Trying out new bike stuff

Saturday morning saw a brief gap of several hours where the sun was almost visible and the rain let up, so I thought it best to take advantage and go for a quick ride on the bike. I haven’t been out since I bought a few new items including my new saddle, so a test ride was in order.

I’m a little bit on edge about taking the bike out in winter weather. I realise that I treat my bike like a spoiled child. I’m afraid of it sustaining injury by water and or dirt. I’m sure it’s built to deal with fairly harsh conditions, and the frame is fashioned from finest American aluminium rather than sugar, but I guess I’m now suffering for shelling out tons on a bike and being all precious about it. Ideally I’d have a winter bike that I could take on trails and then leave on its own outside shops without being worried that it would be stolen and abused by a less appreciative, less attentive parent. I’d keep the Felt for road and semi-decent weather only. This would take place in a parallel universe where I had a spare £400 every month to spend on anything I fancied beyond my current fairly lavish lifestyle (which already includes about £100 per month on bike-related kit).

But I digress… The weather was cold and breezy but for once no rain. It was time to take out and test my new saddle, the overshoes and the winter gloves.

Firstly, the saddle.

My new saddle is a Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow which I purchased online from Evans. All of the products purchased arrived the day after ordering as I paid an extra sum of five english pounds to ensure speedy delivery. This was because I had planned to join Joby and Chris on their crazy cycle up the Isle of Skye and wanted the overshoes for that event. In the end however, I checked the weather that morning, which presented itself as a howling gale plus extra large lashings of heavy rain. I checked my bed, which was warm, completely dry and presented no threat of being sent under the wheels of an artic via treacherous weather fronts. Which was my choice? I chose the bed. Yes, I am a lazy wuss. So, no real need to pay extra to get the fast delivery.

You’ll notice it’s black, not white as it should be with the overall look and feel of the bike. No white ones available. I might prefer the look of the black saddle. With the white saddle it does kind of give the impression that there should be some tassles hanging out of the handlebars and some streamers on a flag at the back. The saddle is constructed out of leather. Mmmmmm leather. Which apparently helps with something. Like most people of sound mind, I prefer natural materials, so leather is good. There is plenty of gel padding to support the lady-buttock cheeks, or so I am led to believe from the saddle description. I also read many rave reviews, along the lines of “best cycle for ladies” “able to finally do long distances” etc., and these reviews swayed my decision. You’ll notice the text “Ldy” on the cycle nose informing you of the girly nature of the saddle. This is unnecessary and looks a bit tacky. The font is a bit unimaginative. I like the nose of the saddle, seemed as though there would be less chance of catching my cycle shorts, which it turned out was correct. There is also a strange shiny patch at the back. I have no idea why that is there. The saddle is also lighter than the original, maybe something to do with the manganese rails.

So, what was it like? Well, I kind of expected the saddle to be like sitting on a fluffy cloud that had been kissed and petted gradually into shape by a team of cycle fairies and finished off and tested by God him/herself. This wasn’t the case. At first it felt like there was pressure on the sit bones, the technical term for which I believe is the “twitter” (that which is neither x nor y). This was the exact opposite of the effect I was looking for, so initially a little unimpressed. However, after ten minutes or so it was fine. No pain. I need a much longer ride to test out exactly how comfortable the saddle is over longer periods, but the quickie gave me the impression that I had found “the” saddle. I certainly hope so as I don’t want to fork out for another.

And now, the gloves:

These possess all of the standard traits of a decent bike glove. Generous padding for the ulnar nerve and funny toweling bit on the back for mopping hard working bike brow. Well padded in general. I can’t attest to their waterproof nature as it wasn’t raining. They were however, very warm. Too warm in fact. Too warm for just now. The extra padding makes them less responsive and not as easy to manipulate as the standard long-fingered water-absorbent bike gloves that I already have, so I think I’ll keep using those until I need waterproofing.

The Overshoes:

Here they are with my extra attractive nora-batty style warm winter cycle trousers courtesy of Aldi. Without any doubt, these are the most ridiculous looking item of bike nonsense I have thus far purchased. I think this is because my cycle shoes are a little chunkier than the standard carbon SPD shoe. This gives them a very chunky, club footed, giant welly appearance, when compared to the photograph provided by the web site. Fortunately I am beyond worrying about what sort of freak I look like on a bike, so I don’t really mind. It was too warm for these, I was wearing smart wool socks and with the overshoes it was just too hot. Clearly these are going to be great when the weather closes in further.

Finally, and the icing on the top of my freaky look cake is my buff. I’ve had a buff for ages, and after I whinged about cold ears a few weeks back, Lost suggested a Buff. It’s a great solution. Ideally placed inside the helmet, I posed for my webcam looking particularly stupid here:

Here I am looking like a complete retard. I also picked up my old cycle helmet recently from the parentals. It’s a Trek and thus better than the supposed MTB one I purchased from Decathalon. The peak of the Decathalon improves its overall appearance. I tested the two to try to find the lesser of the two “make me look like more of a retard” evils. The Decathalon one looks better, but the Trek helmet has a thicker construction, so I might just wear it from now on. I’d rather look like a tool than have a crushed skull.

So, what’s next on the purchasing agenda? Well, ideally I’d like a winter bike, a Garmin Edge 705 and a pair of those Crud mud guards for a road bike. However, I’ve spent so much on bike stuff recently that I can only just afford to buy groceries, so all that will have to wait.