two cycling questions comfort and seaside

Good day,

Recently I have moved where I am only five miles from the ocean. Are
there any special measures I should take to prevent my bike from
succumbing from the salty sea spray? During today's ride I saw many
idle, rusting bicycles and want to ensure my bicycle does not succumb
to such a fate.

Also I was reminded of an uncomfortable situation where my wedding
tackle gets numb. Should the front be pointing up or down? Do any of
you have recommendations for a comfortable long ride? I plan on doing
my first century sometime this summer and would like to avoid this
unpleasantness.

Thanks!

On 4/3/2010 2:07 PM, wrote:
[...]
Also I was reminded of an uncomfortable situation where my wedding
tackle gets numb. Should the front be pointing up or down? Do any of
you have recommendations for a comfortable long ride? I plan on doing
my first century sometime this summer and would like to avoid this
unpleasantness.[...]

If all else fails, get (recum)bent.

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007

wrote:
Good day,

Recently I have moved where I am only five miles from the ocean. Are
there any special measures I should take to prevent my bike from
succumbing from the salty sea spray? During today's ride I saw many
idle, rusting bicycles and want to ensure my bicycle does not succumb
to such a fate.

Five miles is pretty far, you should be OK.


Also I was reminded of an uncomfortable situation where my wedding
tackle gets numb. Should the front be pointing up or down? Do any of
you have recommendations for a comfortable long ride? I plan on doing
my first century sometime this summer and would like to avoid this
unpleasantness.

Numbness is not good. Try experimenting with posture on the bike and
saddle tilt and try different saddles. It's mostly trial and error, but
a good shop might help you out, checking your fit and making
suggestions. For the time being, pedal standing up occasionally.

The sea spray should not make a huge difference, just be sure to wash your bike down after every cycle near the sea and there will be no rusting.

If you are getting numbness you should definitely look to change something as this is not good!! As Peter said its mostly trial and error but you can look into buying a gel seat instead. These tend to be more forgiving on the 'wedding tackle' and are usually more confortable for longer rides. It may be that you are sitting on your saddle far too much!

Obviously this is only in my opinion and others may completely disagree.

Try different positions of both yourself and the saddle first but then if nothing helps, gel saddles are great!

thanks