So, this Sunday we decided to have brunch up at the Presido Social Club. I reviewed this joint previously here. Awesome atmosphere, very comfortable, great with kids, and a nice example of a tasteful renovation of an older structure. Anyway, since wifebot(tm)s sister was coming and we have a 4 seater MINI, I offered to ride. I’d get a short zip up the grade and over the bridge under my belt, and it would solve the seating issue. I hadn’t ridden in about 12 days, nursing a strained wrist, but it seemed the time to give up the rest and get on it. It was about 75 degrees when I left, and it jumped to the high 80s while I was out. Gorgeous day.

Side note: here’s a shot of the Jolly Roger I have on each bike, for science.

Side Note: note the wisced ’3′ on my stem. I’m superficial.

Side note: and I finally laid down a Team Lope Tyre Clubbe vinyl on Rogue, my Cinelli road bike build. Smaller than usual, but not a lot of room on this frame.

So I got out there and rode through MV, Sausalito and up Alexander to the bridge. This was my usual return commute when I lived in SF and worked in MV, so I’m not reallu used to it in the day time, fighting tourists and swerving cars and rental bikes and sun. On the other hand, no wind, and I’m accustomed to it blowing like stink getting up the hill and over the bridge in the evenings. Anyway, the ride was great, my wirst didn’t hurt too badly, so it was nice to get some riding in. You’re off the bike for more than a few days and you feel like everything falls to pieces. This photo was at the entrance to the Presidio Social Club, near the Lombard gate. Getting there was interesting due to all the construction from the Doyle Drive demolition.

Unfortunately, having scorchers then rain then scorchers then rain is tough on allergy sufferers. The trees get tricked and re-flower so pollen levels are at an all time high. I looked like I was a Less Than Zero extra by the time I sat down. My eyes were on fire and I had the hay fevers and so on. But the food was good and being with my family was better. Ate light. Just heading down the hill again, right?

Well, here’s what happened: the pedestrian and bike traffic is pooled onto the bay side of the Golden Gate Bridge while they do ‘construction’ in quotes, because there was nothing happening on the weekend of course and I saw no dangerous sections of that side in all my drives into the city at this point. I think they just close it off for months at a time and sort out the repair schedule as they need to later. It really pisses me off. Combining riders and pedestrians on the same side is a recipe for disaster, and I’ve commented on this several times here on Team Lope. It’s terrible. The tourist traffic is immense, no one looks where they’re going, the pedestrians stagger or JUMP out into the bike side the bikes get all tangled up with the tourist rentals and such, and then frustrated roadies plow through them all. It’s a bad scene, and very stressful. On the way over, I saw several near-misses, thanks to a girl scout march. Those girls were NOT being managed by the troop leaders, and were out of control.

So, on the way back, more of the same, and despite going slow and calling out and trying to safely and politely navigate through the throng of people who were paying NO attention, I still collected a girl scout. She tangled in my bars like ole Lance, though I was only going about 5mph and I didn’t fall over. The girl scattered and then the troop master or ward started screaming at me. I pointed out that if I was crossing the bridge in these conditions I’d be holding my daughter’s hand if she was out of control, as they were, and that SHE was responsible for keeping those girls in line. I said this very politely as she ranted about ‘us cyclists’. Keep in mind I was being very careful and calling out, while riders in front of and behind me were less patient. I made sure the girl was OK, and she was. She was totally backed up and quiet too, because she knew what she did: she was jumping out and tagging the opposing handrail like a game. Anyway, I was so fired with adrenaline and aggravated at those irresponsible women that I had to burn it off. Not engaging in a confrontation is like swallowing a grenade. So, I got off the bridge and decided to climb the Marin Headlands, and so I did.

That cleansed my palate! I haven’t ridden up that stretch since they repaved it and added a roundabout for all the tourist cars, and it was a nice refresher. Got to the top, took a few pics, descended the other side, felt that cool ocean breeze. Really great! Because of my wirst, my braking was weak so I locked up the back wheel a few times ont he descent avoiding braking cars, but overall, no issues. And MAN, is that tunnel back to the bridge exhilarating or what? I didn’t time it this time but I was ahead of the cars, it’s one way/staggered, and it’s a mild descent so it’s SO FAST. Love it.

