Getting the Bike Ready - Saddle

Have you ever considered just how important your bottom is? No? Ok. Just me then :-)

But just as it's your tyres that form that all important contact with the road, your bottom is the part of your body that makes contact with your bike and bares the most weight. If your bottom's not happy on the bike then you won't be either. Listen to your bottom. Look after it and all will be well.

To achieve Bottom Happiness, you need to be wearing good quality, well padded cycling shorts and you need the right saddle. 

The question as to which type of saddle is best, what it should be made of and to what design, is a very personal one. After years of plastic saddles and a few gel saddles, I decided to try a leather saddle. I've never really liked hard, plastic saddles. I quite like gel saddles and the way they mould to fit but they are heavy. Leather saddles have a reputation for moulding to your shape too and ultimately for being the most comfortable of the options. But these come in two styles, either sprung or unsprung. The sprung leather saddles do look amazingly comfortable but they also look like they're very heavy. I decided to buy an unsprung, leather saddle from Spa Cycles. Specifically, I treated myself to their own, titanium-railed Aire saddle.

Now, the thing with leather saddles is that you must break them in. Initially, my new saddle was rock hard and even knowing it needed to be broken in, I did start by wondering if I might have made a mistake. After riding 300 miles on it, and having taken great care to rub Brooks proofide leather care cream into it regularly, I could feel no difference at all. But fear not! Patience is required when breaking in a leather saddle. After almost exactly 400 miles I could suddenly feel a change. The saddle had definitely given, right where my behind made contact and started to change its shape to fit mine. And now the saddle is unquestionably a comfortable one. I fully expect further improvements as my bottom and saddle get better and better acquainted.

A comfy bottom is a happy bottom

Leather saddles need looking after. A quality leather care product needs to be applied periodically (every few months should be enough, I think) but most important of all.... don't leave your leather saddle out in the rain. Obviously, it can get wet. Just wipe it off with a cloth when you get back from a ride in the rain. But don't leave your bike outside in all weathers, day after day. 

For bikepacking, chances are your bike will live outside, probably parked outside your tent and so it makes sense to buy a saddle cover to keep the rain and dew off it. A saddle cover weighs almost nothing, so there's no downside to carrying one with you. I did find it hard to obtain a cover that fitted my saddle though. Most of them seem too short..... perhaps my saddle is unusually long. Most publish their dimensions, so check carefully before you buy. 

I ended up buying a large cover from madeforrain which does the job very nicely.