July riding

[Crankin]

There have been single travelers on every bike tour I've been on. Most were women, and no one was left out on any activity. To me, it's a perfect option for a solo traveler. I will describe the solo traveler on this trip, in a future post... it will take too long to do on my phone!
Sitting in the Bilbao airport, waiting for flight to Paris. Then we have a 5 hr layover. Not a lot of choices flying from Bilbao. We both are exhausted. DH has been coughing the whole trip and I suspect he may have a brochial infection. We must have walked at least 5 miles Wednesday and Thursday. And the eating and wine... we get into Logan at around 8:30 pm, which will feel like 2:30 am to us. Thankfully, we got an offer to upgrade to business class for a very reasonable price and we spent the $! I may have hated all those years DH traveled every week, but it is paying off now, as he has permanant gold status on Delta/Air France. I hope i can sleep, as Lily is arriving for a full day of babysitting at 6:30 am Saturday, while her parents go to a wedding in CT.

[Crankin]

Took my first post trip ride today; since my granddaughter actually slept over (I wasn't aware this was the plan) and I had a hair appointment at 2:15, DH and i went out for a little 12 mile jaunt around 4:30 pm. It's an absolutely gorgeous day. Was worried about my knee, which hurt a lot when I started off, but then felt ok during the ride. It actually felt better after the ride. I am icing it now.
My only comment is that the worse roads, in the smallest villages in Spain, are in better shape than the roads in Sudbury, MA we were riding on.

[north woods gal]

Surprised to hear that on the road comparison, but probably shouldn't be, given the widely held belief that our infrastructure in this country is a mess.

I do understand the importance of the right seat and seat position for road biking and my sympathies for those suffering from associated problems. It is a big deal, given that so much riding time is from a fully seated position. Has always been one of the many issues of trying to make road bikes that are designed for men fit me, properly. On most bikes, the factory supplied seat is the first thing to go on a road bike.

Interestingly, though, now that I do so much trail biking, the seat issue is almost non-existent for me, to the point of just going with a minimal seat to keep it out of the way and, yes, for some tech riding, the seat just gets in the way. Even thinking of adding a dropper post on one of the bikes for just that reason. Given that most of my trail bikes are rigid with no suspension at all, I spend a lot of time up off the seat, standing on the pedals, knees flexed, acting as shock absorbers. Even when seated, a lot of seat time is with only light pressure on the seat. I also move forward and back on the seat a lot as I climb or descend. In other words, I'm not fully seated long enough to develop chaffing and so on.

Of course, there are a lot of other issues and risks with serious MTB riding and I do have plenty of scars and bruises to prove it. Bruised a knuckle, today, when I cut too close to a tree during a tight turn. Ouch! Oh, well, no free lunch with any kind of serious riding. Anyway, best of luck in your search for that ideal seat, NY.

Steady rain, today, but mostly the light stuff, so rode my trails in the rain. Not unpleasant, though, given the nice temps. Used my fat bike with the biggest footprint to keep trail damage, down, but no problem at all riding through some flooded areas, though it really helps to know the trails. No way would I ride through a swamp, otherwise.

[ny biker]

Re: roads -- they are generally in pretty good shape in the DC metro area. The local DOTs do "pothole-palooza" every spring, where they concentrate efforts on repairing potholes for a week or so, and are generally responsive if you report a pothole to them during other times of the year. But every time I go to NY I am reminded of how bad roads are there. In many cases filling the holes just makes it worse. It's appalling, given how much they pay in taxes.

So the new Rivet saddle has not arrived yet. I went for the fitting on Saturday, where we confirmed that the seat height was okay but found from the plum line test that the saddle was too far back. So we moved it forward, which seemed to be an improvement. I mentioned the impending leather saddle arrival, and he said that changing from non-leather to leather is usually not as straightforward as measuring the position of the old saddle and matching it with the new one. So I will want to make another appointment for that.

Then yesterday I did a 32-mile ride. It was a big multi-class club ride, lots of fun and perfect weather. The distance and terrain were just right after several weeks off the bike. Unfortunately the saddle problem was worse that it was before. I don't know if the new leather saddle will solve my problems but I really can't use the Affinity any more, at least not on this bike. Depending on how things go this week (what day the Rivet is delivered and whether I can schedule a fitting for it) I may just ride my mountain bike next weekend, in the hopes that the different geometry will give me a break from the pain and inflammation.

[ny biker]

The new saddle is here! It's a white Rivet Independent. The leather is harder than I thought it would be. Looking at the photos online, I thought it might be similar in width and overall shape to the Affinity 144. Sure enough, when I put one on top of the other they are extremely similar. I think (hope) this is a good thing, since the Affinity was mostly okay for me until recently.

The big question is, how long will it take to break it in? I will be back at the LBS to have it fitted on Saturday, planning to try it out on Sunday with a short test ride.

Deb at Rivet recommends Obenauf's Leather Preservative but unfortunately was sold out of it. Conveniently, a friend is about to place a large order with Compass Cycles, and he's offered to order the Obenauf's as part of his order so I can take advantage of free shipping. But I think that's more to protect the leather, not to soften it.