Back home through the tourist madness of Sasaulito, up to the deck where the whole fam was hiding out from the heat, a beer and a baby in my lap. Great way to end my impromptu climbing ride!

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I’m doing a sell-off of some stuff from the shop.

Item 1: Saris Thelma 3 hitch bike rack: best design I’ve ever used, clamshell clamps the front wheel, so unusual frames are no problem. Fits a 1-1/4" hitch, carries up to three bikes, and I have extra parts. $250

Item 2: H+Son Track Wheelset: custom made by 718c in Brooklyn; black SL42 H+Son rims black laced (double butted) to Soma hubs (black front, gold rear) though note the fixed side of the hub has some damage, so you run this as a freewheel on the other side or replace the hub. Basically throwing the wheel in with the front. $140

Item 3: Origin 8 Track Wheelset, all white: white on white on white. Unmachined front so you can see some brake smear but very lightly used all around. $75

Pick up if local to the SF Bay Area, otherwise shippable.
Contact me however you can, via comments, PM email etc

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I was telling Lung about this frame over the weekend. An e-friend of mine, Kevin, rides this custom Spicer frame with a noBrake bridge that I love. A brake bridge on a fixie is as functional as the vermouth is in my martinis (ie. I wave the vermouth bottle around like a shaman, thats about it)… assuming the frame isn’t relying on it for structural support, which this clearly is not…I love the arc and how tight it is to the wheel.

You can check out Kevin’s Kaiju Melt custom figures here. Awesome stuff.

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In all these years, I’ve never ridden Mt. Talampais on a mountain bike. For those not into history, specifically bike history, Tam is the home of the mountain bike. Sure, it’s more complicated than that, but what we all think of as mountain biking today, from equipment to the terrain that spawned the industry that followed, came from Tam in the 70s. More on that here (and yes, Lung, I can give you the film) so it’s kind of surreal to ride Tam off-road and imgine those guys int he early days retrofitting their frames and putting the big rubber on and muscling their way up the mountain. We take it for granted today. Kind of cool.

A ride, 15 years ago, that almost ended not well.

I used to do a fair amount of recreational mountain biking. I wasn’t like the local guys out here that shoot up the mountain every week, but it was the bike I road in the city and on trips, and I loved both single track and dirt road climbs. And even after I traded my mtb for my first road bike (ie. in the adult era), I still rented them on vacations and did rides when I could, such as in Arizona and the like.

Anyway, I’ve always associated the Tam ride with my road bike riding, as that’s just what I’ve always done. Shoreline to Panoramic to the Tam approach, paved, up to Ridgecrest, both peaks, then down. It’s still a great workout, and variations on it, either that route or the Alpine Dam approach, comprise most of the hardest riding I do in my back yard here in Marin. But I picked up a big ole 29er to build into an Xtracycle for kid and cargo transport, and thought to myself: self? You need to ride this as it was intended, before you hack it up… and nowhere better than Tam. So I did. I didn’t really know the route, though friends in the area gave me a general sense of it, and I just cut out of work a little early, and made a go of it. Unfortunately, it was during our recent heatwave, so I worked a lot harder than I would say, today, 35 degrees cooler just 72 hours later. Anyway, it was awesome.

It also kicked my ass! Even with all those gears, that specific gear ratio, the suspension, and a reasonably mild ride from a technical standpoint, it was work. For one thing, my bike isn’t the lightest, being on the entry level end. For another, I haven’t muscled my way up a mountain offroad since Sept. 11, 2001, so there was no muscle memory for that combination of high spinning AND the myriad little surges and pushes you do to get over broken terrain. Plus, it was effing HOT. And lastly, you know, after a full day of work, I wasn’t at my personal best by any means. And yet, it was still a memorable ride I plan to revisit soon.

