Assos chamois creme.

Fantastic stuff.

My bottom is in love!

32 mile ride today, no chafing, no rubbing, absolutely wonderful.

Riding almost every day has helped too, but, as last weekend
demonstrated, not to the extent that I was free of chafing.

I shall be buying this in bulk shortly, I think ;-)

--


Velvet

Velvet wrote:
> Assos chamois creme.
>
> Fantastic stuff.
>
> My bottom is in love!
>
> 32 mile ride today, no chafing, no rubbing, absolutely wonderful.
>
> Riding almost every day has helped too, but, as last weekend
> demonstrated, not to the extent that I was free of chafing.
>
> I shall be buying this in bulk shortly, I think ;-)

I'll second that !!

Sam Salt

Velvet wrote:

> 32 mile ride today, no chafing, no rubbing, absolutely wonderful.

Pshaw! I can do that any time.

The dark side is calling!

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:

> Velvet wrote:
>
>
>>32 mile ride today, no chafing, no rubbing, absolutely wonderful.
>
>
> Pshaw! I can do that any time.
>
> The dark side is calling!
>
> Guy

It's been calling for aaaaaages, I just need someone to donate a
windcheetah to me ;-)

--


Velvet

Just zis Guy, you know? <outlook.bugs@microsoft.com> said:
> Velvet wrote:
>
>> 32 mile ride today, no chafing, no rubbing, absolutely wonderful.
>
> Pshaw! I can do that any time.
>
> The dark side is calling!

Yebbut you can buy a tanker load of chamois cream for the cost of one 'bent.
Of course, the cream has much less Shiny Toy factor, itself a rather
powerful motivation!

Regards,

-david

David Nutter:
> Yebbut you can buy a tanker load of chamois cream for the cost of one
'bent.
> Of course, the cream has much less Shiny Toy factor, itself a rather
> powerful motivation!

You can buy a Brooks saddle for much less.

60 miles yesterday, not a hint of soreness.

d.

davek wrote:

> David Nutter:
>
>>Yebbut you can buy a tanker load of chamois cream for the cost of one
>
> 'bent.
>
>>Of course, the cream has much less Shiny Toy factor, itself a rather
>>powerful motivation!
>
>
> You can buy a Brooks saddle for much less.
>
> 60 miles yesterday, not a hint of soreness.
>
> d.
>
>

I'm still not convinced about them, especially not the bit where you
have to wear them in ;-)

And the fact that I'm not a blokey, and while I know brookes do ladies
saddles, I've found it very hard to find a ladies saddle narrow enough
till I found the selle italia oktavia ldy... I'm not going to start the
process of attempting to find another saddle that fits as nicely as that
one..

FWIW, the friction was from the shorts rucking up slightly on the inside
of the leg, not the saddle itself ;-)

--


Velvet

davek wrote:

> You can buy a Brooks saddle for much less.
>
> 60 miles yesterday, not a hint of soreness.

If I've got to sit on a saddle it's a Brooks, I've a B66 on the 8
Freight (used to be on my old upwrong tourer), a B17 on the MTB and a
Brooks Brompton on the, errrr, Brompton. And as saddles go they're very
comfy, but not in the same ballgame as a good 'bent seat suited to the
rider.

300 miles last week fully loaded touring, no soreness, no chafing.
That's not really Big News to someone with a good saddle, but comfort
extends beyond the ****. No aches, pains or any other discomfort (even
minor) in neck, back, shoulders, arms or wrists either, and no saddle
will guarantee that. Further note that the 300 miles was without
contrived backside padding in my clothing, and I wasn't wearing any
gloves or mitts either. Comfort is relative: saddles aren't popular
where they're not /necessary/ and you don't find them in furniture
shops, public seating areas and office supply catalogues, rather unlike
chairs, and comfort is the reason for that.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch wrote:

