AstraZeneca for me too mid 40’s
1st jab – shivers and fever for one night, sore arm for about 2 days and about a week of fatigue / lack of energy
2nd jab – like a bit of an achy cold for one day and sore arm for 2 days but other than that fine.

Another for P20 factor 50 here. Good for once a day application but make sure it has thoroughly dried on the forehead before you start sweating otherwise you will be temporarily blinded.

For the OP then +1 for a good physio and pilates

@ martymac only. Your symptoms sound exactly like mine were after a bad appendix operation. I couldn’t stand or walk for more than half an hour without stabbing pains through the lower back and hip but I could cycle. After a couple of attempts with different physios who got it down to a manageable level I went to a physio who did visceral (organ) mobilisation. She reckoned the surgery had meant that some of my internal organs had stuck back together a bit off where they should be and that was my problem. Well I thought it sounded like absolute nonsense but was willing to try anything by that point. I was amazed that I can now walk as long as I like and am pretty much pain free. Might be worth a try?

44 year old female First jab AZ last monday 9:30 am
Felt ok till about 7pm that night when I got uncontrolable shivering that lasted till about midnight followed by fever till the morning.
On Tuesday couldn’t lift arm above shoulder height but that cleared up by the next day.
Then a week of brain fog and fatigue with several afternoon naps(work from home). Still a little weary one week on but much better.

I’m possibly not one to ask as I do ride a bike for fun 😀 but like everything the reason why less women might ride bikes less is probably caught up with the roles rest of society.
I don’t believe there is some big conspiracy by men to stop women cycling, in my experience men have been generally friendly and welcoming. Where I live and in my age range they are also by far in the majority.

I don’t claim to have any expert knowledge so could be wrong but here’s how I see it.
– If I was born 20 years earlier I would have been expected to get married and raise children and do all the housework. Maybe you’d do some secretarial work when the children were older. It would have been very rare to do otherwise and so there was little time for hobbies where you might leave the house for a half days ride.
– I’m mid 40’s a lot of women my age who have had children have done most of the child rearing and housework whilst also doing full or part time jobs. Now the child rearing may be by choice but no one wants to do the housework. At my age there are a lot more options, personally I stayed child free got a good job & share the house work 50/50 so have plenty of time for hobbies. For my age I have made non typical choices.
– I see people in their 20’s with children sharing both child raising and housework much more evenly, so now so men and women have much more equal free time. With widely available contraception raising children can be planned & chosen if wanted but it is becoming more accepted that you may choose not to.
– Also 1 week a month many women don’t want to be out for several hours away from a bathroom.

Women as much as men have all this historical baggage that their parents and grandparents pass down as to what is women’s & men’s work and what are potential hobbies. I’ve had plenty of comments from both women and men as to why I’d want to do the hobbies and career I’ve chosen.
As society changes we’ll see more how much of these choices are to do with nature and how much to do with how we have been raised and other societal pressures. Till then what’s the harm in showing girls that riding bikes could be for them and is fun. At least then its seen as an option to consider along with everything else. They may then choose to do something completely different just like anyone should be able to.

I really like dancing, sewing & drawing. I knew this as a child because as a girl I was given the opportunity to try them and find out. It was only later in life that I found out a also enjoy biking, kayaking and climbing. I’m sure there are some boys that would have enjoyed to dance or sew but they weren’t given the opportunity to try (hopefully they’ve tried it later in life). There’s nothing that says everyone should enjoy every sport only that you don’t tend to find out unless you try it and your less likely to try if you can’t see anyone like you doing it.
I’m sure even if there was no bias at all it wouldn’t be 50/50 but equally its fairly off putting to be the only person like you doing something.

By the way that video in the OP was excellent.

When I was at school I believed I didn’t like all sport as I was only exposed to the standard PE set and didn’t like any of them. It didn’t really cross my mind that there were other options as I didn’t see any around me. So I took up dancing as it was the only alternative given and enjoyed it. When I got to university there were lots of people saying you can do any sport you like and here are all these options so I took up kayaking and enjoyed it. My friends saw me doing it and tried it too. Later another friend took up mountain biking and took me along, guess what that’s fun too and so is climbing. Turns out I do like sport just not the ones I was shown as a child.

As molegrips is saying its about being exposed to these things and being able to see that it could be something to try. If I hadn’t seen enthusiastic others saying I could try that then I would have easily fitted into the category of well she’s a girl so she likes dancing and wouldn’t want to get wet and muddy.

In my kayaking club we found that we had a lot of women doing taster sessions and then never coming back. When we had female coaches leading the (mixed) groups or 3 women turn up in one session then more tended to stick around and join the club.

Does anyone know what the comparison of blood clots is compared to the contraceptive pill? It looks like the pill increases blood clots by about 3x normal and this seems to be taken happily by a lot of people including me.
Personally I can’t wait till I get offered the vaccine.

Your correct low grade harassment and violent physical attacks are not the same but at which point should we switch from being pissed off to being genuinely frightened? And why should we have to accept being made uncomfortable and pissed off on a regular basis anyhow?
From the perspective of a lot of women I haven’t been particularly bothered by sexual harassment:
– I haven’t been flashed
– I haven’t been groped in the workplace
– I haven’t been sent pictures of genitals
– I haven’t been attacked or raped
– I have been cat called when I’m alone
– I have sat at work and had told colleagues that what they have said is not appropriate
– I have been propositioned by a taxi driver twice my age
– I have been groped in bars and clubs
– I have sat in a professional awards ceremony where the compare told a “joke” about a woman being raped and about 200 men laughed
– I have had a boyfriend hold me round the neck and tell me he could kill me if he wanted to (I don’t think he meant it but he was very rapidly an ex)

Where should the line be drawn? Or as several people on this thread have more helpfully said how can they help?
How about start by tackling the low grade stuff and the rest may reduce. Speak to your children about how its not acceptable. Call out harassment where it is safe to do so – maybe have words with that acquaintance or colleague when they say something that could make a women feel unsafe or just uncomfortable.

We got one for web browsing and emails and it works great, has a long battery life and a quick start up.
I then had to start using it for working from home and found there were issues with the chrome versions of different add ins. The notable ones were that the licensed version of Team viewer wasn’t supported at all for remote log in to another machine (we got round this with Chrome remote desktop). Also Teams for Chrome book is very glitchy especially if your sharing screens.

That said for what you want a Chrome book sounds spot on.

As others have said everyone is different and what works for one may make someone else worse.
– If you can afford it get to a good physio and do any exercises they give you religiously
– if the physio can’t help try another one, it was the third one I saw that worked out my back pain was related to issues from an abdominal operation.
– Pilates is great for me but I’ve had to build up. If your doing it yourself start with the absolute easiest exercises and work up when you know what works. i.e. don’t go straight into trying a bridge just lie on your back with the knees up and gently rock the pelvis. Exercises shouldn’t hurt!
Finally I hope you find something that works for you as I know back pain is so demoralising but for most people it does get better or at least liveable with eventually.

There are very few ladies padded shorts that come in larger than a size 16. I’m a 16-18 and currently use mens XXXXL but then I’m not self conscious about my weight and can live with all the X’s. The fit also isn’t great but was the best I could find in several bike shops after giving up on finding size 18 ladies. I haven’t tried them yet but Fat Lad at the Back look to do a good set of womens wear in larger sizes, I’ll probably be going there for my next set.
If your going for shorts rather than leggings the other thing to check is thigh size as lots of them cut off the circulation in my legs and I’ve ended up snipping the elastic on my last pair.

As part of a club I’ve taken new beginners out on the water for years and usually the whole group stay upright for the full trip especially on flat water like a canal. I’ve also seen the strange and ingenious ways that people can mess up, so on the internet we have to assume you might be one of those. It’s much easier in real life to just offer the odd comment here or there on a trip to help someone paddle better and safer.

That looks like a nice stable kayak good for the touring you fancy. Usually when someone says they got a cheap boat its some old unstable thing not suited to what they want to do.
Most of the capsizing is done getting in and out on flat water. Someone to advise as your doing it and to hold the boat steady makes all the difference.

First of all welcome to kayaking, out on the water is a great place to be. I’ll reiterate what others have said about getting some coaching if you want to go out alone. It’s similar to deciding you want to drive and getting in car, you probably want a session with an instructor first. Water is dangerous but its often not obvious what the dangers are until you have some experience.
Also get a buoyancy aid, its amazing how helpful they are when your head hits the cold murky water.
For getting in get yourself as low down as possible, as funny as it is watching someone step into the cockpit from the bank it doesn’t work. Greybeards instruction are a good starting point. For getting out on a canal get sideways on to the bank, slide your bum out to sit on the back of the cockpit, then pull yourself up on the bank with your arms. If your boat starts to float away you can pull it back with the end of the paddle once your out.
For the first few times you will go round in circles, this will go away with practise (quicker with coaching). Things that make you go in a circle are: pulling with one arm more than the other, sitting off to one side of the kayak, sweeping your paddle wide.
Try to sit upright or even lean slightly forward, if you slouch backwards the kayak is wobblier.
For the adjustable foot plate you want it so you can push gently on it with alternate feet as you paddle.
If your kayak doesn’t already have them then put air bags in the back. It means there is less water to move and empty when you inevitably capsize.
OK so now some of the dangers.
Canals: All sorts of stuff on the bottom to get caught on if you capsize especially in an inner city. Canal barges, pass as far away as you can from these as they may not have seen you and produce a wake as they pass. Weils disease – this is mainly on the bank that you will be touching, don’t touch your face or eat until you have washed your hands. Get out and walk around locks.
Rivers: Get out and walk around all weirs even if you have seen someone kayak down it before. Some weirs are fun to play on one day and a watery death the next, so don’t touch them unless you can tell the difference. Flowing water – will make you more likely to capsize, it can also try to push and trap you under trees, trap your feet in rocks/weeds on the bottom, the faster the flow the harder it is. Get some instruction before going on anything but the very slowest flowing rivers
Lakes: Wind can push you away from the banks, the water can be much colder than you would expect. If you do go on a lake stay near the bank as you will be swimming yourself and your kayak there to get out.
After all that don’t let us put you off. Its great fun and I’ve been kayaking for the last 20 years without killing myself. We just want to make sure you do the same.

Apart from the Chemistry that sounds like me at 16. I’ll second civil engineering as an option, if you end up in the design side there’s loads of maths/physics involved. You get the added bonus of being able to see things you’ve designed actually being built. Lots of options to go into at the end of it too (I’ve specialised in structural engineering).
Always good to get a few more women interested in engineering too. When I started 20 years ago I was one of a small few but its getting much more common now.

Lets start with people are terrible at assessing risk. We tend to base our opinions on our own experiences which is a very small sample size and so can be very different to the real risk. So looking at the statistics instead*
From https://www.rospa.com/road-safety/advice/pedal-cyclists/facts-figures/ and https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/ras30-reported-casualties-in-road-accidents#casualty-rates-and-risk

Casualty rate per billion vehicle miles 2018
Killed:
Car driver 2
Pedal cyclist 29
Pedestrian 34
Motorcycle rider 126
Killed or seriously injured
Car driver 27
Pedal cyclist 1139
Pedestrian 461
Motor cycle rider 2039

So your a lot more likely to be seriously injured on a bike than driving a car but a lot less than riding a motor cycle. This also doesn’t take into account all the health benefits of regular exercise that cycling gives.

The first document I linked gives a good breakdown of where accidents occur i.e. 75% at or near a road junction, 80% in daylight. Interestingly ice causing a non collision incident is the second highest reason for hospital admission for cyclists after collision with cars.

So basically keep cycling, it’ll probably be ok and the health benefits are great. Just maybe watch out for ice and around junctions at rush hour.

*yes I know there are lots of ways to interpret them and they can be skewed to support your own opinion

I think most people agree that the risk of being attacked in the countryside is quite low for both male and female. However as a female if you do see that lone passer by the questions start passing through your head. Are they going to leave you alone? will they start making creepy pervy comments? if you ignore them will they get verbally aggressive? start following you? what about if I get a puncture and am stuck there fixing it? This is all learned behavior from multiple interactions with unpleasant men throughout life. I know most men are not like that, I also know a large number of men are. You can either go out anyway and ignore the voices in your head and creeps on the street or as many people do take the easier more comfortable option. In response the comments about how nobody knows if your male or female in the dark I can make a good guess at the sex of someone from their silhouette.

Female (will go out on my own in the woods in daylight, will stick to well lit public areas at night)