I took Blithedale out until it narrowed to an unmaintained road, then hopped on the trail. The main route up largely involves Old Railroad Grade, which used to be the bed for a tourist rail system that brought people up Tam back in the day, itself something of some notoriety for being the ‘crookedest railroad in the world’…you can read more about that and the history of Tam here. I was initially disappointed when I learned it was a railroad bed, because my previous mountain riding several years ago was single track. However, it was still no joke. It was heavily rutted, bounders and ravines and rocks and slurry and steep drops down the side. It wasn’t technical enough to be outrightly dangerous to the inexperienced rider, but challenging enough and long enough to give you a go-round, regardless of fitness levels. Much like Paradise and other nearby loops, it’s one of those rides that can kick your ass at first, then become the FUN kind of workout once you’re seasoned. I love that kind of flexibility with regards to loops like that, allowing their continued enjoyment on repeat rides. So I knew going up that I was experiencing it at my general worst for this kind of thing, and that future runs would only be easier.

For the most part, the ride was just fine. I was flying along all the way up to the top of Summit Rd, through great sections of tree canopy and blocks of no coverage where the sun was very hot. I was hydrating and eating and not overdoing it, so I was approaching it the way any experienced rider on unfamiliar route/terrain would: I kept reserves and respected my ride. At the top of that, I missed the cut off to continue up the grade, so I went down quite a ways, further than I’d like thanks to some bad intel from a hiker, but then decided I was returning to Mill Valley that way, flipped it and went back up again. This time, down the other side the way I came, I found soem riders who let me tag along, and set me on the right course again before they peeled off. There are a million smaller routes and side trails you can take, even though general off-roading is banned on Tam to save the ecosystem from getting trampled to death. So after those guys were gone, I kept going alone. My only real trouble was zig-zagging going into a large raving and wrenching my left side, hand and foot, pretty badly in that maneuver, which I would then be favoring the rest of the ride, and much worse a few days later on the Primavera Metric Century later in the weekend.

Otherwise, I got as high as the West Point Inn (used to be a restaurant/shelter for people on that railroad trip, now a hiking shelter) before I got the call from home that my wife could use a hand with the kids, so I had to turn back rather than reach the East peak as intended. As it turns out, I was thisclose to getting there, and had I known that at the time I probably would have just continued to the top.

Anyway, I flew down at the measured, controlled pace for which I have been known in all my years of riding, as friends would fly past me on freefall descents, road and mountain, and sometimes crash out, on road and mountain. I gots kids! Anyway, it was a great descent. I knew of a shortcut that would have reduced the trip to 10 minutes all the way down, but it was very steep and seemed unwise so I kept at my original route until I saw a second access point to that alternate route and took that, ultimately dropping out just shy of Four Corners. At that point, I was actually thankful that I didn’t go that last bit to the peak, because my fuel ran out (OK, yeah, 3 fish tacos and a handful of peanuts was not enough for the day)… so I was bonking hard on Panoramic and all the way home, where I plowed through a beer and some peanut butter like an animal.

Word to Lung, whom I point at specifically, here, representing Team lope in the distance.

Lessons learned on this first ride up Tam the right way:

- stretch more in the upper body: unlike road riding, you rely on your arms and shoulders and upper back a lot when navigating rocky terrain, and I really just stretched legs and core out of habit. I might not have wrenched my wirst otherwise.

glorious fish tacos from FISH. Not enough.

- feed a LOT more than I did. I mean, this would apply to most any good climbing route, but I got sort of complacent about grabbing the chance to ride even if I wasn’t well fueled, as often happens on my morning or lunchtime Paradise Loops prior to eating. Up there you burn out faster, and then guess what: you’re far from home. It’s just common sense. But I had a chance to ride and took it, frankly not knowing how far up I’d make it anyway.

- Drop the diet for the climbs: I tend to use a low/no carb, lean protein diet when I’m trying to get fit, and of course, on ANY type of ride of enough duration and effort, it’s a challenge when you don’t have the carb reservoirs. I had nothing to burn on this ride. At least on event rides I break my diet and fuel up on carbs the day before and the day of. This was spontaneous enough for that not to be possible. I really wished I had that energy reserve up there.

- STAY LIMBER: my wriest wrenching was a great lesson on how easily you can jack yourself up on those jagged sections of trail.

- Lizards are awesome: I saw snakes, a tarantula, birds, a fox, and a metric ton of lizards up there, and in the latter case, I was taken back to my childhood obsession with gladhanding bluebellies. Make what you will of THAT.

