Saturday, July 11, 2009

My interesting ride today

I went on my ride this morning but I found that I had a few problems.

  • As I was riding the bike I got to where Kaiser Permanente hospital is and their lights were shining on me and I went to look at the computer to see what time it was and to see how fast I was going with my new tires and seat but the screen was blank.  So I pulled over to find out what the issue was.  When I put the wheel back on the front fork I put it on backwards so my magnet was on the wrong side of the wheel lol.  So I put it on the correct side and spun the wheel but it still didn't work.  It's because of what my pimpled front tire did to the computer wire, it stripped it so there are wires that are exposed so it doesn't work now.  So today I have no reference of how fast I was going or how many calories I burned.



  • When I left the house I didn't notice that my back wheel had a bump to it.  As I was riding on the bike trail I could feel the bump and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do about it because it's a brand spanking new tire.  When Chip bought me the new tires he also bought me new tubes that had the presta valves.  My front wheel is brand new (26x2.00) but my back wheel (26x1.95) is the original wheel on the bike so since they are both different sizes they both won't accept presta valve because the presta valve tubes have this big ring under the valve.  The regular tubes that you buy don't so I just had to change the tube on the bike trail then all was good.



  • And now my new seat lol.  Yesterday when I first put the new seat on I rode it down the street then had to come back to adjust it.  Then I rode around a bit and had to make an adjustment here and there and I thought I had it all worked out but I guess I didn't.  So on my bike ride this morning I think I pulled over 3 times to make adjustments.  I finally got it to a comfortable position.  I had to raise my handlebars though because even though the instructions are to lower the seat by 1 inch I did that yesterday and my legs were bending too much so I put it back so today all I had to do was raise the handlebars and that fixed that issue.


Since my computer didn't work today I'm going to have to write down an old time when I used to go 16 miles so I can at least have something to write down.  I'll have to fix that wire today so that I can use it tomorrow.

"The Bicycle Seat" website that I got the new seat from say to give it at least 3 weeks and considering I've already given my old seat and the gel cover to a neighbor I have no choice but to give it 3 weeks lol.  I can't ride any other way.  But I do want to give it some time to get used to because I'm not numb today in the naughty parts but my butt is killing me lol.  My arms are killing me too ugh.

The Bicycle Seat

Well I got my bike seat today.  I almost didn't get it because the mail carrier left it on my doorstep where anybody walking by could take it.  They didn't even bother ringing the doorbell.  I'm about to go out on it now.  BRB.

...

The website where I bought this seat from, The Bicycle Seat suggest that you ride it for 40 minutes so that you can make adjustments here and there so it's comfortable.  They suggest that you lower the seat 1 inch which I'm not quite sure that works for me, I'm probably going to have to raise it back up.  But I had to adjust my gear shifting thingamabob because when I was riding it I felt like I was riding faster than the bike was capable of so I adjusted that and it works for me.  I adjusted the seat so it's down a bit in the back as per their suggestion and that kinda helps.

I do kinda feel strange though while riding it.  I can actually feel my "sit bones" sitting on this seat.  Before it was just my crotch area that was sitting on the seat.  Now I won't have to make any more adjustments to my shorts while riding.  They usually ride up because of the "horn" or "nose" of the seat.

Well, I don't really have the time to test it out for a full 40 minutes today because I have lots to do but tomorrow I will be on my 2 hour / 20 mile bike ride so as soon as I get home (probably 6:30 or 7am) I will definitely be back here to blog about my strange new experience.