Saddles

A few days ago I bought a new saddle \for my bike. The one that came with the bike was amazing - cushiony, comfy, and definitely (based on much research that I've been doing lately) not at all what I would need for extended comfort over 1500 miles. Granted, nothing will be comfortable and I know that, but the goal is to get as close to comfort as possible.

So after much online research reading and learning as much as I could about women's touring saddles this is what I bought:It's a Terry saddle made in Italy with a leather cover. Notice that the first feature listed is the "wide rear." That was a big selling point right there. While this saddle is supposed to be the best rated by the most women I'd like to show you what I will be riding upon my return to Boulder:

You might be looking at that picture and thinking to yourself, "well, that just looks like two pillows stacked on top of each other," in which case you would be correct. Although I like to think of myself as a pretty tough chick, apparently I know nothing when it comes to the pain of riding miles and miles for days and days. But I am about to find out.

In addition to buying this stellar saddle I would also like to report that I have checked off a few things on that secret list I posted a few days ago including among other things ordering the crucial piece needed to attach my trailer to my bike and mailing a box of clothes to LA so that I will be able to reunite with cotton at that point. It should be an exciting reunion.

Early Departure Date

I'd like to say that the reason I haven't updated my blog in awhile is because I've been so busy riding my bike around Boulder in preparation for this trip, but that's not 100% true. It's probably only about 14% true. What I have been doing since leaving my job in a lot of snowboarding, hanging out and watching Friday Night Lights reruns on my computer. It's a really good show. Apparently.

But as of yesterday I'm back on the bike and for the next three days I will be racking up many miles. And finally I have my official departure date. A very generous guy who is also unemployed and seeking a small adventure at the moment (he is also mostly sitting at home as well) has volunteered to drive me up to Seattle where my ride begins. We are leaving on May 10th. I should be riding by the 16th, depending on how many days I hang out with Laura and explore the city.

In the meantime I feel like there is so much more to do to prepare. I don't even have an official list yet! How unlike me is that? Recently my roommate told me that since I was unemployed I should stop making lists and the idea kind of stuck. But sometime soon when he's not watching I'm going to get out my pad of paper and pen and pump one out. It's pretty necessary. Hey, why not now?

To DO:

Tune up bike (yeah, that's a big one)
Put fenders on bike (front and back)
Buy attachment for trailer (HUGE priority)
Assemble everything
Mail a box of clothes to Alexis in LA
Clean up my room for my subleaser
Move all of my stuff into the other room
Take my maps off the wall
Assemble my repair kit in my seat post bag (buy seat post bag)
Buy a camera
Sell my old 6 pound camera on craigslist

Ok, that's not all. So it looks like I have some important things to do. Better get going on that. But first...breakfast. Mmmm...

Progress

Last weekend I decided that if any of my friends get a flat tire in the next month they must ask me to change it. How convenient that three hours after I made this decision Nick received a flat on a ride up to Jamestown. I had been putting off changing the tire until I had no other excuses and since today was the first day of my semi-early retirement there was no excuse. The house was clean, there were no errands to do, I have no money to spend...and the tire was looking at me convincingly from the back room. So I engaged in the task got to work.

Yes, I call it "work" because that's what it was, but not as fun. After spending 45 minutes and getting my hands very dirty I finally (by luck) was able to pry the tire off the rim. 20 minutes later I successfully replace the tube and tire back ON the rim. And then began to pump up the new tire. But guess what? It wouldn't hold air. And there was a loud "swishing" sound every time I pumped air into it. Which indicated that the tube had a hole in it. Which also meant that I would have to start the entire process all over again.

I've acknowledged to myself that there will probably be times on my bike trip that I sit on the side of the road and cry. I'm ok with that. But I'd like to actually begin the trip before a cry episode occurs. So I held back my frustration and began the task again. Getting the tire lever on the rim, failing to pull the tire off over and over again until finally I relaxed a little bit and took a look and thought to myself "it's going to work this time" and this time I believed myself. And it did. The tire separated from the rim. After I put the new tube on (again) I was very careful to not puncture the tube when putting the tire back on.

And the result was...it worked! The tire holds air. The bike is ridable. It looks like I will survive on this trip after all. So far.