- Mountain biking is pure: that’s something I used to know, but forgot over the years. I’m talking purity in the sense of being at eace, being contemplative, enjoying the sport aspect but also having some freedom from the stress of the day. I’ve clocked tens of thousands of hours on road bikes and fixed gears over the years, with a lot of that without a rider or car in sight. But being on paved roads STILL means density: cars, other riders, what have you. Plus, unexpected road condition dangers. On a mtb ride, you are equipped for uneven terrain and expecting it, and you may have other riders around sometimes, just like with hiking, but overall, you’re alone, you and nature. It’s humbling and wonderful. The smells, the sights, everything. It’s pure cycling fun. You put away he time trial brain (at least climbing) and focus on the experience. I mean, I do, anyway. There’s all sorts of competitive mtb riding appealing to any kind of rider. But for me, the lack of an SUV crowding me was the single biggest appeal.

As I said, I plan to do this more frequently, now that I know at least one route, and damn it’s easy to get to from where I am. Ridiculously so. I’ve always said I live in road biking mecca… but the same is so of mountain biking. Now in a few weeks time, my 29er will be an xtracycle. And it is planned to be running slicks. But I suspect that if I pull the kid’s seat off, and perhaps change the rubber, I could get that bad boy up. I mean, I never went into third, or granny, ring on the bike on this run, so even with the added weight of the xtracycle build, I’d have a whole ‘nuther ring to work with and the stability of that longer frame. I look for ward to finding out!

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Second time climbing Loring on the bigger inchgear and I have to say, it was easier. I went up from 72 to 77, and definitely enjoy the speed on the flats on this frame, but man, yeah, climbing is tougher. So, my dilemma is this: Primavera Century is this Sunday, and Lung and I are doing it fixed. Lung just dropped back down to 72. I’m wondering if I should do the same, or at least throw it on the other side of the hub, so we are timed, like on ALC, for similar cadence on flats and climbs. I think there’s enough climbing on Primavera to make this 77 a tough nut…

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My practicing of ambi skids is still slow going. However, my other tasks continue to improve. I’ve been practicing skidding on different bars (and by extension, different geometries)… certainly Crook is the easiest to skid with, being a pursuit frame, and the bulls letting you get way forward. But I’ve now been able to skid on Rapscallion (the baby cargo bike, currently now only a cargo bike), Wrongbike and Carpetbagger. That’s in the drops (Wrongbike), on risers (Rapscallion) and on rising arcs (Carpetbagger)… but the Wrongbike situation leads to the next task: sit skids.

Being able to skid from the tops of the pista bars on wrongbike led to my cracking the sit skid. Before this, I could sort of accomplish it by getting into the drops or bulls or whatever, and I could get a bit of sit skid, but not much. Once I could skid from the bartops (granted, not long skids) I was able to focus on the lift and skid necessary to skid seated. I love it.

More arrows, you see! Now I can, for the first time, ride without my finger resting out of habit on the lever. If I see something happening, I can initiate a sit skid while getting to the brake.

Next up, more ambi skid practice, and I’m in the early stages of working on one hand sit skid. Which, of course, means coffee carriage.

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my initial thoughts on this pack were in a POST in a more general forum category, but this review is very cycling-specific, so i’m putting it here in team lope.

this past weekend, i rode 70 miles from the pittsburg/bayPoint BART station to sacramento for the north american handmade bicycle show. there’s a ride report and a bunch of image dumps for that stuff that i’m not gonna bother linking to. the point is, i needed to have a pack that i could ride that distance with. the distance wasn’t far, and it had next to no climbs on it, but when you’re fully geared down with a pack, it’s an entirely different story, as i would come to find out.

