Sand Plum Classic

Well, bike fit makes a difference.  I am faster, however my bike is completely different now causing a whole new set of issues.  The problem that sent me to the bike shop to begin with has not been solved.  My legs still went numb after 35 miles.  So the search is on for a new saddle.  We did the Sand Plum Classic last Sunday.  It was a really nice ride with great SAGs.  Unfortunately, Kansas can't decide what time of year it is, so it was 102 degrees during the hottest part of the day.  Luckily, we were done before it got that hot, but it was toasty.  Jason thinks I could have kept up with him had my legs not started falling asleep and loosing power.  My brother Jon did this ride with us.  He finished but I think it was harder on him than he will admit.  For my part, it was rough simply because of the leg discomfort.  I had thought of stopping but decided that if I just kept my legs moving I would be okay.  And I finished, without any breakdowns, no doubt and that was wonderful.

So back to the saddle issues.  I think that my endurance will improve if I could my seat figured out, I could go for a lot longer.  So I went to the local bike shop.  I love Big Poppi's but it's two hours from my house.  So to Golden Belt Bicycle Company in Great Bend I went.  They told me that the seat I had was poor quality, to which I had mixed feeling being told, I loved that seat and it wasn't cheap.  But they gave me a nicer seat that they had in the back for a pretty good price.  It's a Serfas Carma seat.  The gentleman put it on for me and the told me he tilted it down just a bit. * I will state here that I sometimes think other people have no idea what they are doing and that I know better.  It's a character flaw and usually results in me doing it the hard way first before finding out that the person I thought was dumb knew what was going on the whole time. I thought the guy was crazy because my seat is usually level. *  So I rode it just the way he put it on and it's so very different from my other seat, very hard.  I was sore in new places, so I put the seat level and tried riding again.  HORRIBLE.  I am now hurting 3 to 4 miles into my ride.  So maybe tilting it down is the better idea.  Today, I will adjust the seat again and see if it helps.  I honestly don't know if the seat will work, but I am going to work with it for a while.  I can't tilt it down too much or I will slide down the seat, so it's a trial and error sort of thing.  My only hope is that I get it figured out before I ride 80 plus miles.  Anyway, if you are reading this and have had saddle issues, please let me know what you did.  I'm thinking that if I can't get this one to work, I will be spending a good portion of money to get a new one and hope it will work.

Riding in Kansas is beautiful.