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Ponza — My One-Hour Saddle

05.04.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 17 Comments

Over the last year, I’ve blogged more than once about my Selle San Marco Ponza. It’s the saddle I mounted on my bike last May, after complaining about the hard ride on my previous saddle.

I liked the Ponza for its narrow race-inspired shape. It has a slight upsweep at the back, which cradles the butt. I wasn’t getting the soreness on my bottom that the previous saddle was giving me.

That was before I started riding longer on it.

It’s been evident for some time now that the Ponza is okay for anything up to an hour. At about that time — maybe 55 minutes, maybe 65 — my butt hurts. Specifically, the soft tissue area right at the bottom of my bottom hurts. And the soreness will be there well into the next day.

In addition, I’ve been developing saddle sores. Bag Balm seems to do a good job of dealing with them, but still — on a ride of several hours’ duration, you don’t want to have to deal with an irritated pimple on your butt being rubbed uncomfortably by a saddle that has turned against you.

Much of the time, a one-hour saddle is fine for me. I can ride from my home to the Veloway, do three or four laps, and ride back home in roughly that 55-65 minute window I mentioned above. That’s about 15-18 miles.

But on weekends, I like to go longer. Two hours would be the minimum for me there. And to do that would require another saddle.

Recently, I did a Sunday ride with a group of folks I’d never ridden with before. Looking over their equipment, I saw many more generously padded saddles than I do on my club rides. When I asked people if the padded saddles don’t cause them problems on long rides, I got a unanimous no. Everyone said they feel as good after three hours on the bike as after an hour.

So, despite everything I’ve read or heard about how padded saddles can compress your sensitive parts, and cause just as much discomfort as the hard ones, I decided I would go for something cushier this time.

The new saddle is on the bike, and I had a good first ride. But I’m going to wait a bit before I review it. I need to get more miles on it — and rides of longer than an hour.

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Categories // Equipment, soreness Tags // saddle sore, saddles, Selle San Marco Ponza

Tighty Whitey

05.02.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 14 Comments

Guest poster Jeff Hemmel tries a new look.

Today I rode in a white kit.

Not just a white shirt, not a colored outfit with some white accents, but a white kit — white jersey, white shorts, heck, I even had on white socks. What’s the big deal? I’m not quite sure, but I can tell you it was the most self-conscious 30 miles I’ve ever spent on a bike.

Jeff tries a white kit. What’s your take? Would you ride in this outfit?

Before this goes any further, let me clarify. No, I didn’t buy it. I’m working on a story on cycling gear, and Pearl Izumi sent this particular outfit. And truth be told, I really like it. The fabric is super comfortable, everything fits well, and the chamois is awesome.

So what’s the problem? I don’t know, but I just felt like, well …a poser. It was bad enough worrying about what people in their cars were thinking about a guy clad in a skintight white outfit, but the idea of coming upon another strong, legitimate cyclist? I was getting chills just thinking about it. (Well, not literal chills, but give me a little artistic license here.) As to what would happen had I needed to change a dirty tire or fix a greasy chain…I won’t even go there. The ridicule that would ensue should my tighty whiteys get slathered in grease might damage me for life.

So yes, the pressure was most definitely on. I skipped the call to a friend I ride with on weekday mornings and opted to go solo, I purposely chose a route where I wouldn’t see many people I knew in traffic, and I prayed I had timed everything right so that most people would be anywhere but on my intended route. If my name were Ted King or Mark Cavendish, I’d be wearing this outfit with pride. Heck, even if I was just the fast guy in the local club I might be confident enough to pull it off. But just Joe Average cyclist? I wasn’t worthy.

Silly? You tell me. I love the look of these outfits on the rack, or on pro race teams, but I just don’t think I could pull it off on a regular basis myself. Yeah, after a while I started to actually think I looked kind of cool, but don’t tell anybody, because I’ll deny it. My story is I was mortified…even if I did notice how tan and strong my legs looked offset by all that snowy white fabric.

Long story short, I love the gear, but I’ll probably mix-and-match from here on out. But I do have to admit, being the dude in the tighty whiteys did make me ride a little faster. Over the course of 30 miles, on a windy day with three bridges and three stoplights thrown into the mix, I averaged nearly 20 mph, probably an all-time best on this particular route when riding solo.

It’s amazing what a little embarrassment can do…

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Categories // Equipment, guest post Tags // bike shorts, jersey, team kit

A Bike Fitting – The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Biking

04.11.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 14 Comments

For some now, I’ve realized that I needed a real professional bike fitting. I’ve been getting sore on my bike after about an hour in the saddle. So finally, I made an appointment to have one done — at Nelo’s Cycles in Austin, Texas.

