WhyFi

Ha - because of muscle fatigue or because of a tender undercarriage?

And, FWIW, I probably have fewer than 10 rides over 2 hours long since... late Nov or so. Embrace the hurt.

abshipp 

Short answer is "yes"

If I was forced to I'm sure I could pull off an imperial, but it would be slow and I would not be a happy camper for the majority of it.

I still have not found saddle nirvana so it always takes a while to toughen up.

LAJ

WhyFi

I think that I jumped the gun a bit on the imperial - a metric probably would have suited just fine - but I had already cleared the day and was stir-crazy from recent rain-outs.

Do you have birthin' hips? I do. Going wide, flattish, with low padding and with a generous cut-out has been gotten me to where I need to be.

phrantic09

The longest I've done all winter is 40, so I'm guessing an imperial may be tough but I'm going to give it a shot Saturday. I haven't done an one since 2015.

bampilot06

I’ve ridden steadily the whole season, and I feel like I hit a wall at 50 miles. The wall used to be made of wood but now it feels like brick.
I can keep going but it hurts, doing the imperial century next week will be interesting. I know physically I can do it but my mental side will be screaming. I need to venture out of my comfort zone more often, it’s just not comfortable to do that.......

bampilot06

Just thought I would ask here. I can mess with a rear derailer, but for some reason the front derailer is magical to me. Didn’t want to take it the bike shop to have them make it do something it can’t do.

phrantic09

What do you eat?
IMO over 50 and you need fuel.

bampilot06

I bring peanut butter and honey sandwiches when I know I’m going on a longer ride. Might be just bike fit. might be I just need to harden the f up. Seemed like there was a period of time I was doing 50 back to back and I don’t remember any pain. Maybe it wasn’t happening as often as I thought.

datlas 

It's probably close to P&R, but I had a patient today who told me he is sure that COVID19 was created in a lab.

I did my best to not get into an argument and simply said that as of now, there is really no good way to prove or disprove this, and that maybe in the future we will know for sure.

He did not really accept that. I suggested that proving or disproving his assertion is like proving/disproving who killed JFK.

His response? "Oh, I KNOW who killed JFK."

My reply? See you in six months.

At least he did get a COVD19 vaccine.

berner

In my case the undercarriage is suffering a bit from lack of use over winter months but also because, having cut out sugar from my diet almost 100%, I've been loosing some of the cushioning in that remote area.

abshipp 

I really don't know, every saddle I try always feels like a shot in the dark. I've tried to do the cardboard sit bone measurement at home, but the saddle I bought based on my newfound knowledge from that experiment (Brooks C15) was an absolute hatchet.

My most comfortable saddle does happen to be the widest - the Velo Orange Model 3 (Brooks B17-ish), but I know the effective width of a leather saddle will be smaller than the overall width so who knows.

The Charge Spoon and Fabric Scoop are very similar shapes and are comfortable up to 2-3 hours but I did a 200k on the Spoon last year where the last couple hours were pretty miserable.

I have been riding the San Marco SPID that came on my first road bike quite a bit lately and that might be the direction I need to go in. At least there's a few used ones on eBay.

abshipp 

It's so ugly though

big john

Do you use it every day? I only use it when I feel the need, like tightness in the chest, or before a longer ride. Maybe 2 or 3 times per week. Sometimes when out on a ride I wish I had it with me but I can still ride, just feel like it's harder to breathe.

LAJ

When I know it's interval time, I will hit the pipe a couple times. Otherwise, I leave it alone. Lately though, when just breathing was something I chose to do, I was on it much more than I was comfortable with.

big john

If it's rubbing on the big ring and pushing the shifter makes it better the cable needs to be a bit tighter. If you have a barrel adjuster somewhere try turning it a half turn. Also, this can happen when the cable starts fraying, getting ready to break.

bampilot06

I think the cables are new, so i’ll give it a adjustment and see if that fixes it. Thanks. I hope they don’t break on me this soon.

big john

My favorite saddle was a Selle Italia like that. It cracked and started creaking and moving around and they don't make it anymore. I looked at their catalog and there are some that look like they would work but it's $150+ to find out.
A friend had 2 Flite something saddles new in the box and he sold me one for $50. I've been using it for a few months and sometimes I don't even think about it and sometimes it bothers me.
If I did get another one that I really liked I would want to get at least 2 of them.

WhyFi

To me, the junk-in-the-trunk cushioning doesn't really make a difference. In terms of saddle cushion, I want it to be pretty light.

With the Spoon and Scoop, what's the type of comfort deterioration after 2-3 hours?

I'm loathe to pay more than I have to, but saddles are one of those areas where it's worth it to get it right and get it behind you. I'd pop over to a Spec dealer and try out their Ass-o-Meter if only for a confirmation on normal/wide/narrow, but wouldn't rule out the buy & try of one of their recommendations.

WhyFi

My old Spec Toupe 155 cracked on me like that, too, which is one of the reasons why I went to a PRO (Shimano) Stealth (also in their wider size). I really like these new snub-nose designs.

big john

I think the cables tend to break near the shifter and you can peel back the hood a little and see the cable. Twice on my Campagnolo shifter the cable frayed and a wire poked through the hood and stabbed me in the hand. It felt like a bee was stinging me between the thumb and forefinger.

big john

Like this?
Shimano PRO Stealth Saddle 142MM - Gear West Ski and Bike

genejockey 

Hey! ME TOO! Lee Harvey Oswald.

genejockey 

I was able to get a white Selle Italia Flite Flow for about $40 on Pro's Closet. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to compare it, and a white San Marco Regal I found on "Sierra", which is what Sierra Trading Post is called now that it's been absorbed into the Marshall's/TJ Maxx empire of overstock reduction. The white Avocet on the Battaglin has become disreputable-looking, because you can't truly dye leather white, you can only paint it, and the paint on the side has long since been worn off by my massive guads.

abshipp 

It's just straight-up pain over a fairly large area - not just localized to the sit bones but in that area and towards the rear of the saddle. Just feels like I've been sitting on something uncomfortable for a long time, I'm not really sure how else to describe it.

FWIW I seem to remember that with the Model 3 any discomfort would be more on the sit bones.

I also wonder if it's because the Spoon and Scoop are both somewhat grippier than a leather saddle. I like the feeling of being anchored but maybe it's preventing things from moving around and that's what's causing part of the issue? Could also be a too-much-padding issue but I wouldn't exactly call them super padded saddles.

Really?