Cintibiker

This looks like a nice tour - I am familiar with the Finger Lakes from my youth and it is a beautiful area of New York. I was thinking of doing the Bike Tour of Colorado - but since I am new to riding, I thought the daily elevations on this tour were more reasonable. I am working on breaking in my new Brooks saddle - I learned the saddle lesson on the last tour! Just got the Rider Handbook and it looks like a pretty organized tour.

joysickle

i'm just planning a trip from philly to colo. tell more about the saddle lesson- of course you want a comfy one, but how can you tell w/o trying it for a day? any advice?

Cintibiker

Being comfortable on a saddle is a process that takes time. First part is breaking in your butt (really your seat bones). The other part is finding a saddle that really fits you (this is what I meant by learning the saddle lesson). I was fine on the seat that came with my bike for metric centuries - even fine after two 60 mile days in a row. On the third consecutive day I was hurting, and by the 6 day in a row - well I endured the pain. After doing research on the web, I decided to try a brooks leather saddle because it seems to work for alot of people.

Finding the right saddle, bike set-up takes time. If you are going to take a big trip, best bet might be to ride you bike a significant mileage at least 3 days in a row to see if your set-up is OK.

joysickle

thanks. warning heeded.