Advertising and truth.

I bought a carbon fiber saddle with carbon rails. This thing wasn't supposed to come on until Jun but it showed up a couple of days ago where I immediately misplaced it and didn't find it again until yesterday.

They advertised it as weighing 225 grams and it weighs 225 grams. At the same time I bought a new Bontrager Montrose which has titanium round rails which was advertised at 201 grams and it weighs 225 grams. The San Marco Ponza I have weighs in at 230 grams. One of the San Marco saddles in very comfortable and a second is not.

I have an unpadded carbon fiber saddle on the Eddy Merckx that I had left over from the super light build of the Look. On yesterday's 37 mile 1900 ft climbing ride I developed not quite a blister on it but certainly a reason to see that saddle off. It is 180 grams. As I've said before, my condition is far more important than the bicycle weight in the 16 to 22 lb. bicycle weight region. I had to stop in one spot at the beginning of the climb because of some nervous strain of riding through Niles canyon which doesn't have a bicycle lane as such and there are too many people in large SUV's that haven't a clue how to drive. When I stopped some guy turned up Palomares canyon as well and since I hadn't pulled entirely off the road he had to lay on the horn like the fool he was. It isn't as if the road isn't fully visible and the other lane entirely clear. This is the same sort of person that is 5th in line at a red light and as soon as it turns green he lays on the horn.

I had to stop in two other places going up to let my heart rate come down. With only 1,200 miles for the year I simply haven't the shape to do 2 miles of 11%. After over those two miles I didn't stop again except a minute at the top for a gulp of water and to talk to that guy about Japanese high speed trains.

The Eddy weighs 20.2 lbs. and it doesn't feel heavy. The titanium bike is maybe a lb. heavier and it feels a lot lighter. With a new seat post and the lighter saddle it should come in at the 20 lb. mark as well. I figure any bike I can go up and down the escalators with at BART with the bike over my shoulder is good enough. Though I'm not wild about walking two flights of stairs as is sometimes necessary.

When I get into shape it seems to happen suddenly. One day I'm having a lot of problems and the next the tops of the climbs seem to appear before I know it and the steep parts that gave me trouble just the day before are no longer much of a problem

On Monday, May 17, 2021 at 8:49:06 AM UTC-7, wrote:
I bought a carbon fiber saddle with carbon rails. This thing wasn't supposed to come on until Jun but it showed up a couple of days ago where I immediately misplaced it and didn't find it again until yesterday.

They advertised it as weighing 225 grams and it weighs 225 grams. At the same time I bought a new Bontrager Montrose which has titanium round rails which was advertised at 201 grams and it weighs 225 grams. The San Marco Ponza I have weighs in at 230 grams. One of the San Marco saddles in very comfortable and a second is not.

I have an unpadded carbon fiber saddle on the Eddy Merckx that I had left over from the super light build of the Look. On yesterday's 37 mile 1900 ft climbing ride I developed not quite a blister on it but certainly a reason to see that saddle off. It is 180 grams. As I've said before, my condition is far more important than the bicycle weight in the 16 to 22 lb. bicycle weight region. I had to stop in one spot at the beginning of the climb because of some nervous strain of riding through Niles canyon which doesn't have a bicycle lane as such and there are too many people in large SUV's that haven't a clue how to drive. When I stopped some guy turned up Palomares canyon as well and since I hadn't pulled entirely off the road he had to lay on the horn like the fool he was. It isn't as if the road isn't fully visible and the other lane entirely clear. This is the same sort of person that is 5th in line at a red light and as soon as it turns green he lays on the horn.

I had to stop in two other places going up to let my heart rate come down.. With only 1,200 miles for the year I simply haven't the shape to do 2 miles of 11%. After over those two miles I didn't stop again except a minute at the top for a gulp of water and to talk to that guy about Japanese high speed trains.

