem when I need a loo stop.

antfly

DavidJB wrote:

antfly wrote:

I would question why you are always stopping for a pee, are you cycling all day ? I think I have peed two or three times in 5 years, whilst out on the bike.

Don't be silly..sometimes after a couple of hours I need to pee or sometimes I can go 4 hours without anything. I always make sure I go just before the ride but we're all different some people are camels, some are not. The other day I needed to go 50 minutes in!

Either you have a petit bladder or you are drinking too much.

smidsy

Lycra is stretchy. Simply adopt the Quasi Modo stance, pull down the front of the bibs and do the deed.

Or if you are well endowed simply pull up the relevant leg of said bib shorts :-)

rolf_f

antfly wrote:

DavidJB wrote:

antfly wrote:

I would question why you are always stopping for a pee, are you cycling all day ? I think I have peed two or three times in 5 years, whilst out on the bike.

Don't be silly..sometimes after a couple of hours I need to pee or sometimes I can go 4 hours without anything. I always make sure I go just before the ride but we're all different some people are camels, some are not. The other day I needed to go 50 minutes in!

Either you have a petit bladder or you are drinking too much.

Probably not - different people have different metabolisms. I often want to pee early in a ride due to liquid processed before I started the ride - I tend not to need to otherwise as I normally drink very little on a ride but I can imagine that it is difficult to maintain a balance if you are the sort who gets through a bottle an hour. And pee stops aren't exactly uncommon on my club rides so I doubt it is an abnormal need!

Life is made easier by using full length zip tops and putting any base layer tops on under the bib straps. That makes it easy to hook the straps off your shoulders.

danlikesbikes

Rolf F wrote:

[Life is made easier by using full length zip tops and putting any base layer tops on under the bib straps. That makes it easy to hook the straps off your shoulders.

^-^ very good point that I forgot to mention when saying about slipping off straps that is much easier if your base layers are on under them.

antfly

Rolf F wrote:

antfly wrote:

DavidJB wrote:

antfly wrote:

I would question why you are always stopping for a pee, are you cycling all day ? I think I have peed two or three times in 5 years, whilst out on the bike.

Don't be silly..sometimes after a couple of hours I need to pee or sometimes I can go 4 hours without anything. I always make sure I go just before the ride but we're all different some people are camels, some are not. The other day I needed to go 50 minutes in!

Either you have a petit bladder or you are drinking too much.

Probably not - different people have different metabolisms. I often want to pee early in a ride due to liquid processed before I started the ride - I tend not to need to otherwise as I normally drink very little on a ride but I can imagine that it is difficult to maintain a balance if you are the sort who gets through a bottle an hour. And pee stops aren't exactly uncommon on my club rides so I doubt it is an abnormal need!

Life is made easier by using full length zip tops and putting any base layer tops on under the bib straps. That makes it easy to hook the straps off your shoulders.

It's not unusual because people tend to drink a lot more than they need, filling their bladder. If someone is peeing every ride it would make sense to cut down on the liquid intake.

Bobbinogs

OK, I'll disagree with you Antfly. I sweat a lot and have to drink about 500ml of water/liquid every 90 mins or suffer badly in terms of performance and dehydration. This dehydration is also confirmed by my pee turning very yellow if I don't drink (it is supposed to stay the colour of very light straw). As a side effect of the drinking, I can last a hour or 2 without a natural break but no more. On probably every group ride I have been on, I am in the vast majorty of folks needing to stop. Plenty of shots around of the peleton stopping for a break during races and they have a lot more to lose position-wise than I do!

Anyway, back to the OP, the Castelli FAR/Body Paint ranges are great because they have a very low front. Some other makes have a small zip to lower the front enough.

Daz555

I wonder if people stopping for regualr wees are drinking too much in large gulps intermittently rather than sipping regularly? I had a mate who was always stopping for a wee on MTB rides - until I lent him my camelbak. This encouraged him to drink small amounts often which prevented the problem.

Now camelbaks are of course against "the rules" but the advice can still be useful - sip as often as you can.

As for bibs - never tried them, but will soom be getting my first pair. I can't want for my wifes laughter when she first sees me in them!

zardoz

Daz555 wrote:

As for bibs - never tried them, but will soom be getting my first pair. I can't want for my wifes laughter when she first sees me in them!

