HOO HA RIDE GLIDE – A Cycling Chamois Creeme Formulated Specifically for Women
By Jim Weaver, Service Manager, Fit Werx, VT
(With help from his wife Becky and friend Trisha)
Male or female, chamois crème can be a real boon for many riders. Sweat and heat, combined with the pressure of sitting on a saddle and constant movement, can cause problems ranging from chafing to full-blown infections. Chamois crème products perform the valuable services of helping to prevent chafing of rather sensitive parts of the human body, while killing bacteria that can cause inflammation, saddle sores or other infections. There are many chamois crèmes on the market. Fit Werx has carried Assos Chamois Crème and Chamois Butt’r since day one and, more recently, we added DZ Nutz to the offerings as well. However, none of these chamois crèmes are aimed specifically at women and, for some women, ingredients in some crèmes can be painful. Welcome “Hoo Ha Ride Glide”…
Trisha, a good friend we used to ride with when we lived in Pennsylvania, stumbled on a chamois crème that is formulated by and specifically for women – “Hoo Ha Ride Glide”. When we visited over Christmas she gave my wife some to try. My wife was never big on chamois crèmes for the reason listed above. Instead, she used Body Glide. While Body Glide is a great product in many regards, it is not designed for this specific application and so was not as effective as she would have liked. So, she tried the Hoo Ha Ride Glide and loved it too. Based upon their feedback, Fit Werx is now a Hoo Ha Ride Glide dealer and I solicited help from Trisha and my wife to write up a review as I didn’t think I was going to be much good from a product testing perspective on this one…
Yes, yes, we all understand the allusion implicit in the product’s name. But this is a serious subject, so stop snickering! Despite great temptation there will be no sophomoric attempts at humor about the name. Now, onto the serious details of the review.
Hoo Ha Ride Glide has a subtle lavender smell, definitely not medicinal. It is not greasy or oily, but feels like a good moisturizer. Hoo Ha Ride Glide’s ingredients (like all chamois crèmes) are aimed at lubricating the skin while fighting bacteria and promoting healing of damaged tissue. The “magic” is in the ingredients that have been used. Hoo Ha Ride Glide contains many “natural” ingredients, such as water, barley extract, tea tree leaf oil, eucalyptus oil, phellodendron bark extract, sandalwood extract, lavender oil, peppermint oil, bisabolol, and others. Many of these are used in herbal and far eastern medicine, and have soothing, healing, anti-microbial, or anti-inflammatory properties. However, Hoo Ha Ride Glide also contains what seems to me to be some “unnatural” ingredients, many of which are also found in many skin moisturizers, such as cetearyl alcohol, panthenol, glycerin, dimethicone, stearic acid, and others. It is therefore understandable why it feels like a good moisturizer. It also has ingredients such as alcohol, which may sound a bit threatening when contacting sensitive areas, especially the first time you use it. However, neither reviewer had any problem. Any initial minor tingling sensation went away quickly, leaving the rider with a pleasant cooling sensation.
From a packaging and dispensing perspective, Hoo Ha Ride Glide comes in a tube, which makes it easy to use, as well as being more hygienic than having to dip fingers repeatedly into the traditional “tub” that dispenses many of the most common chamois crèmes.
My wife used Hoo Ha Ride Glide repeatedly during our trainer workouts over the winter and she says it has significantly improved her comfort on the saddle. She has experienced none of the chafing problems she has had previously on the trainer. Our friend Trisha has been using Hoo Ha Ride Glide for a few years, and she has found the same. She says that it is THE solution for her for skin irritation and associated problems. It has made riding much more comfortable for her, better than other chamois crèmes. She also likes the texture, which she describes as “silky-cream-like”, making for easy application, with no oily or greasy residue. As you can tell, she heartily recommends Hoo Ha Ride Glide.
As the Hoo Ha Ride Glide package says, “protects your most girlie parts from infection, chafing, friction burns, irritation, inflammation, and saddle sores. Provides healing and a lasting cool feeling so you enjoy the ride.” As my brother says, “Must be true or they couldn’t print it.” Well, not necessarily, but according to my wife and Trisha, these statements do in fact ring true. To borrow a phrase from a regular female client, “You may fall back in love with your saddle.” And that’s no joke.
Fit Werx is a dealer of Hoo Ha Ride Glide and other chamois crèmes with bike shop and fitting locations outside of NYC in Ridgefield Park, NJ, in Peabody and Lexington, MA and near Burlington and Stowe, VT in Waitsfield.