The Eddy weighs 20.2 lbs. and it doesn't feel heavy. The titanium bike is maybe a lb. heavier and it feels a lot lighter. With a new seat post and the lighter saddle it should come in at the 20 lb. mark as well. I figure any bike I can go up and down the escalators with at BART with the bike over my shoulder is good enough. Though I'm not wild about walking two flights of stairs as is sometimes necessary.

When I get into shape it seems to happen suddenly. One day I'm having a lot of problems and the next the tops of the climbs seem to appear before I know it and the steep parts that gave me trouble just the day before are no longer much of a problem

Climbing stairs is certainly cheaper than the alternatives around he https://bikeportland.org/2021/01/05/...ge-path-324465

Be happy you're alive and still riding.

-- Jay Beattie.

On Monday, May 17, 2021 at 8:58:25 AM UTC-7, jbeattie wrote:
On Monday, May 17, 2021 at 8:49:06 AM UTC-7, wrote:
I bought a carbon fiber saddle with carbon rails. This thing wasn't supposed to come on until Jun but it showed up a couple of days ago where I immediately misplaced it and didn't find it again until yesterday.

They advertised it as weighing 225 grams and it weighs 225 grams. At the same time I bought a new Bontrager Montrose which has titanium round rails which was advertised at 201 grams and it weighs 225 grams. The San Marco Ponza I have weighs in at 230 grams. One of the San Marco saddles in very comfortable and a second is not.

I have an unpadded carbon fiber saddle on the Eddy Merckx that I had left over from the super light build of the Look. On yesterday's 37 mile 1900 ft climbing ride I developed not quite a blister on it but certainly a reason to see that saddle off. It is 180 grams. As I've said before, my condition is far more important than the bicycle weight in the 16 to 22 lb. bicycle weight region. I had to stop in one spot at the beginning of the climb because of some nervous strain of riding through Niles canyon which doesn't have a bicycle lane as such and there are too many people in large SUV's that haven't a clue how to drive. When I stopped some guy turned up Palomares canyon as well and since I hadn't pulled entirely off the road he had to lay on the horn like the fool he was. It isn't as if the road isn't fully visible and the other lane entirely clear. This is the same sort of person that is 5th in line at a red light and as soon as it turns green he lays on the horn.

I had to stop in two other places going up to let my heart rate come down. With only 1,200 miles for the year I simply haven't the shape to do 2 miles of 11%. After over those two miles I didn't stop again except a minute at the top for a gulp of water and to talk to that guy about Japanese high speed trains.

The Eddy weighs 20.2 lbs. and it doesn't feel heavy. The titanium bike is maybe a lb. heavier and it feels a lot lighter. With a new seat post and the lighter saddle it should come in at the 20 lb. mark as well. I figure any bike I can go up and down the escalators with at BART with the bike over my shoulder is good enough. Though I'm not wild about walking two flights of stairs as is sometimes necessary.

When I get into shape it seems to happen suddenly. One day I'm having a lot of problems and the next the tops of the climbs seem to appear before I know it and the steep parts that gave me trouble just the day before are no longer much of a problem
Climbing stairs is certainly cheaper than the alternatives around he https://bikeportland.org/2021/01/05/...ge-path-324465

Be happy you're alive and still riding.

On the Peninsula the obtained state money to build pedestrian overpasses over simple main streets that normally use crosswalks. They then built them with these steep ramps with 90 degree turns every 30 feet or so. So of course no one uses them. They just walk down to the corner and push the pedestrian crossing button.

In one place there is a freeway overpass that actually goes into an open field. When I do the Mission San Juan Batista (John the Baptist) ride you weave around through the back farm roads since the highway was converted to a freeway. Coming back you have to ride along a state highway that is heavily used by interstate trucking. But it has a 20 foot wide shoulder and you don't have any troubles. Then there is a turn onto another state highway with high speed traffic and while the shoulder isn't that wide, it is wide enough that you don't feel threatened. We then ride up into the hills to the west of the freeway and top a peak and ride back down to Monterey Rd. which used to be the main route to Monterey from the bay area. We usually park behind a gas station there and do the 45 mile one way and 55 the other. This is a quiet ride except for that 8 miles on the highways.