however, the pack itself was AMAZING. first of all, my cargo…

/ 3 pr socks
/ 3 underwear
/ 2 longsleeve tees
/ 2 shortsleeve tees
/ 1 button up shirt
/ 1 tie
/ 1 sweater/jacket thing
/ 1 jacket
/ 1 jean
/ 1 pr sneaks
/ 1 knit cap
/ extra short
/ knee brace
/ bike pump
/ tool pouch
/ tyre
/ headlight
/ flat fender
/ shoe covers
/ TLTC flask, filled with jameson
/ 15" macbook pro, plus power block/cord
/ wacom bamboo tablet and stylus
/ phone charging cord
/ headlight charging cord
/ various small gifts (knife, pens)
/ toothbrush/toothpaste
/ salt/electrolyte pills

that’s actually a lot of shit, but i was there for 4 days and that was packing slim. in fact, the only two things on that whole list that i didn’t use were the knit cap, the button up shirt, the tie, and the knee brace. and those were just in case things anyway. i could have also done without the extra short because i washed the kit i wore and could have worn it back had i not been sick enough to warrant an amtrak trip instead.

so all that shit fit, albeit with only inches to spare, which was the first huge win. and despite the fact that it musta weighed 30 or 40 pounds, it wasn’t really all that uncomfortable. to be honest, i was fucking amazed at that. i thought for sure that with an MBP directly against my back (plenty of padding, but you get my point), and with the time it would take to make the trip, i would be in agony. and while my ass was, my shoulders and back were NOT. it also never threw me off balance, nor did it impede my over-the-shoulder vision, nor did it interfere (too much) with the back of my helmet. to be honest, it wasn’t that big of a deal at all!

now granted, if this had been a trip with climbs, i’m sure i’d feel entirely differently about it. in fact, the weight of the pack and the effort it takes to muscle it through headwinds makes me think that when i go on my solo camping trip, i’m going to need to gear way down. what i’ll likely do is run my standard 77.2 gear inch on the unused side of my hub and kick the used side way down to the high 60s. cause the route i intend to take has a couple of no-bullshit climbs and i don’t want to punk out.

but my point is, this is the first time i’ve ever taken a ride of any significance with actual cargo and i fuckin ROCKED IT thanks to this bag. spacious enough for all you need for a 4-day trip to another city, slim enough to not impede your vision when you turn your head, well-designed enough to not be smacking your helmet against it all the time, and actually quite comfortable. oh, and side note, i can reach around to retrieve and replace the u-lock that it holds (i use a second u-lock for securing my front wheel to my frame these days and that’s what was there – my primary lock is still on my belt).

10/10 CLANKS!

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I hate changing tyres. At least I used to. You have to understand, this comes from twin unpleasant scenarios: too many field tyre changes that usually involved two or three tubes due to pinch flats or valve collap; and home changes where I fought with deep, tight road wheel clincher rims and kevlar bead tyres until my fingers fell off. But a few weeks ago, I went to switch out front wheels on Crook, and it went so smoothly that I decided to take on another wheel with some issues, and that went well too. So, it appeared like my curse was lifted. So last night, I went to town on ALL my remaining wheel projects, while BBQing ‘Honest Dogs’.

Step 01: Beverage. It’s been an unseasonably warm weekend (and new week) here in Northern California, and I spent a lot of it outdoors with the kids, though not riding. So I was in a cool, refreshing drink mood. Hence, sangria for the people.

My tasks were pretty straight-forward: New rear wheel on Crook, so new rubber going on that one; replacing the rubber on the front wheel to match, because I’m a matchy-mcmatch dork, which sort of goes against fixie-hipster science; pulled the white tyres off of the white track wheels, and the black/white Everwears off of the black wheels, because I was inspired at 3am to go white on black, and not in a SugarDVD capacity. Necessarily. Lots of taking off of one rim and applying to another rim, lots of opportunities for exploding tubes and mayhem. Also, kids running around, alcohol and open flame. And a knife. And ladybugs, which are in mating season.

One area in which Lung and I differ is the aesthetics of the THICKSLICK tyres that were released by Freedom last fall. He doesn’t like the big lower case goofy font branding. I actually like it, because it evokes the fat tires of drag racers I saw as a kid (well, saw on TV or whatever) where they had similar lettering. I think it’s cool that the lettering works it’s way down to the contact area of the tyre. I love love love slicks. And after beating myself up skidding on Gatorskin Hardshells (the super-beefy kevlar contis I swear by for distance riding on road bikes and on this bike, even beefier than normal Gatorskins) and basically wasting them, I thought I’d have fun with a fire-and-forget skid tyre.

