Sunday, Tatsfield Village, sausage sarnies, Phil, new bike, talked about giving up alcohol, and motorbikes, drank tea, great times, rode back via the Ridge, had a nasty puncture incident, took ages to fix, but got there in the end. Reached home late, gone 1130hrs then drove to Slindon in West Sussex.
It's looking like a no-cycling kind of week. First, there's the rain, second there's the fact that I decided I could fix a new saddle on to my bike, I couldn't. I brought the seat post into the house, managed to get the old saddle off, but getting the new one back on is one hell of a job especially as I managed to take all the fittings off and now can't get them back on again. I should have realised that I'm a complete cock when it comes to fixing things, especially bikes. I can manage a puncture, even a rear wheel puncture, but the fiddly nature of fixing the saddle means that if you gave me a bike and a saddle and asked me to fix it while staying on a desert island, I'd still be on the island today, I'd be there for months, if not years, that's how bad I am. I don't particularly want this to be the case, but that's the way it is. I wish I could go on a bike maintenance course, like an in-depth course, and learn the whole lot, but I don't have the time or the money so I'm going to have to rely upon bike shops for the foreseeable future.
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| Last Sunday's puncture on the way back from Tatsfield Village |
Rain has been another reason for not riding, although it's more a case of perception and believing the weather app on the iphone than the reality of things. I was in the office yesterday. Now, don't get me wrong, I couldn't have cycled to the office Wednesday because there was no saddle on the bike, but the chief reason I'd ruled it out initially was the weather. The app said rain later in the day so I thought, well, I could ride in and train it back, but decided not to bother. As it turned out, when it was time to head home the weather was fine and it remained that way. I could have riden in and back and that would have been 24 miles under my belt, but no. It's now Thursday and I've only got 18 miles in the bank and a bike without a saddle.
And the saddle situation gets more complicated. The new Daway saddle arrives a day early and wow is it big! It's huge. A bit like the sort of seat you'd find on a vintage Harley Davidson or Indian motorcycle. I'm thinking this is going to be very comfortable, but being a total nob in the technical department, I'm forced to head down to Cycle King to get it fixed on, so I jump in the car with the saddle and seat post and visit the shop. They fix it in place and charge me £8, no problem, and a job well done. So I get home and put the seat post back on the frame and because the saddle is so huge I can no longer touch the ground when sitting on the bike. It gets worse. I discover that my seat post won't go down any further, there's something inside the frame that stops it. This is all very annoying and I start thinking about buying a hacksaw, but then think better of it. To be honest, the seat post issue has arisen before, even with the old Selle Royal saddle, which proved to be not so royal after all (it punctured, hence my need to replace it). There appears to be some kind of bracket inside the frame that prevents my seat post from being any lower, meaning that whenever I stop the bike, at lights etc, I have to make sure I'm off the saddle or I'll simply keel over. So now I'm thinking about a new seat post.
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| New saddle and a crossbar bag, my new purchases... |
To be honest, the Daway 'comfortable' saddle isn't that comfortable and I find myself getting a little annoyed with the Selle Royal product, which I thought was great until it punctured and I had to tape it up. I have to start looking for a bank statement that has details of the original purchase as I can't remember whether I bought it on Amazon or elsewhere. It's still under guarantee so I contact Amazon (after finding a bank statement entry for 10 December 2019 stating I bought it for £45) to see if I can get a refund. In short, I can, so as I'm 'chatting' with the site's online chatbot (actually, I think it's a real person, it has to be, they understand me) I decide to get the Selle Royal refund AND a refund for the Daway too. All fine, except that the bank card I used to buy the Selle is now null and void so I'm offered a gift card instead of the money. Not a bad idea as I need to buy a new saddle so I accept. Then I set about buying a new saddle. I noted with anger, however, that the Selle Royal was now £20 more expensive than when I bought it last December so I shop around and eventually find one (a Serfas) that I buy for just £36. Then I realise I'm not getting any change from that gift card so I decide to buy something else to make up the money: a Wild Man crossbar bag that'll take stuff like a mobile phone, bank card, front door keys and so on. Total order, around £45. In fact, because of the gift card, I only end up paying something like £4 on top for the saddle and the cross bar bag. Result!
The next step, however, is to get the Daway saddle off the bike and into a box and then send the box (containing both saddles) to Amazon. Within five-to -even days I'll receive a refund for the Daway and all will be good. However, my new saddle won't arrive until the 19th October, next week. Fortunately, I have the Rockhopper's original saddle in the garage, which ain't a bad saddle, and this time I'm going to try to fix it by myself. I don't hold out much hope, but let's see. Either way it'll be a temporary measure as when my new saddle arrives I'll be taking it off and replacing it... better make that Cycle King will be doing it. I reckon they'll also be putting the Rockhopper saddle on the seat post, but let's see. All of this is very annoying as it means I haven't been out on the bike all week and it's nothing to do with the rain. Today is Friday, it's been a bad week on the cycling front, but I'm hoping I'll be riding somewhere tomorrow morning.
Well, first, how about an update on the saddle situation. It's all good news. I managed to get the Daway saddle off the bike and into a cardboard box along with the Selle Royal, which, incidentally, had risen in price from the £45 I paid last December to almost £60! And why would I re-buy the saddle that, ultimately, let me down? So I searched Amazon and eventually found the Serfas, designed for blokes, and I think it's better than the Selle Royal. The Serfas saddle employs the ICS 'infinite comfort system' which basically protects your bits, it's as if somebody has sliced a big chunk of it out of the middle, leaving a one-inch depth channel running the length of the seat. I don't plan on fitting it until after tomorrow's ride, just in case I have problems and have to cancel the ride. The original Specialized saddle is fine because I've also bought some pretty decent cycling shorts, yes, cycling shorts, made of Lycra, that I wore today for the first time. I rode to the Velo Barn with the intention of recording the mileage of the ride, which I reckon, all-in, is about 20 miles. Unfortunately, my iPhone ran out of power so I failed in my task, but it doesn't matter.
When I reached the Velo Barn, just before 0900hrs, I loitered outside until they officially opened on the hour and then ordered a regular cappuccino and a slice of lemon cake. Perfect. Then I sat down and chilled, watching my bike, which was parked outside. I really needed a book to read, that would have been perfect, or a newspaper, but had neither so I just chilled, eavesdropping on other people's conversations before ordering a mug of tea, purely to extend my time sitting there doing nothing. Eventually, of course, I had to go, but the journey back isn't at all difficult. I rode along a short stretch of Pilgrim's Lane, just like last Saturday, and then rode up the hill towards Botley. It was a walk in the park and soon I found myself on the 269 and heading for home.
This morning I'd woken up at 0459hrs and, for some reason, I needed to listen to Jump by Van Halen, so I headed downstairs, switched on the lap top and found what I was looking for on You Tube. Perfick! And I followed up with Ian Brown's First World Problems, equally perfick. With a bowl of Alpen, grapes, sliced banana, raspberries and blueberries, not forgetting a cup of tea, I was feeling on top of the world and looking forward to getting out there on the bike. The original plan had been a ride to Woodmansterne Green, but Bon didn't reply so I figured he might have gone out and rode instead (as you know) to the Velo Barn. It was the perfect end to the week, but a week marred by no cycling and loads of hassles with bicycle saddles. Still, it's all sorted now and tomorrow there's the ride to Tatsfield Village to meet the guys.
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