Thursday 3 December 2009


This is the saddle thats been on my winter bike for the past 6-8 weeks now. I've pretty much been testing it out for Paul @ Wiggle. (Mine is the black one..)

I have to say it really is an excellent saddle. I previously had a Specialized Toupe on there and this replaced it. And it replaced it very well! I would say it took about an hour to get settled on it properly and get the height tweaked a little.
But once that was done, its been all good. I guess the best thing I can say is that I haven't actively noticed the saddle because it hasn't hurt, it hasn't rubbed, it hasn't slipped and its been damn comfortable.

That's *damn* comfortable throughout all the random riding I've been doing too. Because its winter training time, the time spent in the saddle has been longer and at a slower speed so you tend to notice things more. Also it has been subject to some time trial efforts (yes I know.. shouldn't be doing them at this time of year) on the way to work and also a few interval sprints (yes.. shut up.) ending in my slapping my arse on the saddle fairly firmly.

The only downside to it, is that it could be a little lighter. Its coming in at 240g+ whereas a Toupe is about 160g so near 100g difference.
I don't think I'd put it on the race bike due to the weight, but for training and winter... its pretty much perfect.

Would I buy it? Hell yeah. Great saddle, great price... only minor downside is that its a bit heavy. Of course... I could just lose some weight.... hmm.

Spending time going nowhere

But at least we tried to do it fast.

Yesterday myself and the boss-man were off to a meeting in Dundalk so demo some of the work we've been doing over the past while.
Journey there was fine till we hit Newry, then it was tailback city. Eventually got through this, made it on time and did our thing.
All good. Then we started to head home, and got caught in more traffic again in pretty damn rotten weather.
An hour later we made it through and started making a bit of progress again... then I was home and that was pretty much it for the day.

Not a terribly exciting story. The reason I'm waffling about this is that while I was sitting in traffic I could see some fantastic looking scenery that was around the Mourne area with lots and lots of rolling hills and some mountains. Where did I want to be? On my bike, pulling faces, while climbing up the mountains. Not stuck in the damn car.

The Newry and Mourne area is home to one of the best amateur races that runs during the year, the Newry 3 day. This is the type of race that makes everyone riding it feel like a semi-pro, even just for a few days.

Its got police escorts, rolling road closures and all the good stuff that makes you feel like you are a pro for a day.

I rode this last year, and while I finished in mid table obscurity I had some great rides in it and some standout sections, like when I rode a TTT trying to bring back the break on the first night so our GC guy wouldn't lose too much time, like when I attacked off the front on the second day taking the GC guy with me to get him a gap and then spectacularly blow up to get dropped on the next climb, only to get back on during the descent.

Well... stand out moments for me anyways :-)

Anyways, the basic upshot is that I had some nice daydreams when busy going nowhere.