Catching up. Beautiful photo of Banff, Shootingstar. Looks like a great place to visit.
Thanks very much for the saddle info, Sky King. I moved it back a millimeter for my ride on Sunday and that has helped significantly. It still feels too nose-up though, and is pushing my shorts up into my crotch. Very annoying. But when I finished my last ride and looked at it, it was clearly tilted down. It definitely was not like that when I started the ride. I thought maybe the bolt wasn't tight enough and it tilted when I hit a bump while riding. But when I went to adjust it last night, the bolt was so tight I couldn't budge it. (Note to self: ask the guys at he LBS not to tighten it so much that I can't loosen it to make adjustments on my own). Also when I checked it with a level last night it was not tilted. So I will hopefully go out and ride again tonight and see what's going on with it.
I say "hopefully" because this morning I discovered the rear tire is flat. I had the bike upside-down last night while I cleaned it and lubed the chain. You'd think I would have noticed the flat then. But no. By the time I get out of work and am able to fix it tonight, it will probably be dark. I looked the tire over quickly this morning and saw several small cuts where glass could have cut through. It will be nearly impossible to find any lurking bits of glass in the dark. Who knows if I'll actually ride tonight or if I will just end up sitting under a streetlight cursing my tire.
Anyway. In spite of the saddle-nose-tilt problem and whatever glass I rode through to cause the flat tire, I rode about 45 miles on Sunday and overall had fun. A friend was leading the ride, and he cross-posted on the schedules of two bike clubs. Most of the people who showed up are not familiar with the area where we rode, though I know it well (and in fact I had designed the route, a couple of years ago). Most people also rode ahead on their own and we rarely or never saw them during the ride. However there were a couple of people who needed help in the last segment of the ride, after the final rest stop. One did not have a cue sheet, and as I talked to him I got the impression that he had some sort of mild cognitive disability. I was happy to ride with him to make sure he didn't get lost, but he kept crowding me and wouldn't ride single file when there were cars behind us, like he was too afraid that I'd drop him. I was starting to sound annoyed with him and didn't want to be annoyed, for his sake as well as mine. And there were two other people who needed help -- one who got dropped on every hill, and another who was riding with him so was stopping periodically to regroup. So I pulled the guy with no cue sheet up to the ride leader and announced that I was dropping back to help the slower riders. It was good that I did that, because they attempted a short cut and would have gotten lost if I hadn't found them. I led them back using a shorter route to cut a few miles from the total. They were extremely appreciative. So at the end of the day we had a bit of drama but enjoyed a scenic bike ride. After we finished I stopped at a nearby sandwich place to get something to eat, and just as I was about to leave it started to rain very heavily, and continued to come down in sheets for about 20 minutes, leaving huge puddles on the roads. I was very glad to have finished the ride before the rain started.
- Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
- Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
- Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle
Gone but not forgotten:
- Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
- Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles