On a hillside desolate
Jul. 24th, 2008 12:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaAdvice wanted from the bicycle-aware, please...
Firstly, let's get one thing clear. I am not a cyclist. I do not cycle. I am a person who owns a bike who and sometimes uses it to get from A to B. Typically A and B are both within Oxford, and not terribly far away from each other.
My bike is a nice, sensible affair with six gears and straight handlebars. I mostly like it. However, I do have one serious issue with it.
The saddle. When I hop on my bike, it all seems fine. But after more than about ten minutes of riding the saddle has become quite uncomfortable. A few months ago, I cycled out to Nuneham Courtney[*] (about 5 miles) and back, and the net result was bruises in unmentionable places.
My saddle doesn't appear to be the sort that would have this effect - it's quite broad, and quite padded. I have no idea whether the problem is the saddle itself, or something more subtle like the angle at which I have it fixed.
I have no idea how to fix this probem. Adjust saddle, ride for 15 minutes, check for bruises, wait two days, repeat - it's not an appealing process. Similarly with buying a new saddle. How will I tell whether a saddle which a shop offers me will be comfortable not only in the shop, but several miles down the road ?
Presumably finding a comfortable saddle is a well-known problem, so hopefully there is a well-known solution.
[*] Which, I might add, is pretty much entirely uphill from my house. Which surprised me in the woefully flat county of Oxfordshire. My journey back was an order of magnitude quicker than my journey there.
Firstly, let's get one thing clear. I am not a cyclist. I do not cycle. I am a person who owns a bike who and sometimes uses it to get from A to B. Typically A and B are both within Oxford, and not terribly far away from each other.
My bike is a nice, sensible affair with six gears and straight handlebars. I mostly like it. However, I do have one serious issue with it.
The saddle. When I hop on my bike, it all seems fine. But after more than about ten minutes of riding the saddle has become quite uncomfortable. A few months ago, I cycled out to Nuneham Courtney[*] (about 5 miles) and back, and the net result was bruises in unmentionable places.
My saddle doesn't appear to be the sort that would have this effect - it's quite broad, and quite padded. I have no idea whether the problem is the saddle itself, or something more subtle like the angle at which I have it fixed.
I have no idea how to fix this probem. Adjust saddle, ride for 15 minutes, check for bruises, wait two days, repeat - it's not an appealing process. Similarly with buying a new saddle. How will I tell whether a saddle which a shop offers me will be comfortable not only in the shop, but several miles down the road ?
Presumably finding a comfortable saddle is a well-known problem, so hopefully there is a well-known solution.
[*] Which, I might add, is pretty much entirely uphill from my house. Which surprised me in the woefully flat county of Oxfordshire. My journey back was an order of magnitude quicker than my journey there.
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Date: 2008-07-24 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 07:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 01:47 pm (UTC)