Bicycle thread

[moodfart]

Eh, not gonna derail this thread anymore to explain myself. If it makes ya happy, it's all good.

[neanderthal]

I did not feel like riding last night but I need to get in the habit.

Slowest ride yet. No lungs, no legs no problem. Just get out and ride.

[Gummee!]

Originally Posted by neanderthal

I did not feel like riding last night but I need to get in the habit.

Slowest ride yet. No lungs, no legs no problem. Just get out and ride.

I had a case of the fuckits all day. I even took a nap!

...so instead of riding, I organized the garage some. Then instead of playing UW Hockey, I watched a mini-marathon of Firefly on netfix, ate pizza and drank a couple of beers. :lazyfatsob

M

[Chisenhallw]

40 minutes of intervals yesterday! Woop woop! Rugby season's over, so it's back in the saddle for me!

[RxZ]

The local bike club held a free MTB skills clinic yesterday, and about 50 people showed up for it! (The organizers took bets between themselves as to how many people would show up... highest guess was fifteen!) Anyway, it was a great day. I started by doing a half lap to get warmed up, or about 3 miles, then went and chatted with folks until the clinic started.

Lots of kids and people new to bikes were there, so they started by going over general trail etiquette, then basic bike maintenance. Lots of people were amazed at just how much you have to do to keep a good bike in shape. I think most, myself included until a few months ago, had always bought cheap Wal-mart bikes and then just replaced them after a year or two when they broke from lack of upkeep.

After that, we split into three groups, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I took the intermediate group, as the advanced was being led by a local semi-pro racer and the beginner group was mostly the kids and some older folks just getting into the sport. All in all, it was a great time. The instructors showed us how to best get through some hairy sections of the trail, including line to take, body position, etc. There is even a section of the trail I did not know existed that we went through. I will describe it as a half-pipe with three 180 degree turns in it The advanced group leader rode that part and got good air on all three of the turns, I tried not to wash out my front end, and succeeded

Now to rest my legs a day, and go try to practice some of that stuff maybe tomorrow night. (And try out the new headlight.)

[Birdmove]

Just turned 59 a few days ago and have been riding a mountain bike that was given to me. Saturday I rode it from my place to our Saturday chess club and back, about a 16 mile round trip. I'm working up to a trip from home to Hilo and back (25+ miles round). I'm in decent shape for my age as I've been working out in gyms since age 49. But, I have to get a better saddle for this bike. The bike has low bars so I ride with a bit of a forward lean. The stock saddle forces me to alternately slide from side to side for a while as my cheeks get sore. Also, sometimes when I get off the bike, I have a tingle in my unmentionable areas. This can't be a good thing.

here's a few seats I.m considering:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

These first two are pretty compact saddles. Both have somewhat of a cutout that I presume might help the tingling?? Here's a couple of a bit larger saddles:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A23NB6TM6F50Y6


This is a low end mountain bike, but everything functions well. I don't want to spend a bunch on a seat that's worth more than the bike is. The stock seat has a gel pad the earlier owner put on. This thing must be much worse without the pad.

Anyway, any of these saddles look decent? I mostly street ride with some gravel roads thrown it.

[pierce]

those bell saddles are AWFUL. thick squishy foam is NOT what you want on a saddle, it will squirm under your butt while you're peddling.

what you want is a quite hard surface thats shaped right with only a very thin layer of padding. I generally avoid any saddle that says "gel" (really just code for squishy foam). a decent bike shop likely has a butt tester that you sit on and it leaves two indentations where your sit bones are, better seats come in several widths for different butt bone widths.

I rather like the Specialized Milano seats, but not the 'gel' versions. they come in a 175 width that fits my butt better than most other seats.

[moodfart]

Birdmove - I know WTB has a program where if you go to one of their retailers, you can try their saddles for free until you find one you like.

I did just that, and through trial and error was able to find a great saddle I can ride with for 3-4 hours easy. I think there are other companies who do this as well. Might be worth looking at.

[pierce]

whale.... as you may or may not recall, I was trying to figure out what to do about a Moxie suspension seatpost who's elastomer block had gone soft... for laughs, I hit up the local auto parts place (not a chain), and picked up a rubber coil spring booster. with just a bit of trimming, this fit in place of the elastomer and seems much firmer than the old block. and hey, 2 for $6, so I got a spare!!

[HOT DAMN!]

Originally Posted by melville

What's the story on that oval?

[ducnut]

Originally Posted by Birdmove

Anyway, any of these saddles look decent?

You simply can't buy a saddle online, without trial and return. You'll pay all the shipping, which will get expensive. I'd suggest heading to your LBS. There, you can try anything they have without spending a dime, until you find something that feels good. Unfortunately, that may take more than just a spin around the parking lot.

You're doing mileages that are pretty ambitious, on a MTB. I imagine you're sitting fairly straight-up. That puts an awful lot of weight on just your butt. LD MTB riders run their setups pretty far forward, so that they're evenly distributing weight between their butt, hands, and feet. That's partly why road bikes are setup with the rider in a forward lean.

Lastly, when you see cyclists wearing lycra clothing, they're wearing that because the shorts have a chamois pad in the seat of the shorts. That pad isn't there to "pad" the butt, it's there to break the friction between seat and skin. The outer of the shorts/chamois stick to the seat and the inner to the skin. Without such shorts, your skin is taking all the friction and torture. The weight distribution, cycling shorts, and time on the road all contribute to one's comfort.

[Ridge]

Getting a bit burned out of racing on the road, so I'm trying a new racing series next year. The National Ultra Endurance MTB series is one of those that will test every facet of my fitness both physically and mentally. All races are a minimum of 100 miles off road with a mix of single track, fire access roads and gravel roads. Most are set in the mountains and feature an extensive amount of elevation change. The first race in the series is the Cohutta 100. Approximately 17,000 feet of elevation in 100 miles of racing.

Training begins now...

[Gummee!]

Originally Posted by Ridge

Training begins 2 weeks ago...

fixt

M

[k7]

Originally Posted by Ridge

Getting a bit burned out of racing on the road, so I'm trying a new racing series next year. The National Ultra Endurance MTB series is one of those that will test every facet of my fitness both physically and mentally. All races are a minimum of 100 miles off road with a mix of single track, fire access roads and gravel roads. Most are set in the mountains and feature an extensive amount of elevation change. The first race in the series is the Cohutta 100. Approximately 17,000 feet of elevation in 100 miles of racing.

Training begins now...

Good luck with that! Now there's a challenge you can sink your teeth into!

[Ridge]

Originally Posted by Gummee!

fixt

M

True.. I was back in the gym again beginning last week. Squats and lunges are inventions of the debbil; I'm certain of it!

Edit: and OF COURSE I needed a new tool for the upcoming series, so stay tuned to this bat channel.