Bike Saddles Hurt

I’m not a pansy, but I gotta tell you that this racing saddle on my new bike friggin’ hurts. The idea of doing a century ride sounded appealing until riding today for just under 40 minutes. My tail was throbbing by the time I got home. I’m not sure that I totally expect it to get comfortable, but I at least hope that it gets a little less torturous. I mentioned it to my friend Mary and she made some suggestions that might help. First and foremost, if I’m going to be able to do some serious saddle time in preparation for the triathlon, I’ve got to get a pair of tri-shorts sooner rather than later. Secondly, body glide, body glide, body glide. Lastly, I’ve got to get the bike shop to tune the bike. I tuned it myself in the garage before I went out today, but I was still having some difficulty changing gears.
Enough griping! I did have a very enjoyable ride despite the saddle pains. I only went out for about 10 miles, but today was mostly about getting used to the bike. I road on a hilly section of Route 9 and averaged 14.8mph with a max speed of 39.1mph. My average cadence was only 72, but when I tried going faster than that it just didn’t feel right to me. My comfort zone for cadence tended to be between 72 and 80. Justin said that I should be shooting for between 90-100. I’m going to have to research that a bit.