A New Host and Saddle Solution Number 3
If you notice during the next few days that links within my blog appear to be dead there's a reason for that. I'm in the process of terminating my affiliation with Myacen, my web hosting service and bringing it back to life with Go Daddy. I hope to have it all back to normal in a week or less. I've been with Myacen for six years but over the last couple of years, they've become a shell of what they once were to the point where I needed to make this change. My site was down for most of yesterday. The five-year deal I've signed with Go Daddy will give me 10gb of storage and more bandwidth than I could ever use, all for significantly less than I've been paying.
Our garage project is on hold as we wait for Keith to finish work on cabinets for it. I'm actually
not sure if he's even had a chance to start them yet as he's been busy traveling the Midwest following the NHRA race scene which he participates in. He's a busy guy and I'm sure he'll get to them before too long. It will be nice to have everything back in place once the cabinets are installed.
Anybody who cycles long-distance knows the woes of saddle sores. If you've never had them you can't consider yourself a serious cyclist. I'm a serious cyclist; like these guys. I thought I'd found the answer to my problems last fall with the purchase of a Selle SMP Evolution saddle but I was mistaken. After 1800 miles I had to replace it as it was causing some major irritation to my sit bones. This past spring I sprung for a Koobi PRS Alpha saddle and was very happy once again until I developed the same problem with it. Usually, the tendency is to develop sore spots right away which your body eventually adjusts to. This seemed to work in reverse. Both saddles started out fine but got progressively worse. I wasn't enjoying my time on the bike at all with the discomfort I was experiencing.
It can be an expensive endeavor to try and find the right saddle as shops aren't too interested in taking back something you've been riding for hundreds or thousands of miles. My solution has been to try yet another saddle; this time a Brooks and this time
with a six month trial period, no questions asked, fully refundable. I'm talking retro. I've wanted to try one of these for a while but I've been reluctant because of their weight. There's no plastic shell with lightweight covering used in the manufacture of these. They're thick leather with large rivets to both give it its distinguished look and hold it all together. They're some of the heavier road saddles out there but they have some of the best reviews of any saddle for comfort. If it works for me the added weight will be a small sacrifice.
These saddles don't begin to break in until well on the other side of 1000 miles and I've only got a little over 500 miles on mine. I've heard it compared to sitting on a 2 X 4 when they're new and I'd have to say that that's not far off. I've been taking it out on 30 to 60-mile rides so as not to overdo it. It's a slow process.
I left home yesterday with another short break-in ride planned but the gorgeous weather got the best of me and I said screw it...I'm riding today. And I did. When I got to Fairbault I gave a few seconds of thought to turning back and heading home knowing I'd manage over 70 miles but I was also giving a lot of thought to heading east on highway 60 to Kenyon as I'd never taken this stretch of road.
Highway 60 to the east won out and what a beautiful road it is/was; new blacktop with a wide shoulder and not much traffic.
By the time I reached the halfway point of Kenyon, my Garmin Edge 705 told me that I'd only had 80 seconds of paused time. You can get away with that riding in the country with few stoplights. I hurried inside the Marathon station and
refueled as quick as I could. I was feeling pretty good in the saddle and I wanted to minimize my time off it hoping that would keep the pains at bay at least until I got closer to home. It seemed to work.
I came in on the tail end of rush hour and worked my way west along county road 46 through Rosemount expecting to see a lot more cyclists than I did. Didn't others realize what a beautiful day this was to be out riding? A direct route home would give me 96 miles total but I figured I was too close to another century ride for the season to not go for it. A quick loop around Lake Marion gave me more than I needed.
Tomorrow is looking to be another nice one weather-wise so I think I'll continue with the difficult job of breaking in my new saddle. This is serious business but I'll try and enjoy myself while I'm out there if at all possible.
Our garage project is on hold as we wait for Keith to finish work on cabinets for it. I'm actually
not sure if he's even had a chance to start them yet as he's been busy traveling the Midwest following the NHRA race scene which he participates in. He's a busy guy and I'm sure he'll get to them before too long. It will be nice to have everything back in place once the cabinets are installed.Anybody who cycles long-distance knows the woes of saddle sores. If you've never had them you can't consider yourself a serious cyclist. I'm a serious cyclist; like these guys. I thought I'd found the answer to my problems last fall with the purchase of a Selle SMP Evolution saddle but I was mistaken. After 1800 miles I had to replace it as it was causing some major irritation to my sit bones. This past spring I sprung for a Koobi PRS Alpha saddle and was very happy once again until I developed the same problem with it. Usually, the tendency is to develop sore spots right away which your body eventually adjusts to. This seemed to work in reverse. Both saddles started out fine but got progressively worse. I wasn't enjoying my time on the bike at all with the discomfort I was experiencing.
It can be an expensive endeavor to try and find the right saddle as shops aren't too interested in taking back something you've been riding for hundreds or thousands of miles. My solution has been to try yet another saddle; this time a Brooks and this time
with a six month trial period, no questions asked, fully refundable. I'm talking retro. I've wanted to try one of these for a while but I've been reluctant because of their weight. There's no plastic shell with lightweight covering used in the manufacture of these. They're thick leather with large rivets to both give it its distinguished look and hold it all together. They're some of the heavier road saddles out there but they have some of the best reviews of any saddle for comfort. If it works for me the added weight will be a small sacrifice.These saddles don't begin to break in until well on the other side of 1000 miles and I've only got a little over 500 miles on mine. I've heard it compared to sitting on a 2 X 4 when they're new and I'd have to say that that's not far off. I've been taking it out on 30 to 60-mile rides so as not to overdo it. It's a slow process.
I left home yesterday with another short break-in ride planned but the gorgeous weather got the best of me and I said screw it...I'm riding today. And I did. When I got to Fairbault I gave a few seconds of thought to turning back and heading home knowing I'd manage over 70 miles but I was also giving a lot of thought to heading east on highway 60 to Kenyon as I'd never taken this stretch of road.
Highway 60 to the east won out and what a beautiful road it is/was; new blacktop with a wide shoulder and not much traffic.By the time I reached the halfway point of Kenyon, my Garmin Edge 705 told me that I'd only had 80 seconds of paused time. You can get away with that riding in the country with few stoplights. I hurried inside the Marathon station and
refueled as quick as I could. I was feeling pretty good in the saddle and I wanted to minimize my time off it hoping that would keep the pains at bay at least until I got closer to home. It seemed to work.I came in on the tail end of rush hour and worked my way west along county road 46 through Rosemount expecting to see a lot more cyclists than I did. Didn't others realize what a beautiful day this was to be out riding? A direct route home would give me 96 miles total but I figured I was too close to another century ride for the season to not go for it. A quick loop around Lake Marion gave me more than I needed.
Tomorrow is looking to be another nice one weather-wise so I think I'll continue with the difficult job of breaking in my new saddle. This is serious business but I'll try and enjoy myself while I'm out there if at all possible.
Comments