Do you like the thought of jumping on your bike and making the most of a lovely evening and our beautiful scenery? Remember the last time you had the same bright idea; after five minutes you wanted to come back and the next day you couldn’t walk? Well I can totally relate to that, and yet to my surprise I now love my bike. What changed? I had my sit bones (butt) measured.
I did feel a little self conscious to start with but by the end of the session I was discussing female pressure maps and male blood flow quite openly! It’s not really your bike that gets sized, it’s more you do, or at least your sit bones do. You’ll love this bit: it doesn’t matter how big or small your rear-end is, it’s your bones that count!
The bottom line is (see what I did there?) if your seat doesn’t fit right your bike will feel awful regardless of how much you paid, or what make it is.
This wonderful piece of technology that will make your vital statistics look great is a Digital Sit Bone device which is linked to an i-Pad. You start by answering some basic questions such as how much biking you do (and of course you lie) and how far you normally go (and again you lie). Then you sit on what looks like a screen and it measures your bones! You do this three times and it then gives you your sit bone measurement. You even get the results emailed to you for “posterior posterity”
It’s a little concerning when your final measurement is displayed on the screen but if you look at that measurement on a ruler you really will be feeling pretty good about your booty. From here you will select a saddle that will fit and reduce soft tissue damage (that’s the feeling you get when you get off your bike and you’re not sure whether it’s a “When Harry met Sally moment” or if you need to cry). Interesting fact: all that cushioning on a saddle has to go somewhere, if you get my drift….? So a comfortable saddle is not the softest one.
So off you go with a test saddle to take away and complete 3-5 rides before you decide yes or no. Don’t forget once you’ve got your perfect seat then make sure you change it over to any future bikes you own.
My advice is, get a comfortable saddle for your derriere you and your bike will actually see some action this summer!
