November Rides

[Crankin]

Took advantage of a slow work day and came home for lunch and took a short 8.5 mile ride, mostly uphill. It was 59 out, but cloudy and didn't feel that warm. But, I had on knee warmers, a ss jersey with a base layer and arm warmers/vest, instead of winter gear.
I love the way my new bike feels. However, I do think there is something going on with the saddle and/or the height of the saddle. My knees hurt mildly. I never have this. I raised the saddle on Sunday, by a teeny, teeny bit. Jury still out on the Oura. Soft tissue is perfect, but not sure if my sit bones will get used to it. My left sit bone as well as the bony part where my left leg attaches to my butt is sore. This is kind of like how the Brooks saddle felt, except that had other torture, too. More concerned about the knees.
It's going to snow tomorrow, and I may be tied up with nordic skiing right after Thanksgiving. Perhaps will go to the LBS on Sunday to discuss.

[ny biker]

Where do your knees hurt?

I had knee issues when I got my Madone, I think due to a different pedaling angle by switching from a triple to a compact double. I ended up going to Speedplay X cleats, from SPDs, eventually switched to the (expensive) Speedplay cleats with a longer-than-standard shaft to solve the problem completely.

I rode on Saturday with my bike club. It was cold, I was tired, didn't get home from work the night before until after 10 pm, really did not want to ride. But it was a friend's last ride before knee surgery, so I went anyway. We had a very nice time, with a good group of people. In all we rode 40 miles. It started on the road where I was ticketed a few years ago for impeding traffic even though there was no actual traffic at the time, and just thinking about riding there again brought back the anxiety of having to go to court to fight the ticket. So I let the group start ahead of me and then rode as fast as I could to get off that road as soon as possible.

I also went for a ride yesterday. Due to crap at work yada yada yada I was forced to take the day off. So I did the weekly Tuesday morning club ride. Again, nice ride with a good group of people, and four of us went out for a sandwich afterwards. Total was 31 miles. The rest stop was at a historic church on a hill above a river, very scenic and worth the effort to climb the hill.

Then I took a nap, packed up the car and drove north for Thanksgiving. I left a day earlier than originally planned to avoid the big storm. I left at 10:20 pm, arrived at my parents house just after 4 pm, got to bed at 5 am. I managed to avoid all the traffic except for one spot in Delaware, but was able to take an alternate route to get around that spot. Was planning to drive home on Saturday, go for a ride on Sunday (weather-permitting). But yada yada yada crap at work I will also not be able to work on Monday, so I'll probably stay with my family through the weekend and drive back on Monday. I think I will probably be raking leaves for exercise while I am here.