So, this is probably more of a newbie question, but it keeps bothering me and neither my LBS nor my more experienced cycling friends have been able to help me.

It's about the fit of my saddle. Since I purchased my bike, I've been gripping the handlebars like my life depended on it and for the first few rides, I accepted that as part of the transition from a hybrid to a road bike position. But even after a few rides under my belt, I still struggled to get my water bottle of the cage while riding and I could barely stretch up to straighten my back up because any of that movement would cause me to lean forward and feel like I was going head first.

I took it to the LBS and told them about this and that I wanted my saddle nose titled up a bit. On my hybrid, I had to do that too and I figured that when the LBS fitted me, they didn't know how my hip/pelvic area was and I didn't know any better to remember that I had done that to my hybrid.

So, they tilted it a little higher. It got a lot better. I could now let go of the handlebars and drink out of my bottle, but I still felt like I needed to tilt it higher. I was still gripping the handlebars too hard and it really was no longer because of fear or being uncomfortable on this type of bike.

I brought my bike to get maintained and I asked them to tilt up the saddle.

The LBS fitter asked "Where do you sit?"

I didn't know how to answer that question. I said, "Uh... on my sitz bones? What do you mean?"

He then pulled out a level and placed on my saddle. It's a Riva saddle that came with my Dolce Comp Sport. It curves up in the back and has a canal in the middle with a hole in the center and the nose is closed off. (It kind of looks like this one, but in white: http://roysbikes.com/images/library/...k_155_12_m.jpg)

Anyway, he placed the level on the higher end of the saddle and then rested the other side on the nose. Obviously, at that angle, the seat wasn't level. He then took the level and placed it in the canal in the middle of the seat, mumbled some things and wrote down that I wanted my seat titled and told me to come back to pick up the bike in a few days after they did general maintenance on it.

I picked it up, the seat looked like it hadn't moved and I didn't ride it in the parking lot because I had to head home. I've ridden it now a few more times with the saddle, but I still feel like I'm slipping forward on the saddle and the longer I ride, the more annoying this becomes. I just did over 50 miles on Sunday and my hands were getting numb after mile 20 because I had to keep pushing myself off the handlebars.

The question now is...

Is it the saddle in general?

Is it my pelvic region/sitz bones?

Is it my fit?

Is it the bike, rather than the saddle?

I also do Pilates on days I don't spin/ride and I know about the c-curve and using that on the bike to hold myself up, but I can't hold a c-curve on this saddle without slipping forward. I don't know if this is weak abs (which I doubt, since I've been doing pilates for YEARS) or it's the saddle.

I just adjusted the nose up (using a similar level to the one the bike shop used) and this time, I kept the level in the canal and tilted the nose up until it was level. If I had used the saddle back where the sitzbones should rest, the nose would have been even higher and I didn't want to go that high.

I'll ride the bike around the block to test it, but I also wanted to ask here because I just don't know if this is MY issue (i.e. weak abs or something) or if this is a question of the nose being higher and my LBS was just scared to tilt it up too high (and if so, why wouldn't they tilt it higher?).

Any advice/help is appreciated and sorry for the book!