Now I’ve never felt the belly of a pot-bellied MAMIL but I have recently come to imagine it might be something like having a baby bump. Just a few weeks ago I was riding home from work, struggling up a steep hill with my thighs digging into my preggy belly and thinking, is this how a pot-bellied MAMIL feels?

Why would I think that you ask?

Well a preggy belly is a well-formed hard lump protruding out in front of you, with limited squish factor. It stops you bending over a far as you used to and, ALL OF A SUDDEN, gets in the way of pedaling. In it’s full glory, it implores you to start assuming the “chicken technique” when going up steep hills aka knees poking out the side at each stroke.

You know how sometimes you come up behind a pot-bellied MAMIL and their knees are awkwardly protruding out each side of the bike with every stroke (I’ve never noticed this with women). I wonder if this is because of a firm pot belly, because if so, I totally get it! On a steep incline I am now at the point where our poor baby is being pushed in with every stroke. I am tending towards the “chicken technique” and so I think it won’t be too long before I need to move on from the geometry of the gravel bike.

This is all of course assuming that a MAMIL’s pot belly is hard like a pregnant belly. 

In my 31st week I can still happily cycle for around 1.5hrs at (very) easy pace. Long may it last.