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Shoes – Tight or Loose?

12.28.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

Okay, here’s one for you.  I have a dilemma.  It’s about shoes.

When I got my shoes two years ago (is it that long already?), I made sure to get size 44s, instead of the 42s I normally wear on the street (Yes, speaking metrically makes me feel veddy continental).  The theory is that since my feet swell up during exercise, the extra room in the shoes would keep them from squeezing my feet too tightly, causing hot spots, numbness, and a whole plethora of other bad things that happen to feet on a long bike ride.

My wife has been complaining about her shoes, too.  She’s had hers even longer than I’ve had mine, and they seem to have served her very well.  Both of use have Specialized shoes, which aren’t cheap.  They have carbon soles, so we get no flex when pedaling hard.  But in warm weather, her feet get pinched, and cause her a lot of discomfort (I’m bringing up warm weather in December, because our winters are pretty mild compared to the rest of you folks, and her most recent complaint about her foot was within the last two weeks).

I bring this up now, because recently I was reading an article — I forget if it was in print or online, but as I recall, it came from a source I regard as reliable — that said you don’t need to allow for extra room.  In fact, it said biking shoes should fit snugly.

About five or six years ago, when I bought my last pair of running shoes (before I stopped running), the sales clerk told me to get a larger than normal size to allow for the swelling my feet would do while exercising.  I did, and they worked out great.  I’ve even started buying street shoes a half size larger than normal.  But since seeing that article, I’m confused.  Should she stick with the shoes she has, and look for other means of relief?  Or should we go shopping for new shoes, and do what I did — get a couple of metric sizes larger?

Readers — what’s your take on this?

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Categories // Accessories, Equipment Tags // shoes

Saddle Review – Bontrager Affinity

12.16.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

Guest poster Jeff Hemmel is still trying to find the perfect perch.

Saddle reviews seem to be a popular item on the web. Obviously, a lot of us are still searching for the ideal interface between butt and bike. This year Bontrager introduced a new saddle for your consideration — the Affinity. I’ve been quietly evaluating one for several months this fall, and after plenty of miles I’m ready to offer my impressions.

The Affinity RL. Click to enlarge.

Like the InForm saddles introduced the year before, Bontrager’s Affinity line has the requisite science behind it. It uses the InForm “Science of Comfort” design, which basically means it was designed using a lot of data like pressure mapping and 3-D motion capture. That info was used to create a seat that comes in three different sizes and curvatures to match a rider’s skeletal structure. The InForm theory is basically that riders don’t really sit on their sit bones, but instead their pubic arch. Support that arch properly and you take some of the pressure off the pudendal nerve and artery, alleviating the numbness and pain that makes many of us squirm after a few miles have passed under our tires.

The original InForm neglected to feature a cutout, but rather featured two densities of foam, stiffer in areas that supported the skeletal structure and softer in those areas that came into contact with the more tender parts of a rider’s anatomy. The Affinity also uses that dual-density foam, but it adds a gender-specific Contour Relief Zone, essentially a subtle lengthwise divot at the saddle’s midpoint to provide a little more pressure relief.

Like the previous InForm, riders get sized in a local shop by sitting on a simple bench with a gel top. The indentations of your buttisimo reveal a color-coded indicator below the gel that corresponds to the correct size. In the previous InForm I was sized for the “medium” saddle in the three-size lineup. Bontrager reps indicate the same sizing applies to the Affinity, although the corresponding metric measurements of the Affinity line are a bit smaller.

I used to think I could find the perfect saddle by reading reviews. I now know that everyone is different, and one person’s holy grail of a saddle is another person’s unholy nightmare. But I can pass along some details that might help you decide whether the Affinity might be a saddle you’ll want to try.

For starters, Bontrager alludes to the fact that the original InForm was designed for a race-like riding position, rather low and aggressive. The Affinity targets a wider audience, riders who according to Bontrager “prefer a slightly higher hand position.” In other words, if you ride bent over like an elite pro, the original model should work best; if you ride like the rest of us, a little more upright, the Affinity should be more to your liking.

As I mentioned, I dedicated myself to riding with this saddle for an extended period before giving my impressions. At first I wasn’t immediately thrilled with it. As time wore on and the saddle broke into my butt (or vice versa) I began to find it rather comfortable. I haven’t experienced any significant numbness (an occasional problem with my previous InForm), and the saddle has proved more than tolerable on extended rides. The only times I’ve found it uncomfortable is when I’ve really pushed the pace for extended periods. That probably makes sense; it’s at these moments that I’m typically more bent over in an aggressive riding position.

If you’re tempted to try the Affinity, keep several things in mind. For starters, Bontrager offers an Unconditional Comfort Guarantee. If you don’t like the saddle, you have 30 days to return it. The catch? It’s not a money-back deal, but rather an exchange.

It’s also important to position the seat properly. The tried-and-true method is to measure the distance from the center of your crank to the top of the seat, as well as the distance from the nose of the saddle to the stem bolt. The Affinity rails are “taller” than the original InForm, however, so I had to lower my seat post to achieve the best position. The Affinity’s rails also are positioned further forward than the Affinity. To duplicate my fore-aft measurement I had to push the seat as far forward as possible. A Bontrager rep suggested that I consider running a 5mm offset seatpost rather than the more common 20mm, as it would likely better fit my body no matter what saddle I chose.

Final verdict? It’s not the perfect saddle, but I’m beginning to think nothing is. I’m still riding it, however, after almost 90 days and 1,700 miles.

That must say something…

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Categories // Equipment, Review Tags // Review, saddle

My Cool Weather Clothing List

12.02.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

Well, I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but there has been more interest than I expected in some of the cold weather riding gear posts we’ve had lately — so here goes one last one.

Some of that interest has been in the cool weather gear list I keep.  A couple of readers thought it was unnecessary, while others thought it was a good idea.  So I’m going to go into a bit more detail about why I keep it and how I use it.

I have alluded to the almost year-round warm (hot) weather in Texas before.  It’s because we are able to ride eight months of the year in just a lightweight jersey and shorts that I need the gear list.  By the time our first cold snap hits, usually in November, I’ve forgotten what combination of clothing works best under certain conditions.

In 2009, I started keeping the list.  It’s very simple.  When I return from a ride, I note the temperature, sit down at my computer and type out what I was wearing that day.  I use a simple text editor to maintain the list so it will open immediately when I click it, and I park it on my computer’s desktop so it’s always handy.

Here’s what it looks like:

Click to embiggen.

You’ll notice that I have more than one clothing combination for similar temperatures.  I’ve found that wind makes a difference in comfort, and wanted the list to reflect that.

The list jogs my memory about clothing, so I don’t make the kind of mistakes I did last week.  That is, it’s supposed to prevent mistakes in theory — in practice, as you have seen, I still manage to screw it up from time to time.

The forecast for this weekend calls for 75 Friday, 77 Saturday, and 62 Sunday.  Saturday morning, when I’ll be riding, it should be in the mid to upper 50s.  Sunday morning, the low 40s.  With my list, I’ll be able to dress appropriately, based on what I know will do the trick.

Overkill?  Perhaps.  But it’s a little resource I’m glad to have.

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Categories // Equipment, Uncategorized Tags // clothing, cold

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