Yes you have that to look forward to. My wife laughs every time I put them on. I had hoped it would have worn off by now.

Mikey23

I usually need to pee a couple of times during a ride, on average every hour or so. I put it down to my age... Quasimodo style works for me. I used to wear a tri suit but found it was a little impractical for the task!

philwint

my dhb bibs are "accessable" should the need arise

Bozman

I don't tend to drink a lot on a ride, as a rough guide i'll use 3-400ml this time of year and 750ml in the summer over a 50-60 mile ride, I'll always have to stop once for a pee though.
I put it down to stomach muscles pushing on the bladder when you're bent over, because I can probably have about five pints in the pub before I need a pee, then again I'll need a pee every half pint after that.

nawty

Daz555 wrote:

I wonder if people stopping for regualr wees are drinking too much in large gulps intermittently rather than sipping regularly? I had a mate who was always stopping for a wee on MTB rides - until I lent him my camelbak. This encouraged him to drink small amounts often which prevented the problem.

Now camelbaks are of course against "the rules" but the advice can still be useful - sip as often as you can.

As for bibs - never tried them, but will soom be getting my first pair. I can't want for my wifes laughter when she first sees me in them!

This is a good point, little and often is the key to hydration - gulping down half a bottle every hour is bound to make you need to pee as you can't absorb that much into your blood at one time. If you keep needing to pee every hour or so then you seriously need to think about how you are hydrating, for example if you are hydrated then you don't really need to drink anything an hour before the ride and this time is long enough to completely empty your bladder by going a few times before you head out.

Also, it is actually better to be slightly under hydrated than over hydrated - your performance suffers more in the latter situation and you should aim to be dehydrated at the end of a ride (but not to the point of cramp).

bushu

careful afterwards with the zip if tight/race fitting it still hurts through another layer :shock:

my bibshorts rarely get used as they ARE a faff without the zippy bit

nedmoran

My giordana bibs just stretch down at the front. As for peeing to much. It is still a bit nippy out and the cold plays havoc with the bladder. Especially if you've stopped and had a hot drink.

goonz

My winter bibs have a zip that goes all the way to my chest so that has to be fully unzipped, meaning my jersey has to be unzipped too. I wear my bibs over my base layer but still needs faffing about.

My summer bib shorts have much larger gap at the front down to below my naval so with a little stretching of lycra and contortion on my part I can manage to go without stripping anywhere I shouldn't be!

That said, pro cyclists go whilst on the bike and some of them wear bib shorts so if they can manage it I am sure we can!

Oh and the topic of why someone needs to go for a leak more than someone else, well all bodies are not the same so why have such a huge discussion on a non topic?

DavidJB

antfly wrote:

DavidJB wrote:

antfly wrote:

I would question why you are always stopping for a pee, are you cycling all day ? I think I have peed two or three times in 5 years, whilst out on the bike.

Don't be silly..sometimes after a couple of hours I need to pee or sometimes I can go 4 hours without anything. I always make sure I go just before the ride but we're all different some people are camels, some are not. The other day I needed to go 50 minutes in!

Either you have a petit bladder or you are drinking too much.

Maybe one or the other but my hydration levels are normally near perfect When I do pee the urine isn't clear which would be the classic sign of over hydration. Who knows...we are all made differently!

philwint

Just had a thought for this thread.

As we are cyclists we probably have some old inner tubes*, and a few cable ties in our bits bin. Would it not be possible to craft a secure penis extension from said spare parts making peeing in bibs a non issue!!

Actually it could go further. With some clever engineering peeing WHILST on the bike could be possible

*MTB inner tubes of course - to allow sufficient girth

Kieran_Burns

philwint wrote:

Just had a thought for this thread.

As we are cyclists we probably have some old inner tubes*, and a few cable ties in our bits bin. Would it not be possible to craft a secure penis extension from said spare parts making peeing in bibs a non issue!!

Actually it could go further. With some clever engineering peeing WHILST on the bike could be possible

*MTB inner tubes of course - to allow sufficient girth

Need to be a 29er 8)

bushu

umm still depends how tight the fitting is on your shorts leg grippy thing maybe use it with a valve solid enough not to compress easily and this would eliminate unfortunate dribbling incidents. I may have already spend too much time thinking about this..

possibly one that goes down your right leg for you crafty left handers