Western Connecticut country ride & more saddle battles

On Sunday, I went for a beautiful ~85 mile ride through the hills of Western Connecticut, primarily in Litchfield county, with a bit of dabbling in New York state as well. I had originally planned on a completely different ride, but once again the battle with the saddle curbed my plans. Instead of heading north in to MA, I opted for just taking random roads in CT assuming I would probably not get lost as long as I kept my bearings straight! It was sunny all day and around 65F with hardly any wind. Spring is just rolling in to the area so it was nicely green with numerous flowering trees about. Nearly the entire 85 miles were through tiny two lane country roads surrounded by farms and fields and forests. This area is surely some of the nicest for road riding in this country! You have to like HILLS though. This 85 mile route had plenty of those guys. I felt like I had ridden about 150 miles by the finish.



The battle with the saddles continues on. The Selle San Marco Rolls failed the test after two days of riding. Saturday I took it easy and rode 44 miles, well, distance wise I took it easy. I hammered the majority of the time and climbed quite a few hills. The hills are a trend in CT that are unavoidable but rewarding. Great training grounds. On Sunday, I bought a Specialized Alias 143mm bg saddle. This saddle felt far more comfortable on the short test ride I took with it Sunday evening. My butt was feeling mighty sore after the 85 mile ride and the Specialized induced absolutely no pain. It weighs slightly less than the Rolls, by about 25 grams, but feels significantly less intrusive on the butt. I had to feel around to make sure I was actually sitting on the thing. Hopefully it disappears like this all the time. The bg philosophy seems to focus on removing most pressures while focusing the majority of your weight on the sit bones placed on some memory foam. The saddle is cut out all over the place and is nice and smooth virtually eliminating any possibility of friction. This is omething the Rolls certain could not claim. With it, I had friction from the nose and felt various pressure points all over the saddle. No matter how I adjusted it I would find a new spot of discomfort!