I have been off the bike since about July due to a back injury. Well...TODAY was my first time back on it!!! And even better, back is doing OK. Tight, but not painful.

I recently purchased a Selle Anatomico X2 saddle in hopes that it would inspire and comfort me. Well, it apparently did both. The saddle fit GREAT and seemed to not transfer road shock. While the ride was a short, flat 7.8 miles...I call it a success. I intend to build very slowly in an effort to not go backwards.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my excitement with you all, and ask...what is YOUR good news for the day?!?!?

Excellent news. That's 7.8 miles more than you rode yesterday. You remind me of my three-month hiatus after surgery a few years ago, and indeed how good it felt to be back on the first time. Definitely take your time building back up, esp. if you still feel tight. But I'll bet the best thing to loosen up that tightness is to ride regularly, even if it's short rides.

Today's good news? Idunno, it's a little sunnier today than it's been all week, and we'll be able to put a few miles on the MUP, and do our Trader Joe's shopping by bike. Oh, and we enjoyed some C&V bike porn at the farmer's market, a '90s Bridgestone MB-something and an '80s Trek 820 Antelope with a 5-speed Sturmey. Both sporting studs and other typical winter kit.

Fantastic news! Don't over do it, I even use a suspension seatpost on my do all bike to help my back. No shame at all.

My good news today is hanging out with my youngest son while my wife land oldest are at a party. Long walk with an ice cream visit makes it fun.

I woke up.

Way to go, that's great to hear. I know that feeling.

Congrats!

Hey, good news! Glad you're back in the saddle.

Good news for the day? Non bike related - I ran into one of my college professors today. She gave me a very nice compliment. Made my day.

Bike related - I began the process of making some cosmetic changes to one of my Motobecanes. Pretty excited about that.

Keep at it, and congratulations.

Woke up this morning to my better-3/4 complaining about the 6yo Maytag top-load washing machine leaving residue on clothes. Strange, it gets regular cleaning cycles with tablets.

So lucky me, spent the first four hours of today disassembling the entire washing machine down to the bottom of the drain tub. Once I got the top plastics off and saw the outside of the drum, I knew it was gonna be bad. Took about 2 hours to clean out enough slimy mildew/algae/whatever to fill a 1/2 quart Pyrex, soaking all the parts in a light bleach solution, flushing out and scrubbing down the entire drum, then reassembling before 3 cleaning cycles, and ... it's still working, so: GOOD NEWS!

Running through the 2nd load of the day right now. No more residue. GOOD NEWS!

But it also meant I didn't get any time to work on the '80ish pearl-white Grand Record I picked up off eBay out of Charleston SC a couple years back. BAD NEWS. Managed to get its all-black Cinelli stem unstuck on Friday GOOD NEWS! which "was" mint but is now toast BAD NEWS!. Of course, the stem wasn't the correct diameter. I delayed working on it because of the undisclosed clamp damage on the seat tube, their eBay pic below, note the vertical crease mid-tube, seller claimed he knew nothing about it. I deleted a post asking if there's any way to repair it because I was worried the seller is on BF with all the other vintage bikes they had. Anyway, hopefully will get time to work on a first round of compounding out the paint tomorrow. Once I polish it up and wax I can finally apply the seat decal Vintage_Cyclist sent me almost 3yrs ago now (thanks! I haven't forgotten!). Need to find a new black 120ish stem for it though, I really like the way the cockpit/seat/rim/tire pops. I'd really like to stick with the aero levers, too.

Switch to dry laundry detergent and use half what is normal. All those issues go away.

Good news! Found a spot to replace the cold, wet rain with hot, wet coffee.

Congrats to your great news!

Good to see you back on your bike! It seems that every physical setback I've had in the past decade or so I've recovered by getting back on my bike.

My bad news/good news today is a Brooks saddle decided to eject it's saddle tensioner bolt mid-ride. The good news is I was near my favorite country brunch place, so I called up my wife and we met for lunch. We had a great time!

YESS!!!!!! Another day another short, flat and slow (although faster than yesterday) ride. And still no pain.

Cycling was and is, far and away, the best physical therapy for my bad back.

If my back starts to hurt, I ride my bike.

If it hurts a lot (debilitating pain), I wait for it to subside a little but then I ride. I may start slowly and avoid the hills but I ride.

congrats..... alwasy good to get on the bike

I won 2 quarters of the office super bowl pool so that is by way to start the day

25-or-so years ago, when I got back into cycling after almost 20 years out of the saddle, I found that my trusty old Fuji's hard leather saddle didn't like my then 40-pound-heavier self... So I got a suspension seatpost from Bike Warehouse/Nashbar (not sure when the name changed.) Mine is a 1" diameter 1" tall elastomer 'puck' in the middle of a knee-joint hinge -- works well to take the 'buzz' out of rough pavement but not enough that it changes seat angle much as it compresses. It must not have been received all that favorably, since I don't see that style offered anymore... But I like it!