longest ride yet!

I rode 20.5 miles today! Not much for many of you, but it's 6 miles longer than I've gone before. I never have a block of time that I can set aside to ride that is more than 45 min - 1h. I found the time today and headed out for 1h23m (yah yah I'm precise, ok?). The wind was blowing pretty hard at 15 sustained with stronger gusts. I still only rode in town, so there were lots of turns and stops signs with cars, but I still maintained pretty good speed and didn't get hit by any cars - although one almost nailed me. In the straight sections (sometime with the wind helping me) - I was maintaining anywhere from 17-20 mph. (the wind was involved in the 20 mph). I felt great..... except for that lousy stock saddle that came with my Pilot. Ooh that thing is torturous. I really need to try something new. I can't make up my mind which one to get.

The only reason I stopped was because my girly bits were numb and in tremendous pain all at the same time and my right foot kept falling asleep. My legs felt great and could've kept going. Ugh! Frustrating, but I'm still elated at the 20 miles! And while I was gone, mr. fish turned a wood pen for me :) Happiness! Now - I'm headed out with my daughter so she can do her laps around the neighborhood on her bike.

Hey that is so cool on all counts. What wood is the pen made from?

V.

English walnut with some really nice grain patterns.

Well, I may have ridden further, but you're faster. :)
Waytago!

Hey, 20 miles is nothing to sneeze at. Any personal improvement you can make is a great feat. Keep it up!

Imagine how far you'll go once you've ditched the Bonty of Death... :cool:

A new personal best must ALWAYS be celebrated!! Congrats, and that speed is awesome!

Thanks ladies! One of these days I'll be posting about my first century! Hopefully sooner rather than later. I'm still feeling good - legs aren't too sore. I'm going back out tomorrow AM for a short ride before work. I did forget the sunscreen - my arms are a bit cooked. Oh well - I'm still celebrating..... with a cupcake :D

Two miles, twenty miles, two hundred miles....doesn't matter. Your 20.5 miles are a wonderful accomplishment!! Way to go, and best wishes for your next 20! :)
~Sherry.

Great stuff, Fishdr. Don't compare yourself to anyone else - it's your bike and your ride. Awesome speed too - you'd have left me standing!

I just did my longest ride yet yesterday! 38miles :D That's 10 miles longer than my previous best. Granted there were no hills and not too windy and a glorious sunny day, but I'm still a bit proud of myself. By then end of it my bum and my feet were quite sore and full of pins and needles, but I was still smiling as I collapsed on the living room floor when I got home. And I now feel less worried about doing the 40 mile charity ride I signed up for in June. Can't wait to get out there again and pedal some more :D

Congratulations fishdr. It's always a wonderful feeling when you "beat" your last distance. You should be extremely proud of yourself.

Yippee!

Sounds like its time for a new saddle, though, as your rides get longer. That should really make it more pleasant.

Congrats on a new personal best!!!

Thanks for all of the encouragement! I came to work and told everyone how far I rode (none of my coworkers ride), so I got either "yeah... that's great...whatever" or "you rode that far??? wow!" - so sort of both ends of the spectrum.

Y'all have made my day with all the congrats! :D

I've been reading all of the gazillion comments on saddles. My problem is not the sitbones - they are suprisingly ok. It's the girly bits that suffered. As tlkiwi put it "the bonty of death" did a number on me. I can't even think of using the drops - that would be really painful. Would've been nice in that wind, though. Soon I will have a new saddle!

and the Fish Dr ROCKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 20 miles ain't nothing to sneeze at my friend!! Well done!!

as for the saddle: is it a Bontrager?? You said Pilot and I know Bontragers supply most if not all the saddles for Treks. and if it helps any - I HATE Bontragers. I had it OFF my Trek MTB before I had even walked it out of the store! It hurt me even on the test ride! lol.......just think - if it wasn't for that crappy saddle, you might've done a 1/2 of a 1/2 century! ;)

Of course your sitbones don't hurt - all the pressure was on the girly bits! :eek:

I've never experienced the "bonty of death" :p but I feel exactly the same way about the WTB line of saddles.

