Do you remember the soaking most of us got in London on Friday evening? It was good proper heavy rain, and got most of us really, properly soaked. It was great for comraderie on the roads. I've never spoken to so many cyclists in my life - we all had a cheerful exchange of mutterings at the lights, about how we weren't properly dressed, how we forgot to bring the right gear, how we were looking forward to getting straight in a shower etc. Made me think that actually, we're a pretty friendly bunch, in spite of the thinly veiled competition between us all ... or is that just my imagination?
Anyway, so we got wet on Friday. I employed my getting-clothes-off-as-quickly-as-humanly-possible technique to great effect.
But I then cycled on Sunday. Without going in to too much detail, I noticed my ... nether regions ... getting increasingly wet, two days after the rains ...
On examining the seat, it turns out that it had soaked up the rain like a sponge (in fact, is there a sponge in there?) and was gradually being released as I sat on it. I must admit I do have quite a lot of holes in the seat and that's probably the cause. Is it time for a new seat, or is there a cure?
I guess it could be a useful feature if you're ever travelling through the desert on a bike.
5 comments:
The only cure is to get a decent seat I'm afraid, or take yours off after every wet ride and store it in the airing cupboard. ;o)
I fear you are right muppix ... I've always wanted an airing cupboard but I don't think that's quite going to persuade me to get one! Come to think of it, I have seen people putting plastic bags on their seats ... but frankly I don't fancy that very much either.
What saddle do you have? I think most of them do have some foam in them. Perhaps one that has gel instead of foam might help a bit?
Treating the leather with a wax leather treatment of some sort might help make it a little more water resistant too? I occasionally put a bit of dubbin on my saddle (I tried shoe polish once, but it made it really slippery).
Anyway, after a wet ride, I find it's relatively dry by the next day.
Thanks for the tips dtism - I fear that the holes in my saddle now will mean no amount of extras will make it waterproof. But when I get a new one, I'll definitely try your method. Cheers.
A wet (or even damp) saddle will put many a novice cyclist off (and padded cycle tights will only do so much). The plastic bag over the seat while the bike's being left out in the rain is a good way to go. You don't need to keep the bag on when you're cycling though as the seat shouldn't get wet then, unless you're doing miles out of the saddle maybe.
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