Suffering for the Greater Good

I went and spent another wad of cash in relation to that bike today. I got a nice, cushy gel seat to relieve the agony of the "stone seat" as the guy at the bike shop referred to it. Problem is, the new seat weighs a ton. It's super thick and has a whole bunch of little springs under the gel pad and then another set of big springs below the seat. I'm thinking the thing is a good pound and a half of riding comfort, which might not seem like a lot, but will seem like a boulder when trying to lift and carry my bike during a race. So I might have to switch out the luxury sedan of seats for the cheap compact at race time. Hopefully by then I won't have the same amount of weight pressing down on the bones in my rear.

I have heard that as you become a better rider, the big cushion seat isn't as necessary. As I learn more about this whole business, I can probably find a nice hybrid seat that won't torture my ass and won't weigh a ton either. There is so much to learn, and I haven't really even tackled riding yet.

My other purchase was a new helmet. I bought a new helmet when I bought the bike, but I shouldn't have been so embarrassed by the size of my egg and bought the large. Instead I went with the medium that only fit when I set the adjustment at the maximum. It still wasn't terribly comfortable and left a mean red mark on my forehead after my first ride. Hammy needed a new helmet, so I gave it to him. He has a big melon head like me, so the medium fit him beautifully. I got a large this time, and I ended up with a better model - more ventilation and a nifty visor. The salesman told me this helmet is ponytail friendly too. The other most certainly was not.

I could drone on forever about this stuff, but I know it's really boring to anyone but me. I'm just fascinated by all of this. It's an exciting process for me. This is about the only source of excitement in my life. Sad, but true.