Rides #54-#59: Six Days in a Row, 200+ miles
Posted by Daniel Thu, 13 Jul 2006 16:18:19 GMT
After six days of riding, I’m definitely “appreciating” this rest day.
[I was going to write about my 70 mile week… I managed to ride four days out of five, which for me seems to be some sort of miracle. I also increased the ride length a bit to about 19 miles… another small step. A couple weeks ago I glanced at the average MPH for my ride and most days sits around 15mph. A little slower if I do the hills more, a little faster if I’m feeling motivated and riding the flats. And while all of this is good progress, and I’m within a pound of where I was for most of the winter (after having a disastrous spring where I put on 17lbs with what seemed like one evening of Chinese food), I can’t help sighing over the riding of others, even though I know folks like Seth have put the miles in to be where they are. There is no magic, you just have to put in the miles, and in my case, I still have plenty of weight to drop. So far, I haven’t felt like I’m losing weight, just making up for lost ground. Soon, I hope to be breaking new territory. I’m riding pretty well, although I’m fighting to find a comfortable saddle. It’s better than it was before, but there is still a spot that gets er, um, annoyed after I’ve been riding for about 45 minutes. Sometimes it passes after that, sometimes it doesn’t. It doesn’t last off the bike, so I may have to work through it, wait it out, etc., but I’m still looking… suggestions welcome. At the moment I’m using a Fizik Arione. The problem is only on my left side, and it was what drove me to look at saddles in the first place. Anyway, no riding until Sunday, where I hopefully start the cycle again… and make it five in a row.]
Source: Truer Words
Source: Truer Words

You sound discouraged. Don’t be! You have something taking up your time that I don’t have (a child), and I have something motivating me to ride that you don’t have (the PMC).
But beside all that, I love riding more than most people I know, even most other riders. It’s not that I’m better than most, I just ride for the joy of it. I’ve made more than one racer quite jealous by telling them that on these gruelling, Thursday night hell rides. (Hill rides! I meant hill rides!)
Seth
P.S. I wish your weblog both acccepted and sent Trackbacks! It doesn’t seem to do either, in spite of the Trackback button on every post.
Seth
It is that your ride, not how long or how fast or how many. Don’t forget other things that can effect saddle feel (the most important is time for your butt to just get adapted ;) you might have someone at a shop look at how your bike is setup, seat height, bar reach that kind of stuff can have an effect (even the amount your seat is forward or back on the rails can have a huge impact. Also one big thing that helped me on long rides was nice shorts and some Body Glide or chammy Butt’r
Ride on friend,
Sam D
Sam D
I’m not discouraged… just impatient. And you’re right, my time is limited, so I can’t go on longer rides even if… however, progress is being made (I actually got my bike cranked up to 31MPH in a sprint the other day) and I’m riding more miles at a faster pace than ever before, and keeping the cadence up as well.
I could be more focused about intervals and specific exercises, but there’s enough stress in my life without turning the fun I have on a bike into a training stress fest. And that leads to my impatience because I know I could be further along, but the other part of me wants to be really careful about continuing to enjoy the ride. I was never good at being consistent about some things over long periods of time, I’m trying to make biking a breakthrough for that…
In case it still obvious, I use your traning and riding as inspiration that I will keep getting better… if I keep riding.
As for the trackbacks, they’re horribly broken in this version of Typo. Maybe in the possibly soon to be released next version, they’ll work.
Daniel
Sam,
My odo just crossed the 500 mile mark today, so I’m pretty sure that my butt’s as broken in as it’s going to get… ;)
The guys at the shop (who are Serotta trained) are working with me on overall position, and all the basic stuff is spot on (saddle height, reach, etc.) Saddle position is a hair back from knee over spindle because of the saddle I’m using at the moment, but it’s within a centimeter and smidge, so no worries. I use Chamois Buttr on the bibs… nd since they’re different brands, materials, and shape, I’m guessing that that isn’t it.
It would be helpful to make the problem go away, but it may go away on its own… we’ll see.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Daniel
Those serrota guys do know how to fit a bike those fit kits they use are cool.
ride on and have fun
Sam D (another new to the fun road rider)
Sam D