And so here I sit, filled with that mix of anticipation and hope that this new saddle will be the key to comfort and happiness. We've all been here before... wondering if the road ahead will be happy or oh, well, at least I tried...

[Crankin]

If this is anything similar to the Brooks saddles, I never felt mine broke in. I hated it. But, I hope the new saddle works for you.
I rode a very steamy short ride this morning. Severe storms were predicted, starting at noon, and although they didn't get here until later, it was already drenchingly humid at 9:45. Twelve hilly miles and i felt like it was 30, although I was not that slow. I spent the whole rest of my day off doing errands and meeting a friend for lunch.
This is my most disliked type of weather. I'd rather be in a blizzard.

[ny biker]

Yes I hope for the best with the new saddle but realize I might end up returning it. Time will tell.

I just checked the weather in Hyannis as my nephew is there for a baseball game... looks like some heavy rain passing through MA tonight, and super humid. We're having a heat wave down here, expecting near 100 tomorrow, but it should break by the weekend. I will ride indoors at the gym tonight.

[Sky King]

I ride the Rivet Independence on my Gilles Berthoud touring bike and I have the Rivet All Road on my Surly ECR. They do not soften like a Brooks or a Gilles Berthoud. Note the underneath has the fabric (for lack of a better word) that restricts the sag and splay factor the Brooks tend to do. Also the leather "tie" underneath will keep it stiffer. My independence with the slot is softer than my all road as it does have some give around the slot. I hope you like them. Hopefully the fitter knows that mounting a leather saddle isn't that same as other saddles. You'll want the nose at least level or slightly tilted up. For sure NO NOSE DOWN. These saddles are slippery, another comfort factor so the last thing you want is to be sliding forward. Having a nose tilt keeps your sits where you want them. Given the hardness I am certainly aware of my sit bones after a long day of riding but the next day I can get right back to riding without pain.
Can't wait to hear the results!

oh on conditioning - I have never conditioned either of them. One is 3 years old the other is almost 2. If we are out overnight, I do cover them and if it is raining I cover them as well.

[rebeccaC]

NY…WHITE???? ...once you’ve got the saddle position right, break-in just makes a leather saddle a little more comfortable. If it’s not reasonably comfortable on the first rides it probably won’t be after the time it takes the leather to make the slight adjustments to the contours needed for your body. Thinking the nose tension bolt can help regulate tension for those rides on it at first. Good luck on it being a good saddle for you!!!


Good grief NWG…..I would just completely bailout on a narrow road with logging trucks going by close to me, even with a bike that can navigate from pavement to dirt/sand without problems……When riding up the entrance road to the Arches National Park I learned about oversized RV mirrors and very little shoulder….we did make it without problems though and had a wonderful view at the top to meditate the jangled nerves away with. Thinking nothings wrong with material advances for different kinds of riding....steel is real though, well, for my touring bike

[north woods gal]

Steel remains my fav after all these years. Speaking of touring, people have used a Pugsley to tour up and down and across entire continents with a Pugs. It uses old standard MTB axle and wheel spacings (unlike all the new bikes), so parts are available anywhere in the world and, of course, what passes for roads in some third world countries are not a problem for a Pugsley.

[Catrin]

Agreed regarding steel. Back when I could still ride and I meandered on isolated country roads for 4-6 hours at a time - I dearly loved my steel Gunnar. I've also heard very good things about Pugs for areas with less than...optimum roads. Or that passes for roads. Or goat tracks...

[Crankin]

Today I led a 31 mile ride with another woman. It's someone I was in outdoor leadership training with and she came on my first ride I led. Anyway, only 3 people came, but it was really nice. Was spritzing and a bit cool at first, but after we stopped at 3.5 miles, it had stopped raining. That was good, as I had no jacket. I led all but the first 3 miles. One of these women is someone who always rides behind my husband when we lead; however, she must have not been feeling it today. When we had gone about 6-7 miles, right near where I used to live in Boxborough, all of a sudden we started seeing tons of riders going the other way, and coming from a couple of different directions. It was obviously a charity type ride (I saw a sign that said BHA, but i have no idea what that was). So, we had that and a HS nordic ski team roller skiing, also the opposite way on one street. Thankfully, it was only for about 2 miles, but during all this, the other leader who was sweeping, lost one of our people! We stopped, but I made the decsion to go ahead, as she did have a cue sheet and she's from this area. As we were regrouping at the top of the biggest climb, she caught up with us and had realized her mistake quite quickly.
This ride has some of the most beautiful and quietest roads that used to be my go-to roads for riding. It's hilly, but nice. Then we went down a steep (I mean so steep I have seen people walk up this street on group rides) downhill near my old school where I taught. At this point, I was feeling exhausted and knew I needed to eat, but we had a stop a couple of miles after that. I ate my bar and on we went. As we turned back toward our start I asked them if they would like to cut out some of the neighborhood streets on the route, that I added, just to get 33 miles. Everyone was in agreement, as we all had commitments, so we headed straight back to the start, and the ride ended up at 30.7 miles.
I got lots of thanks, which is nice. Usually, I am sweeping for DH, so this was no stress, as we always argue about speed! Going to dinner at a friend's tonight; I hope i can stay up.