> davek wrote:
>
>> You can buy a Brooks saddle for much less.
>>
>> 60 miles yesterday, not a hint of soreness.
>
>
> If I've got to sit on a saddle it's a Brooks, I've a B66 on the 8
> Freight (used to be on my old upwrong tourer), a B17 on the MTB and a
> Brooks Brompton on the, errrr, Brompton. And as saddles go they're very
> comfy, but not in the same ballgame as a good 'bent seat suited to the
> rider.
>
> 300 miles last week fully loaded touring, no soreness, no chafing.
> That's not really Big News to someone with a good saddle, but comfort
> extends beyond the ****. No aches, pains or any other discomfort (even
> minor) in neck, back, shoulders, arms or wrists either, and no saddle
> will guarantee that. Further note that the 300 miles was without
> contrived backside padding in my clothing, and I wasn't wearing any
> gloves or mitts either. Comfort is relative: saddles aren't popular
> where they're not /necessary/ and you don't find them in furniture
> shops, public seating areas and office supply catalogues, rather unlike
> chairs, and comfort is the reason for that.
>
> Pete.

Not got a spare 'bent lurking around have you that's fit to donate to
the 'get velvet completely ensnared in the darkside' campaign? Only
criteria is it must be a tadpole and preferably a windcheetah (I think!)

--


Velvet

Velvet <velvet@not.a.valid.domain> wrote in message news:<G7DKc.2952$ef.27958485@news-text.cableinet.net>...
> Assos chamois creme.
>
> Fantastic stuff.
>
> My bottom is in love!
>

What is this stuff? Would Sudocream be a suitable (cheaper?) alternative?

Velvet wrote:

[Brooks]
> I'm still not convinced about them, especially not the bit where you
> have to wear them in ;-)

If you have a backside that is broadly the right shape then you don't
actually need to do any breaking in, they'll be comfortable out of the
box. What the breaking in period does is take them from being pretty
comfortable to about as comfortable as it's possible for a saddle to get.

> And the fact that I'm not a blokey, and while I know brookes do ladies
> saddles, I've found it very hard to find a ladies saddle narrow enough
> till I found the selle italia oktavia ldy...

Don't get hung up on "women's specific design" item necessarily being
best. Things are modelled on some version of a tailors' dummy (possibly
a digital CAD one, but nevertheless a model of a "typical" person) and
if and only if that dummy happens to have a frame similar to yours is it
really relevant to how good it is for you. Now, averages will suggest
that a female dummy is more likely to be like you than a male one, but
people come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes and the /only/
way to be sure what works for you is to try things.

Case in point, a female pal of mine has a Specialized BG WSD saddle,
which she found a bit narrow. I tried it for a few miles, and /I/ found
it a bit narrow. She also was amazed by how comfy my standard Brompton
Brooks saddle (no concessions to gender As far as I know) was for her when she
borrowed it for a quick hack (OTOH Roos doesn't like it much at all).

So there's really nothing to be gained by only trying out saddles that
are so-called "women's specific" or the like. Next time you're on a
ride having a break and there's a Brooks about, ask for a seat and see
how it feels. Or if you're in a bike shop and there are a few on
display ask for a try while you wait for whatever. And don't forget they
do different widths before ruling any Brooks you have a quick try on
entirely in or out. People generally seem to take to them pretty
quickly /if/ they're the basic right shape, and you'll know within a few
seconds if that is the case. Especially on a new one, don't forget it's
shape and not hardness that's most important.

> FWIW, the friction was from the shorts rucking up slightly on the inside
> of the leg, not the saddle itself ;-)

But such rucking /may/ be caused by the saddle, of course, in which case
it's a moot point. The smooth leather on the Brooks gives very little
friction for this sort of thing to develop, another thing I like about them.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch:
> Comfort is relative: saddles aren't popular
> where they're not /necessary/ and you don't find them in furniture
> shops, public seating areas and office supply catalogues, rather unlike
> chairs, and comfort is the reason for that.

Heh. Fair enough.

However, the point remains that fitting a comfy saddle to the bike you
already have is the next best option when you can't afford a more
comfortable bike.

d.

