Re: Leather Saddle Update

On Tue, 20 May 2025 11:50:49 +0200, Wolfgang Strobl
<news51@mystrobl.de> wrote:

Am Mon, 19 May 2025 15:24:36 -0400 schrieb Catrike Ryder
<Soloman@old.bikers.org>:
>

On Mon, 19 May 2025 18:40:06 +0200, Wolfgang Strobl
<news51@mystrobl.de> wrote:
>

Am Mon, 19 May 2025 09:24:35 -0400 schrieb Catrike Ryder
<Soloman@old.bikers.org>:
>
>

I'm often asked about why I rejected the traditional diamond frame
bicycles for the Catrike. I tell them that comfort has a lot to do
with it. Like many bicyclists, I ride for the pure pleasure of it and
why wouldn't I make it as comfortable as I can? Perched on a
traditional bicycle saddle was, for me, never comfortable.

>
>
I'm quite happy that I learned to ride a conventional bike with drop
bars decades ago, and that I still can ride it reasonably fast. 
>

>
My rides are generally four or five hours long and I often never get
up off the Catrike the entire ride. All I need for a rest stop is a
spot where there's shade. Oh, there's also no need for padded pants.

>
Good for you. Without knowing how far you are riding and how many meters
in altitude you are climbing, however, this information is of little
use.  A comfortable tricyle often is heavy and has a lot of air
resistance, making it slow or exhausting. There are exceptions, but they
are rare.

>
My Catrike Expedition is heavy, but it's low slung and I am stretched
out horizontally, so the air resistance is not so bad. Lately, I've
been riding 50 miles, but with almost no climbing. When I first
started riding the trike I was regularly doing 60/70/80+ miles with
just a  little climbing.

>
That might explain it. Riding a lowracer continuously on a straight
course on flat terrain needs about 90 Watt for an average person, quite
independent of the weight of the bike. 
>
You wouldn't have been able to ride such distances with a little more
climbing or in heavy traffic. Where I live, it gets quite hilly when you
leave the river valley and I prefer doing leisure rides in hilly terrain
and on winding regular roads, anyway. Riding a heavy tricycle during
rush hour on my way to work would not have been feasible for me either.
>

>
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/672323672

>
143.13 km, 7:05:24 h, 20.2 km/h Ø, 283 m altitude gain.
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That ride is from July 2011, about 14 years ago. 

Yes, I labled as back when I first got the Catrike. I would have been
just about 67 years old.

I'm neither on Strava, Komoot, Alltrails nor on social networks like
Facebook or Twitter. Nor do I share my rides via Garmin outside my
family. Instead, I sometimes write tour reports, mostly in German
language and publish them where I see fit, for example on my own
website. 
>
So a screenshot and some pictures will have to do:
>
<https://www.mystrobl.de/ws/pic/fahrrad/aremberg2024.jpg
(Connect/Screenshot)
<https://www.mystrobl.de/ws/pic/fahrrad/20240628/A0banner.jpg>
<https://www.mystrobl.de/ws/pic/fahrrad/20240628/Z2profil.png>
(my own way to show the terrain profile)
>
<https://www.mystrobl.de/ws/pic/fahrrad/20240628/C2.jpg>
<https://www.mystrobl.de/ws/pic/fahrrad/20240628/Z2profil.png>
<https://www.mystrobl.de/ws/pic/fahrrad/20240628/DSC06362.jpg>
Some pictures.
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2024-06-28 Bonn <-> Aremberg
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140.13 km 8:18:17 h, 16.9 km/h, 1,857 m altitude gain, 95 W average
>
Like in your case, that doesn't include pauses, less than a hour for me
during that ride.
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>

>
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/671930529
>

I have no problems with changing my clothing for a four or five hour
long pleasure ride. Or for being able to cover a fixed course in the
shortest possible time, without exhaustion.

>
I did that for a while. I called it my time trials period.  I got my
time down to 18 MPH avg for 40 miles. That was 10 years ago when I was
70 years old.
>
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/671939291
>
Two years later I did 20 miles at 19 MPH.
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https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1175228116
>

>
On your flat tricycle, I presume?

All the rides I posted here are on the Catrike.

Several years later, when I realized that couldn't improve on it, I
went into my ride purely for pleasure period.

>
Before retirement, I didn't have any incentives to improve my riding, my
daily commute by bike mostly did that.  Riding for pleasure was confined
to vacations and rides with my family over the weekend.
>
After retirement, my motivation was twofold: staying fit and having
pleasure.  Of course, my road bike isn't my only bike. Yesterday I used
my ugly and heavy Dutch style bicycle to get to a large construction
market/DIY store nearby. I overtook a woman on an e-bike who was in my
way. She then accelerated to just under 25 km/h, after I had overtaken
her. Old men on Dutch style bicycles are slow, everybody knows that. I
stayed faster. :-)  The difficult part wasn't the speed, but the
discipline not to apply too much force with my damaged leg, while
accelerating.
>
>

>

So enjoy your rides, but don't think that others necessarily have to do
the same. There are many reasons not to do it that way if you are not
forced to by an infirmity.

>
I cannot think of any reasons for me to not do it they way I do, but
that's just me.

>
AFIK nobody asked you to change your riding style. It's just that
circumstances, opportunities, personal abilities and preferences vary
greatly from person to person. Even if I'd prefer your way of riding a
bike (I don't), I wouldn't have been able to copy it, given the
circumstances.
>
>

>
I do not expect anybody else to do what I do. I was just stating my
preferences like others were doing in this thread. I wasn't trying to
impress anyone, with my stats posted above, it's not likely that would
happen. I suspect many other riders could match or beat my statistics,
but at my age, I think I did pretty well.

>
Probably. But hard to tell without knowing more about your power output
and weight.

I weigh in at 205-210 lately. Back when I was doing the 40 mile spints
I was 10/15 lbs heavier.

--
C'est bon
Soloman