Nelo Breda is the owner of the shop. He’s a former pro bike racer himself, and then coached the Brazilian national cycling team. His shop sells high-end bikes: Wilier, Kuota, Guru, etc. — but he caters to all walks of cyclist.

I got there a little before the scheduled appointment time. Nelo was wrapping up in his shop, and an assistant put my bike next to a trainer and offered water, a soft drink, or beer — and cookies. I took the cookies. It turns out they read Bike Noob in the shop. The assistant remarked that the kinds of things we talk about here are the same kinds of things they hear from people bitten by the biking bug, who are looking to upgrade after some time on their entry-level bikes.

Then Nelo walked in. He’s a slightly built man, who talks fast in a thick Brazilian Portugese accent. I listened closely as he explained the process.

Nelo looks over the bike before the fitting.

The bike fitting is 65 percent below the waist, and 35 percent above, he said. First, he adjusts seat height, then seat fore and aft. Once that’s done, he looks at the reach to the cockpit. If you’re not fitted correctly for seat position, the rest won’t matter. “We gotta get you in a comf’ posish,” he said.

He had me pedal a bit, then I stopped and he looked at the angle of my knee bend. He had me clip out of the pedals and relax my legs so they fell straight down. He put the pedal directly under my heel. There was a gap about the thickness of a finger between the heel and the pedal.

Well, I’ll be. The seat was too high. Nelo had me step off the seat, and he adjusted the height.

Nelo adjusting the height of the seat.

Then, he did the plumb bob test, to determine if the knee is directly over the pedal axle. Not mine. I was about a half-inch behind it. “Most people who come in here think their seat needs to be farther back,” he said. “But they really need to go more forward.” Count me in that bunch.

I sat on the bike again, and got into the drops. He had me lean farther and farther forward, until my chin almost touched the headset. I put my hands on top of the bar, then on the brake hoods.

“Looks pretty good,” he said. “We don’t gotta make any changes here.”

I sat still while he drew a tape measure across my upper back. “Whadya do to work out?” he asked. “You got real broad shoulders. They’re 48 centimeters wide.”

He measured the handlebars from the center of one brake hood to the other. They were 42 cm wide.

“You don’t have to change these right away,” he said. “Maybe next time you change your bar tape, you get a new bar. Should be 46 cm, at least 44.”

Then he surprised me again. “Your crank arms are 175 millimeters” he said. “You need 172.5. Again, don’t worry about it now. But you should try them.”

He said the combination of the lower seat and shorter crank arms would help me climb hills. I liked the sound of that.

With that, we were done. The whole process took about a half hour. Nelo usually charges $75 for a fitting, but because he made so few changes, he cut the price to $50.

I couldn’t wait to get out for a ride. I put in 22 miles in the neighborhood, including some fast laps on the Veloway and some repeats on a moderately challenging hill. Despite the small changes Nelo made, I could feel the difference. I sat a little more forward on my saddle. I was a lot more comfortable going up the hill.

Saturday was the acid test. Pat and I did a training ride with Hill Country Ride for AIDS, 29 miles for her and 45 for me. The southeast wind was blowing hard, and it was right at us for the second half of the ride. The improvements I noted Friday were still there. Plus, I noticed that in my new riding position, my elbows were naturally bent, compared to the previous setting where I had to consciously relax my shoulders and bend my elbows. It was a better riding position.

I’ve been having some trouble with saddle sores lately. No longer. The lowered seat position ended the rubbing that caused them.

Sunday morning, I had planned a long ride preparatory to next weekend’s MS 150. The morning broke overcast and misty. Normally, I would go back to bed, but I decided to ride anyway.

I cut my mileage in half from my planned ride, but again noticed how much more comfortable I felt on the bike.

One problem, though. My butt still hurt after an hour or so. Nelo had suggested I consider a new saddle, but I figured a proper fitting would take care of that issue. I do sit a little more forward on the saddle now, which I understand is where you want to sit on a narrow racing style saddle like mine. I’ll ride this saddle through the MS 150, and if the soreness persists, I’ll start trying out new ones.

If you haven’t had a full-blown pro bike fitting yet, you really need to treat yourself to one. It’ll be the best bike money you’ve ever spent, after your bike, of course. And if you buy your bike from Nelo, he’ll insist on fitting you first. Then he’ll show you some bikes.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // bike fitting

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