July riding

[Crankin]

So, my bike trip was over Monday. It was hard, but I did every mile. We had one day of rain and 40 degrees, where we were up in the mountains, and we did not ride. Although this was a day of almost all descending, I was glad, in a sneaky way. I hate mountain descents and this gave me 2 rest days in a row. None of the other participants had any rain gear, or barely a wind jacket. Really dumb! I used my leg and arm warmers more than once.
We did one 10k climb that was hard, but what I expected. There were 2 other 3-4 mile climbs that were similar. But the hardest climbs were in the second to last day and the last day. The last day had 2 very steep and shorter climbs, one where we were on a narrow road with "pilgrims" doing the Camino trek. The bike I was riding had one less lower gear on the cassette as my Trek and 2 less than my Guru. I was dying, and you know it is bad when you are going so slowly, your GPS shuts off! After that last climb, we rode into Santiago, which was hairy, but then we got off and walked our bikes. It was about 100 degrees out and since I could have cared less about the pilgramage aspect of the end of the trip, I just wanted to get to the hotel. That imvolved walking our bikes up a street with about a 20% grade.
This was definitely our best bike tour yet. I love Spain and we are going to try and get some friends to join us for a private tour of Porto, Portugal, so the owners of the tour company can use it as the basis for a future tour. They are like family, such a different experience than Trek Travel. Not that they are bad, but this is so different.
We rode 186 miles, with 18k ft of climbing.
On Tuesday, we drove back to Bilbao from Santiago, stopping in a beautiful seaside town for lunch. Then we had like a 25 mile descent into Bilbao, on the freeway; it made me dizzy! Sort of the reson I hate mountain descents on my bike. We've spent the past 2 days soaking up the culture and eating. Heading back to Boston tomorrow.

[ny biker]

I really want to do a bike trip. But is it worthwhile for someone to go on one of these by themselves? Or would I feel like the odd one out?

I've never done one, but from talking to those who have, I've never gotten the feeling that I would be uncomfortable if I went on a group bike tour by myself.

I am back from my (sedentary) vacation. While I was away I ordered a Rivet Independence saddle which I hope will solve the saddle problems I've been having. I have a bike fit scheduled for Saturday so I really really hope the new saddle arrives by then.

Last night I did 30 minutes on a stationary recumbent bike at the gym. I guess it was a good workout; this morning at PT I did a 5-minute warmup on a stationary bike and my quads were feeling tired.

I've been feeling vaguely unhappy that it's July already. Between the ankle problems and the saddle problems I've been missing out on summer. The cloudy windy cool weather during vacation didn't help. Fingers crossed that I'll be able to start riding more now.

[emily_in_nc]

Crankin, it sounds like you had a good time and even the fact that you'd been feeling under the weather lately didn't hurt. I am sure it is gorgeous there, and I am super envious! Happy for you. Have a safe trip home (if you aren't there already).

[ny biker]

Thanks, NY.

If your saddle doesn't arrive, I'd reschedule. Won't help much if you don't have one of the main contacts points there.

Ha yes, normally that would be the case! I should have been more specific -- I originally scheduled the fit appointment to check the position of the current Affinity saddle. I've used the Affinity for years with only minor chafing problems. When it showed signs of wear last winter, I briefly tried the two new Bontrager WSD saddles that were in stock at the LBS, did not like them, then ordered one of the last 11 Affinity 144s still in stock at Bontrager. After getting back to riding after a few months off, the new Affinity started causing problems. I tried putting the old one back on but that was worse. My current theory is that the seat height was changed when I was trying out the new saddles last winter, and this is causing problems. Or maybe something about me has changed and the old saddle position is just not right anymore. So I scheduled the appointment to have it checked. Then while on vacation I decided to order the Rivet and try that instead, hoping it would solve all my problems including the minor chafing. If the Rivet doesn't arrive in time, I'll go back to my original plan of making sure the Affinity is set right, and have the fitter help me do the appropriate measurements so I can match the same position with the Rivet.

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks, NY.

If your saddle doesn't arrive, I'd reschedule. Won't help much if you don't have one of the main contacts points there.

I couldn't agree more -- the saddle makes a difference!