Saddled

It was shocking how dark it was this morning when I rode out to meet the levee ride. We meet at 6:15 and sunrise is now back to 6:20, and although there would normally be ample light at 6:00 when I leave home, some big clouds in the east this morning kept us in the dark.

Last night I did something that I haven't done since about 1983. I put a saddle on my bike that was not a San Marco Concor. Foolish, I know, but I thought it was about time to try something new and find out what wonderful improvements have been made in the last twenty years. So anyway, last night I removed the old Concor Light with its rusting rails and peeling leather and clamped on a shiny new San Marco Aspide Arrowhead Titanium, chosen mainly because it was light and on sale. In order to get my 66 cm "spindle to saddle" setting right, I had to raise the seatpost nearly a centimeter, and I'm still not sure I've got the angle or setback quite where they belong. Anyway, it certainly looked nice. If I were Italian and the saddle was red and green, that would probably be all I needed to know.

This morning as I headed out the door I slipped an allen wrench into my jersey pocket just in case I felt the need to hurl the thing into the Mississippi and ride home on the bare seatpost. Yeah, I was a little skeptical about the dense padding and the cutout, and since this particular saddle has pretty minimalist padding anyway I wasn't expecting it to feel like an easy chair. Add to that the fact that after 20 some years and probably a 150,000 miles it is entirely possible that the anatomy in my "crotchular area," as Donald likes to put it, has changed to accomodate the curve of the Concor.

The fast long Tuesday ride seemed like a good road test, although I will reserve final judgement for at least a couple of weeks. My initial impression was that, sadly, little progress had been made in the saddle area in the last 25 years. This saddle wasn't noticibly more comfortable than the Concor, which is to say it was merely tolerable, and as far as I can tell, the cutout has no effect whatsoever. Toward the end of the 44 mile ride I still found myself standing up to relieve the pressure as usual. So we'll see how it goes over the next few weeks, but I wouldn't be surprised if I end up trying one or two more saddles before settling (pun intended) on one. In the meantime, I will say that it is certainly light, doesn't interfere with my pedaling motion at all, and is most definitely more comfortable than either a brand new leather Brooks Pro, with which I have had some personal experience, or an unsanded 2x4 (same difference)!