Franks Rd claims a victim
No, not me, but I will get to that a little later. The weather turned pretty nice today and I started out at 9:30 with the temps around freezing. How odd that freezing feels good. I wanted to hit some hills today and headed out on my own toward Haute Arete with the intention of doing Antire, Franks, Crique d'ours and Vallee du Crique de Roche. Today wasn't about setting a hard pace. I wanted miles and some hills that haven't been part of this winter's riding. I set a comfortable tempo out to Haute Arete and went up Antire fairly well, looped back around to Little Antire, up PP and down to Franks.
This time I remembered where the road gets nasty and braced myself for the onslaught. I reached the pet cemetery and got ready for the 4/10 mile section that goes up 270ft. Halfway up this portion of road my saddle began an unusual rocking motion but I wasn't about to stop on this section of road. I assumed the seat clamp had come loose and would check it out at the top of the hill. When I dismounted, I saw that the saddle had split in two. Thats the first time I've ever had a saddle break.
I made a little adjustment and finished the climb. The saddle actually felt rather secure again. Did I want to cut the ride short or did I want to give a shot at climbing Crique d'ours before heading back. What the hell, lets try one more climb. There must be an odd torque-ing motion when climbing because halfway up Crique d'ours, the saddle began its odd rocking motion again. At the top, I again readjusted the saddle pushed onward toward Vallee du Crique de Roche.
Sure enough, halfway up that climb the saddle issues reared their ugly head again. Thats okay. I had finished all the planned climbs for the day and headed home. Total ride was 45 miles and 3900 ft of climbing in just a touch over three hours. Not blazingly fast but a good hilly ride that was slowed up by four or five stops to fix the saddle and one flat tire.
I think a new saddle is needed.
No, not me, but I will get to that a little later. The weather turned pretty nice today and I started out at 9:30 with the temps around freezing. How odd that freezing feels good. I wanted to hit some hills today and headed out on my own toward Haute Arete with the intention of doing Antire, Franks, Crique d'ours and Vallee du Crique de Roche. Today wasn't about setting a hard pace. I wanted miles and some hills that haven't been part of this winter's riding. I set a comfortable tempo out to Haute Arete and went up Antire fairly well, looped back around to Little Antire, up PP and down to Franks.
This time I remembered where the road gets nasty and braced myself for the onslaught. I reached the pet cemetery and got ready for the 4/10 mile section that goes up 270ft. Halfway up this portion of road my saddle began an unusual rocking motion but I wasn't about to stop on this section of road. I assumed the seat clamp had come loose and would check it out at the top of the hill. When I dismounted, I saw that the saddle had split in two. Thats the first time I've ever had a saddle break.
I made a little adjustment and finished the climb. The saddle actually felt rather secure again. Did I want to cut the ride short or did I want to give a shot at climbing Crique d'ours before heading back. What the hell, lets try one more climb. There must be an odd torque-ing motion when climbing because halfway up Crique d'ours, the saddle began its odd rocking motion again. At the top, I again readjusted the saddle pushed onward toward Vallee du Crique de Roche.
Sure enough, halfway up that climb the saddle issues reared their ugly head again. Thats okay. I had finished all the planned climbs for the day and headed home. Total ride was 45 miles and 3900 ft of climbing in just a touch over three hours. Not blazingly fast but a good hilly ride that was slowed up by four or five stops to fix the saddle and one flat tire.
I think a new saddle is needed.
2 Comments:
Darn, I was out for about 2.5 hours, going up and down every little hill I could find in the 'hood (i.e. Marshall, Big Bend, Adams), and I didn't get half that climbing. Gotta hit the Jeff Co.
little blue pill could fix that saddle.
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