ThickSlicks are interesting. There’s more there there than I originally thought. I assumed these were cheap rubber tyres like Vittoria Randos that are so soft you can draw on the sidewalk with them on hot days, right. But according to folks I know around town, even the basic model (the Sport version I’m using, vs the beefier kevlar Elite model) lasts forever, even skidding. It’s the principle of mass and how they built the section up. It’s a thick tyre. Noticeably so. And much heavier than others, as a result. They went on pretty easily (after muscling my nearly new Gatorskins off) and look great. And, as of this morning, I can tell you they skid even BETTER.

This was the other project: I took the black Chukker wheels that Joe at 718c made me for the baby bike, Rapscallion, and put white track rubber on them. That bike is getting repainted matte black to match the original frame for that project (the Mixte) so i thought it would be a neat look. They look pretty boss to me.

No explosions, no lacerations, no deaths. Big deal, some tyre swaps. But this is an area in which Chiaramonte’s Misfortune Principle generally applies in quantity. So yay.

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next category of NAHBS builds for you is "unique concepts" these are bikes which stood out as … well, unique. things i hadn’t expected or things i hadn’t seen before or just really imaginative things.

first up is the EVIL DEAD BIKE, which i gave it’s own post already.

next up is this crazy madness, a reconstruction of what’s called a "whippet," a bike which was very successful from 1885 to 1888, before the invention of the pneumatic tire. this was made by a frame builder who worked from a line drawing and some museum photos…

since bikes of the time had solid rubber tyres, they were super uncomfortable, and the whippet attempted to compensate for that with details such as a front shock…

and a mid-body shock…

the brake was a crazy contraption which utilized a lever that pushed on a bar that wrapped around the body of the bike (the silver bar just above the frame’s top tube)…

to a metal lever and plate in the back, where the plate rubbed against the solid rubber tyre…

apparently they were very uncomfortable to ride because they were too squishy, and since they had a total of seven pivot points in the design, tensioning the chain would gradually cause the two head tubes to become misaligned, resulting in the front scissor linkage losing functionality when the bars were turned. but still. a crazy bike.

next up is this WTF track bike…

personally, i can’t see any functional reason for this bike to exist, but this is a show, so there you go. it may look like the steering column is fixed, but in fact the stem (polished) is separate from the frame (gray), which is why there’s that other little connection point going from the head tube to the top tube.

next up, the "mudbike." i fucking LOVE this bike and it’s only real unique concept is the paint job. it’s a CX bike that is painted to look like it’s got mud spray on it….

it may not look like much in that picture, but upon closer inspection, you can see that each individual dot is hand-placed using a spoke nipple dipped in a different shade of brown and then touched to the frame. it has over 1500 individual dots over the frame and fork, entirely hand-done…

another one i just absolutely loved was a tandem specifically designed for a parent and child to ride, but unlike other kid bikes, this one put the kid in the front…

now look closely at how that works. the kid’s handlebars are fixed, they don’t do anything. the parents’ handlebars are what turn the front wheel, as on a front bucket cargo bike. but the kids’ pedals turn in conjunction with the parents,’ as on a proper tandem. i LOVE this bike. i’m a huge fan of the kid being on the front (as a rule), because they can actually see what’s going on and begin to feel what it’s like to ride independently.

next up is a crazy and unique brake detail that i noticed on an otherwise simple build…

i don’t know what’s up with that dodgy swede, but note the brake "levers." the brake cable is strung between two fixed points (with the housing on the inner point, as per the usue), but it has beads on it. so when you grab the beads and pull, you’re actually pulling the cable itself. pretty trick.

and finally, the deLorean bikes. these bikes aren’t made by DMC, obviously. they’re homage to the classic stainless steel, gullwing-door sportscar which may or may not be capable of time travel…

they had a sweet, simple city bike with a belt drive and an internally geared rear hub…

and a beautiful roadie which, while boasting questionable wheels, did have a sweet champagne cage on the seat tube…

stay tuned for more NAHBS image posts. i think next i’ll post up the fat tyre bikes.

