Wednesday 3 July 2013

A new sofa

I had my well earned rest on Sunday, and used the time to go and buy a new saddle for my bike. I went to JE James cycles and as usual I left them thinking why the hell I had bothered at all. Me and that shop have a love-hate relationship, there is one older guy, whom I believe has 2 sons on team Sky, who is fantastic... He wasn't there that day, so I ended up with one of the elitist snobs that tries to avoid you, and when he cant avoid you looks down his nose at you and tries to confuse you with jargon. So I took what advice I could glean from him and went to Edinburgh bikes in Sheffield instead.

They measured my sit bones, which involves sitting for a minute or two on a small board with a memory foam pad that has a gauge behind the pad to measure the gap between the dimples that are left. Whilst sat, you have to 'assume the riding position' by bending forward and bringing your heels up so you are on the balls of your feet. I felt I should ask for a copy of the Sunday Sport, but resisted the urge. I'm not sure this process has any scientific basis, but it is probably a good laugh for the guys in the shop. Anyway, I settled for a Specialized Body Geometry Phenom saddle at £60.

I took it on its first outing on Monday as I dragged my aching corpse from the weekend riding into work. The saddle felt odd, which you would expect with it being new, but it did not affect my performance as I grabbed my first 'King of the mountain' award on the Strava app that I use to log my miles using my smartphone. Because of the early time I had to set off, the traffic was light on one of the first hills that I descend down into Rotherham. If the traffic lights are on your side, you can get down to the bottom pretty quickly. Of the 59 people that have logged rides going down that segment, none of them have done it quicker than me. I'm not particularly proud of this achievement, bombing down a hill at just under 40 miles an hour is a bit daft as coming off at that speed is guaranteed a visit to the hospital, but I find it hard to explain the feeling of exhilaration this gives me. It's like instant stress relief.

Probably said too much now.

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