Rode some really SWEET pavement tonight!

[BiggJawn]

Little-used road in the next county south. Coal-black, smooth, no holes, cracks, or none of that other shit that makes a road crappy, and I had a 15 mile tailwind and nothing to do but open it up and spin...

3 miles, and I never saw the speed drop below 20 the whole time. In fact, I got in the drops and put it up to 27 on a very slight downhill at one point...

Then I get into my home county (the poorest county in Indiana north of I-70) and the worn-out tarmac was so washed out from last week's rains I was wishing for some of those cobblestones from France....

19 miles on a brand-new Brooks leather saddle. Tell me I have no pain tolerance....

[mike_c]

1. My Brooks B-17 never really required much breakin....

Oh, it's gotten more comfortable as my sit-bones have made their divits, but right out of the box it was more comfortable than the last expensive Italian plastic thing it replaced. Now it's hard to imagine riding anything else!

Sounds like you had a killer ride. My usual fitness ride (and my commute, for that matter) has lots of tooth loosening stretches-- smooth pavement is a blessing!

[BiggJawn]

2. "Tooth-loosening" hits it right on...

I couldn't beleive how much the pavement had gone to hell in a week! I just rode that stretch last week and it was OK, a little rough, but now I had sections that had big 4" diameter divots an inch deep every foot or so.

The county south of me has a better tax base, thus better roads.

I have tried so many diferent plastic saddles it ain't funny. I buy these thrift-shop bikes, and invariably, one of the first things that goes bye-bye is the saddle.(along with the so-called "safety levers" on the brakes)
I got the B-17 for my Raleigh, but since the ancient leather "Swift" saddle broke on my main ride, I've shuffled parts allocations a bit. I have a "Belt" on my Fuji that I've put 500 miles on and it's very comfy.

I'm looking forward to a long relationship with this B-17...

[ze_dscherman]

3. Ride it wet

I did that to my Brooks Swift to break it in - no pain. Of course, I did it just for some of the first (not so long) rides, to allow the leather to adapt. Then I oiled it well - massaging in some natural oil containing beeswax.

[Blue-Jay]

4. 20! Nicely done, Jawn!

You were bookin' it!

[BiggJawn]

5. Yeah, the Contis were singin' a sweet tune...

I hit the 13 mile point in 1 hour, 10 seconds. That included a mile of gravel at 8 MPH.

The total for the ride was 19 miles in 1 hour 23.