I tried a new seat yesterday. On a 90 mile ride. I am walking a bit funny today.
On top of that, I am a pure idiot, but that is ok. I took my bike in to get the fit looked at on Saturday. It is a good thing I went now instead of waiting until after IMCDA, which was my original thought, because we changed about everything we could have changed. It wasn't until about halfway through though that we discovered my idiot-ness. I had marked my seat post when I took my bike apart for Vineman, last August. I put my bike back together after that race and went on my merry way. When Johnny started to take my seat post off to replace the seat, he said "oh, this is loose." And I jokingly said "wouldn't that be funny if I didn't put it back as tight as it was supposed to be?" Well, that was not a joke after about 2 seconds....that was the time it took to pull my seat post up to the pretty silver line I had drawn on it last summer. As in, my seat post had dropped a good 2 inches since last August. Good one. I am a genius. I had noticed that it seemed like my feet touched the ground better lately, and that I didn't have to get a running start to get on my bike on the trainer, but I thought absolutely nothing of it. Stupid stupid stupid.
So, in addition to raising the seat back to where it was supposed to be, I went back to my original stem, added more shims to my right shoe, played with a few other things, and got a new saddle. I'd been having some lovely swelling just on one side at the top of my inner thigh this year after my long rides. I have always had it at the beginning of the season, but it seemed to last a little longer this year. When they looked at my seat, it had worn down on the right side, so keeping the one I had was out of the question, which means going through the whole ordeal of trying to find a new seat. There is nothing fun about that process.
I tried out the John Cobb V-Flow saddle yesterday and while riding it during the fit and for the first part of the ride yesterday, the shape actually felt pretty similar to my old seat - not much drastically different about it. Well, I guess it was foolish of me to think that. In aero, there is definitely way more pressure on the front than with my old seat, but I think that is something you just have to get used to...maybe. I kept feeling some pinching yesterday too, but it went away if I messed with my shorts a bit. After the ride, the picture was not as pretty. Swelling on the right side again, but not as bad, but for the first time I have a lovely sore where the pinching was going on, and in general things hurt from being aero on the seat. Sorry for way too much information, but that is what you get. So now I have to decide if this is part of the breaking in process or if this seat isn't for me. And I don't exactly have all the time in the world to do it, with a 80-90 hilly ride this weekend and a half ironman the next. Fun times.
All of this and I haven't even mentioned the wind yet. Oh the wind. Awful awful wind. Sustained speeds of 25 mph with gusts well over 30 - the kind that make you scream. Shellie and I hung on for dear life though and pounded out a solid 90 mile ride yesterday. The route we did was not hilly, but 20-30 miles straight into the wind will mimic any climb around (at least the long slow kind...) We also had a pretty decent 15 mile run on Saturday, so overall it was a good training weekend.
Jon ran on Saturday for the first time since his surgery two weeks ago and it went well - thank goodness! He also rode 44 miles on Sunday and looks to be on his way back to the action. I am so thankful things are going well with his knee. He has been sitting in the backseat of my training and racing for far too long and it is good he's finally getting a bit of the action as well.
On top of that, I am a pure idiot, but that is ok. I took my bike in to get the fit looked at on Saturday. It is a good thing I went now instead of waiting until after IMCDA, which was my original thought, because we changed about everything we could have changed. It wasn't until about halfway through though that we discovered my idiot-ness. I had marked my seat post when I took my bike apart for Vineman, last August. I put my bike back together after that race and went on my merry way. When Johnny started to take my seat post off to replace the seat, he said "oh, this is loose." And I jokingly said "wouldn't that be funny if I didn't put it back as tight as it was supposed to be?" Well, that was not a joke after about 2 seconds....that was the time it took to pull my seat post up to the pretty silver line I had drawn on it last summer. As in, my seat post had dropped a good 2 inches since last August. Good one. I am a genius. I had noticed that it seemed like my feet touched the ground better lately, and that I didn't have to get a running start to get on my bike on the trainer, but I thought absolutely nothing of it. Stupid stupid stupid.
So, in addition to raising the seat back to where it was supposed to be, I went back to my original stem, added more shims to my right shoe, played with a few other things, and got a new saddle. I'd been having some lovely swelling just on one side at the top of my inner thigh this year after my long rides. I have always had it at the beginning of the season, but it seemed to last a little longer this year. When they looked at my seat, it had worn down on the right side, so keeping the one I had was out of the question, which means going through the whole ordeal of trying to find a new seat. There is nothing fun about that process.
I tried out the John Cobb V-Flow saddle yesterday and while riding it during the fit and for the first part of the ride yesterday, the shape actually felt pretty similar to my old seat - not much drastically different about it. Well, I guess it was foolish of me to think that. In aero, there is definitely way more pressure on the front than with my old seat, but I think that is something you just have to get used to...maybe. I kept feeling some pinching yesterday too, but it went away if I messed with my shorts a bit. After the ride, the picture was not as pretty. Swelling on the right side again, but not as bad, but for the first time I have a lovely sore where the pinching was going on, and in general things hurt from being aero on the seat. Sorry for way too much information, but that is what you get. So now I have to decide if this is part of the breaking in process or if this seat isn't for me. And I don't exactly have all the time in the world to do it, with a 80-90 hilly ride this weekend and a half ironman the next. Fun times.
All of this and I haven't even mentioned the wind yet. Oh the wind. Awful awful wind. Sustained speeds of 25 mph with gusts well over 30 - the kind that make you scream. Shellie and I hung on for dear life though and pounded out a solid 90 mile ride yesterday. The route we did was not hilly, but 20-30 miles straight into the wind will mimic any climb around (at least the long slow kind...) We also had a pretty decent 15 mile run on Saturday, so overall it was a good training weekend.
Jon ran on Saturday for the first time since his surgery two weeks ago and it went well - thank goodness! He also rode 44 miles on Sunday and looks to be on his way back to the action. I am so thankful things are going well with his knee. He has been sitting in the backseat of my training and racing for far too long and it is good he's finally getting a bit of the action as well.
Comments
Drop the big bucks and try the Adamo. Looks goofy, feels great!