Sailing the high seas

I stayed at Sequim (pronounced Squim) Bay State Park last night and rode a quick 25 miles to Port Angeles along a fantastic rails to trails off road paved path called the Olympic Discovery Trail this morning. It actually starts at Port Townsend and is planned to extend out to the Pacific. It was so nice to ride away from the traffic noise of highway 101. The trail crosses several old railway trestles and even has a covered bridge. Thee are a few brutally steep climbs one of which I walked. The other one I started up and then realized how friggen steep it was but by then I had to keep going because there was no way to unclip from my pedals fast enough to stop. I made it... barely but I felt like my arms and legs were going to fall off and my lungs were going to explode.


I'm currently on the ferry heading for Victoria on Vancouver Island. I love riding ferries and have been on dozens of them. Sam is getting the royal treatment and is riding on the forward deck for the first time ever. They always make me park him on the car deck so I'm sure he's enjoying the feel of the sea wind in his spokes.



I have reservations for two night at the Victoria youth hostel so tomorrow will be my first day of not riding at all since I left home. My butt is incredibly grateful.


THE SADDLE: everything you wanted to know about sore butts but didn't want to ask.
When one spends five to ten hours pedaling a bicycle, all sorts of issues arise. Hands and feet tend to go numb from nerve compression. This is why cyclists wear padded gloves and hard, plastic soled shoes.

The main problem, though, by far, is sitting on that dang saddle for hours every day. Novice cyclists tend to buy soft, squishy gel seats not realizing that after a few miles of sinking into that gel, their soft tissues will get compressed and things will start hurting very badly and will never get better.

Experienced cyclists know that squishy is to be avoided and use fairly hard saddles. Ideally, one sits with most of the weight on the pubic bones and not on soft tissue. Cycling shorts look ridiculous with their lycra and padding but are an essential for a happy butt. And, no, spending $100+ on a pair of really nice riding shorts isn't extravagant, it's survival!

I invested in a Brooks saddle, which is a hard leather saddle made in England. Long distance cyclists swear by it because it conforms to the rider's posterior thus becoming a custom fit. But, like any leather product, there is a break in time which I thought I had done during my training rides but it seems there is stil work to be done. Actually, today it felt pretty good so I think I'm finally getting there.

Saddle sores, rashes, and chafing are basically unavoidable at the beginning of a long bike tour. As a fellow cyclist from Britain exclaimed five days into her tour, "I've got nappy rash!" I've been suffering , too, like I almost always do at the beginning of a trip. For the first time ever, I actually have a blister. On my butt! No it's really not that funny so stop laughing.

Luckily, one's bottom slowly gets accustomed to the abuse and the skin toughens up into what a cyclist friend calls butt leather. Once butt leather is built up, things are fine except for the first five minutes in the saddle every morning when things are a bit tender.

Remedies for troubles of the butt include using a cream called Chamois Butt'r on the padding of cycling shorts to help with chafing and antibiotic ointment with the pain reliever, litocaine to help with the owies. Some people use diaper rash ointment and a Ranndoneur (super crazy cyclist who rides 800 miles in three or four days as part of an organized race) I met swears by tons of Bag Balm.

-- Post From My iPhone