saddle UP!

Good afternoon.  Today is a beautiful day here in Mpls.  We were the hottest city in the US yesterday (it hit about 103 around 3pm....I was happily sipping an iced coffee doing some geography homework in a coffee shop).  And you know-people here complain when it is winter and too cold, they complain when it is summer and too hot.  I'm over it.  I love this city, and whether or not it always perfect out, I feel I can survive whatever the weather brings us. 

ANYHOW, speaking of awesome outside, Ive been riding a lot lately (and so have my little lady, which makes me SO happy!)

Anyone who rides a bike a lot knows that saddle position can make or break you.  Sure, if you are only riding for 15-20 minutes, no big deal.  But when you are on the saddle for the better part of an afternoon, you start to notice the little things.

I bought this saddle 2 or 3 years ago when I was first building up my commuter.  When I was picking out all the parts I was going to use, I thought to myself "I should invest in a really good saddle.  If my pedals aren't amazing, that's ok.  But my ass will be mad if I don't get something nice."  So that's what I did-invested in this bad boy. 

The Bontrager inForm RL WSD Saddle is the one I went with and I love it.  However it has taken me a long time to get the positioning just right.  I've had my allen wrench on me at all times so I can tweak it in an attempt to adjust it just right.  And I think I was able to achieve that this morning.  MAN, it made my ride in amazing.  I even took the long way to work, just to test it out a bit.

One reason why it took me SO long to get it adjusted right is because of the seat post.  It came with the frame, is a random size and I'm a big believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."  The seat post works just fine.  However the bolt that connects the clamp to the saddle is a hair to long and doesn't really fit well under the saddle.  If you can see on either of these pictures, the bolt somewhat digs into the bottom of the saddle.  This made it *very* hard to adjust it to what I needed.  But what Ive learned from this whole process is that it is better to mix it up and try different positions than just let it be uncomfortable and have your princess hurt all the time. 

Like I said, now I think I have it just right, which makes me excited to push past my 40 mile limit on this bike.  After that(in the past) my underside gets mad at me and I need to get off for the day.  Having your sit bones connect on the proper part of the saddle really does make a difference.  And I can promise you that if you just act with patience and try different positioning, you will be happier than you thought you could be.  If you need help, holler....however I have no promises that I'll be able to do too much.