I'm a big fan of the Specialized Body Geometry saddles, FWIW. I did my longest ride yet for this year (a metric) yesterday. My sitbones are slightly tender but my girly bits feel totally and completely fine, as if I haven't even ridden at all. :)

I have a Specialized BG too and I never feel anything amiss on or when I get off the bike. (Max ride so far 22 miles so not the greatest test.) My LBS is owned by a woman and she recommended it. It rocks having a biker chick owner!

Thanks Corsair :D :D

And Dianyla - If I had to pick, I think I'd rather have the sitbones hurt than the girly bits. ;)

I rode again today (10 miles) after work - it was too dark this AM - and OUCHY! :eek: It was super windy - gusts nearly knocked me over, so I was riding lower - attempting to be more aerodynamic...so it hurt even worse.

The LBS is 2 hours away (not so local), so I'm not planning to head that direction until my freebee maintenance visit in July. I am going to MD next week for mom's day and heading straight to the LBS there. I'm going to take an extra long look at the specialized BG saddles on your recommendations! Thanks!

Fishdr - does your saddle have a cut out in the middle?? I find that indispensable for the girly bits.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by uk elephant

I just did my longest ride yet yesterday! 38miles :D That's 10 miles longer than my previous best.

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Bravo to uk elephant too!! :) Well done, and I know you will rule the 40 mile charity ride in June!
Cheers!
~Sherry.

Thanks for posting that Popoki - I've been meaning to send some congrats to UK - Congrats UK!

Maillotpois - no cutout. Just a solid, no cushioning, girly bit hurting saddle. I'll keep the cutout in mind. I'm going to try every saddle they'll let me sit on in the bike shop. If I find one, you ladies will have to guide me in installing it. I have zero experience in this sort of thing. I did install the computer, though :)

Def get a seat with the cut out... on the seat I use, the cut out is called a "love channel"

Go figure... for some reason that really cracks me up!

Seriously - it's called a "love channel"????? :D That is hilarious!

I've never heard the term "love channel" before, but I absolutely cannot imagine riding a saddle without the cut out. DH bought me a really racy, cool saddle once without the cutout and I could barely do a 30 miler.

Universally, the Terry butterfly seems to be a good started saddle that most people like (though there's a bad review on the saddle page of it). For the beginner folks I coach for TNT, most usually try that and are happy with it.

I've got the terry zero myself. A bit lighter and narrower (men's saddle) but with the all important cut out.

Maillotpois - So the men's saddle with the cutout still works as well as a women's saddle with the cutout? I guess they're in the same place?

I'm signing up for TNT in January - to do the Lake Tahoe Century. Any advice? Obviously - start with getting a new saddle :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fishdr

Maillotpois - So the men's saddle with the cutout still works as well as a women's saddle with the cutout? I guess they're in the same place?

I'm signing up for TNT in January - to do the Lake Tahoe Century. Any advice? Obviously - start with getting a new saddle :p

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YAY! If you come to Tahoe, I'll probably get to meet you! We usually do Tahoe every year. This year I am doing a double instead, but I will most likely do Tahoe again next year as a training ride if our TNT does a Death Ride program. It is a great ride, and was our first century in 2001. You'll really enjoy the ride and hopefully you have a good TNT group with good coaches and support. Training for a long distance event is so much more fun if you've got others around you doing the same thing.

The cut out seems to be in the same place on these saddles regardless of whether they're men's or women's.

Wahoo! We will have to make a point of getting together while I'm there! I'm looking forward to doing some serious training. The 20 mile ride on Sunday really encouraged me. I felt like I could've ridden much further - except for the girly bits of course. I'm really looking forward to getting that new saddle. I'll keep you posted on my progress :)

and yet another vote for the Specialzed BG saddles. I have 2 of the MTB Sports and a Road Sport and I've ridden over 7500 miles on those saddles with no chamois creme, no issues and no problems riding again the next day - even after doing my centuries.

So - I'm immersed in the saddle search now. I seem to be going between the Terry and Specialized body geometry. The BG saddles that are being suggested - these are the $40 variety???