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there’s a bunch of physical impact that cycling has on the body which may make you pull over and have to rest. muscle fatigue, elevated heart rate, and lack of oxygen are some. and while i’ve had to pull over for elevated heart rate before, it’s pretty rare. but there’s one thing that will drive me to the shoulder faster and more frequently than any other thing — SADDLE SORE. i don’t know if it’s because i’m a lean dude so my sit bones are closer to the surface, or if it’s because i just can’t find a saddle yet that’s right for my physical makeup, or even if it’s because i haven’t got the right cycling shorts, but seriously — 30 miles is about all i have in me when it comes to this dreadful pain. on the way up to sacramento, my ass was BATTERED, specifically because i was carrying a full pack on my back for 70 miles, which would have hurt even without the pack. and at the risk of revealing TMI, i also battle with the perenial pressure thing on saddles. i need the groove or i can’t … uh, perform. so needless to say, i’m perpetually looking for a saddle that works for me.

because your pelvis tilts side to side as you ride, the key to solving this is to find a saddle which gives under pressure. not one that’s squishy, in fact it needs to be pretty firm, but one that has some play. and that’s why one thing that works for many cyclists is leather saddles. leather has a lot of give and can be suspended like a hammock over a frame, allowing for your body’s movement to push down on one side without crushing the sitbone. this is why brooks has been so popular for so many years. but recently a saddle called the SELLE AN-ATOMICA was released which piqued my interest, because it was a combination of two things that brooks only offers separately. it’s a low-profile saddle (no tall sides) like the brooks swallow, but it has a split down the middle like the brooks imperial (which has tall sides). and the split is way longer than on the imperial. it was like the best of both worlds and i was very interested.

so at NAHBS, the selle an-atomica people were there and they had a bike on a trainer, where you could test the saddle, albeit riding in place. now remember that i was pretty battered down there from the ride up, and in fact, even the 10-block ride to the show was hurting me, both days. but i sat on this saddle and pedaled on the trainer for a while and i felt nothing but comfort. i could feel the saddle giving way to either side as i turned the cranks. rather than my right sitbone hurting when my right foot was down and my left sitbone hurting when my left foot was down, the saddle just tilted with me. as i pedaled, it moved with my pelvis. it was perfect. it was also $190. yeesh. the show special was no tax, which was nice, but i still hesitated.

since it’s a family-owned business (a husband, wife, and two sons) and the lady was there with one of the sons, i talked to her for a minute while i was testing it. i explained what my problems were, and she said that the family set out on this project because they wanted the sons to ride comfortably. she said that she’s never gotten a complaint, and that in fact, she’s gotten "most comfortable saddle ever" a number of times. she said that many people like me, who’d been looking for their entire cycling lives for a saddle that didn’t hurt, had thanked them for finally making one. i talked to the son who was there, who said very convincingly that after a few miles you don’t even know it’s there any more. but still, $190? then i remembered that i’m getting a fat bonus from work on this upcoming friday and thought fuck it and snapped up the black with gunmetal brads.

when i left the show, i swapped the saddle out there on the sidewalk and rode it back to my hotel. HOLY SHIT. the streets in sacramento aren’t as pitted and deadly as in SF, but there are plenty of opportunities to go over bumpity-bumps, and i took every one. it’s amazing, even with a sore ass, i felt nothing. not to mention i could still feel the saddle giving and moving with my body as i pedaled.

so needless to say i’m REALLY pleased at the first go. only a proper ride will tell and i’m still too sick to ride back to SF so i probably won’t have that opportunity till next weekend, but i intend to take it. and if it doesn’t work out, they’re totally cool about taking it back. they said i have 30 days and if i don’t like it, no questions asked. very awesome.

of course now i have to finally cave in and do that chain-wrapped-in-inner-tube thing to keep my fucking $190 saddle in my possession, but hey, whatever. i’ll make it work.

/// UPDATE \\\
i can finally say with confidence that this is the best saddle i’ve ever owned. i took it on the primavera metric century this past weekend, and experienced absolutely zero saddle sore. ordinarily, i’d have been feeling it around mile 30-40, and it’d have been becoming unbearable after mile 50-60. this saddle? nothing, after 63.5 miles.

i’m definitely going to get one for my road bike. cost is no longer an issue to me. in my opinion, this is the best saddle on the market, of those that i’ve tried. and i’ve tried bunches.

10/10 CLANKS!

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