Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2302:
Most morning temps for the last few weeks have been in the single digits or teens. This morning it was a balmy 35°F. It started raining last night on my ride home from work, and continued raining until early this morning. We desperately need the moisture so I welcome the rain. I'm glad the temp wasn't five degrees colder however, as we would be buried in snow instead.
When I left the house, the pavement was still very wet but there was no more rain falling. I opted to take the road bike and ride around the the puddles as much as I could to try and keep the spray at bay. There was a hint of a cross wind, but overall it was a calm morning. I got out the door a few minutes late due to my laziness, but still made it to the office around my normal time. So apparently I was keeping a decent pace even though I wasn't purposefully trying.
The other night when I was waxing the chain on my road bike I notice my Brooks saddle (a B17 narrow) has gotten noticeably lopsided and saggy. I tried adjusting the tensioning bolt, but it made no difference. So it looks like I may be saddle shopping. I have two Brooks saddles on two different bikes, and frankly I'm not overly happy with them. I've got more than 10k miles on both, but neither one has gotten any more comfortable than when they were brand new.
I had the tensioning bolt break on my road bike saddle about a year after I bought it six years ago. I contacted Brooks to see if they would send me a replacement bolt under warranty. They refused, and insisted I ship the entire saddle back to the UK for warranty work. The price of shipping back and forth was half what the saddle cost, plus I'd be without a seat on my bike for weeks. I went down to Ace hardware and cobbled together a makeshift tensioning bolt for less than $1. In any event, I doubt I'm going to buy another Brooks.
A local online magazine interviewed me after I hit my 10 year consecutive cycling anniversary. I have a Google alert set up to alert me if a new web page containing my name shows up somewhere on the internet. I originally set up the alert to help me catch scammers or identity thieves before they do too much damage. A fringe benefit was that it also alerted me as soon as the magazine posted the article: