One Down, One To Go

It was a big weekend. Saturday my wife and I got up and went for an 8 mile training run. Notice I said training. I wouldn't just get up and run 8 miles for the hell of it. It was about 26 degrees with a not so pleasant 13-16mph wind. Beyond the wind it went fairly well. I didn't run it with out stopping by any means but did well considering.

Later on we went to a LBS to look at Felt bikes. My wife bought a Felt FW40. It's a great looking bike and will allow her to come along on group rides and some of the charity rides I would normally do without her. I'm really hoping she gets into cycling because I'd like to have a riding partner. The LBS did a great job fitting her to the bike. They had a bikefitting.com fitting system that they used to make sure what size frame she needed. Then after she decided that was the bike she wanted the guy put her on a trainer and took some more measurements and got her seat set up. He said for her to get some miles on it and if she had any discomfort to come back and they could make some more adjustments depending on what discomforts she had. To me that is really good service.

I looked at a Felt F1X cyclocross bike. They didn't have one in my size so I couldn't get on it see how it felt, no pun intended. They ordered one and it will be in next week. I will most likely buy this bike unless it feels horrible on me. I would still like to take a look at the Specialized Tricross Sport Triple. It has a triple chain ring where as most (if not all) other CX bikes have a double. It is several hundred dollars cheaper too. The Felt is on the high end of my price range so that is my only hesitation with it. However the Felt has much better components than the Sport Triple. Sunday we got on our bikes and went for a ride on the trainers. My wife had no complaints about her bike. I told her she needs to continue riding on the trainer so that when it warms up she can hit the ground running. I did the same last year and it really helped me get into some longer rides right off the bat. I don't know that I have ever ridden more than 20 miles on my trainer. That is about my limit.

I decided I'm going to get a professional fit for my road bike this year. My bike wasn't really "fit" to me when I bought it. They measured me to see what size frame I need, but did not do anything beyond that. Needless to say I won't buy a bike from that LBS again. I used a program off the Competitive Cyclist website to get my bike set up initially. It seemed to work initially but isn't working now. Anyway I have what I think are poor bike fit issues that I don't want to deal with again this year. My feet go numb, my hands go really numb and my taint/sit bones have gotten so sore that I couldn't hardly sit on my saddle during a ride. Of course my size could be a large part of it, but I have to think that some if it has to do with the fit. I tinkered around with the seat position and handlebar angle yesterday to see if I could figure it out. When I rode last night my feet were going numb by mile 5. My hands were fine because on a trainer I use some hand positions that I couldn't normally use outside. As for my taint/sit bones not much luck there either. I have a sweet spot on my saddle and if I get in it I can be fine. The problem with that is every time I move my hand position I have to readjust to find the sweet spot. I spent a lot of money on my saddle and I'd really hate to spend another large amount to get a different one. I did see that Selle makes a Clydesdale version of their An Atomica. It looks like a Brooks knock-off. I've heard good things about Brooks saddles though so who knows. If any one has any opinions on a clydesdale friendly saddle email me and let me know. clydesdalenation@gmail.com