Aloysius wrote:

> Velvet <velvet@not.a.valid.domain> wrote in message news:<G7DKc.2952$ef.27958485@news-text.cableinet.net>...
>
>>Assos chamois creme.
>>
>>Fantastic stuff.
>>
>>My bottom is in love!
>>
>
>
> What is this stuff? Would Sudocream be a suitable (cheaper?) alternative?

It's made for rubbing liberally into the chamois (real or synthetic) of
your padded cycling shorts. Bit of a waste of time if you don't use
such things when cycling, though may still work to ease chafing since it
can be applied direct to skin.

I wondered about it because I bought a new pair of shorts, and the first
ride out they were wonderful, no chafing. Second ride, and they felt
just how my old pair(s) feel - chafing where they seem to ruck up
sometimes between very top of thigh and nose of saddle. I couldn't
believe I'd shrunk them (having bought a size bigger on account of
having thigh muscles now, which make the original ones a little tight,
thought maybe that was the cause of the chafing) - then spotted some of
this stuff, and remembered seeing similar being used on the Tour de France
coverage, and wondered if there was something the shorts came
impregnated with that then washed out...

This stuff says to apply to wet chamois after washing, or immediately
after a ride before air-drying, and can be applied to dry chamois too.
Can be applied to skin.

It's antibacterial, antifungal, 100% natural.

One thing I would say is, it makes things bloody cold down there :-)
Which is most pleasant on a hot day, but is a bit of a shock to the
system when you first put the shorts on, or sit down in them.

Contains: water, glycerine, popylene glycol, decyl oleate, polydecene,
witch hazel (this'll cause some of the cold feeling) extract, almond oil
(excellent for the skin), sorbitan stearate, menthol (another cause of
the coldness!), cyclomethicone, oak bark extract, methyplparaben,
retinyl palminate, bha.

Chemists or those in the habit of decyphering ingredients lists will
probably have more luck at working out what the chemical sounding things
are.

Smells a bit peculiar, but it worked fantastically, on a ride of about 3
and a half hours (including stops to read maps) it was only really just
beginning to stop working up the frontal area, but that bit was getting
extra cooling from the wind on descents which probably contributed to it
(which was most pleasant too, by the way).

I have fairly sensitive skin, and it does feel cold and almost stingy,
but I don't think it is stinging, it's just really rather cold :-) And
in case anyone doesn't believe that, I can safely say that I've not felt
or seen any irritation of any freshly-shaved areas either, which if it
was going to, certainly would have let me know ;-)

--


Velvet

On 19/7/04 12:12 pm, in article cdga4g$66e$1@dux.dundee.ac.uk, "Peter
Clinch" <p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk> wrote:

> If I've got to sit on a saddle it's a Brooks, I've a B66 on the 8
> Freight (used to be on my old upwrong tourer), a B17 on the MTB and a
> Brooks Brompton on the, errrr, Brompton. And as saddles go they're very
> comfy, but not in the same ballgame as a good 'bent seat suited to the
> rider.

I must grovel and ask for a spin on a brooks saddle at some point. I am
trying to find a decent saddle and have been rejecting almost everything as
too squishy.
(If you like fresh fruit and veg I could let you loose in the allotment ..
loads of broad beans and raspberries at the moment)

What is the difference between the B66 and the B17? Is the B66 the B17 with
springs?

...d

Velvet wrote:

> Not got a spare 'bent lurking around have you that's fit to donate to=20
> the 'get velvet completely ensnared in the darkside' campaign? Only=
=20
> criteria is it must be a tadpole and preferably a windcheetah (I think!=
)

'Fraid not, but in any case don't get too hung up on exactly what you=20
want in advance of trying out a load more. Remember that Guy went to=20
Futurecycles with more or less the expressed intent of buying a=20
Windcheetah and came out with a bike instead...
And a Windcheetah wouldn't really have worked in a few spots we were on=20
last week, like sections of old railway that amounted to boggy=20
singletrack and the Sensible Track for one's wheels was no more than a=20
few inches wide. And those =A3$%&* gates to stop yoof on mopeds using th=
e=20
tracks would be more of a faff too. Two sorts, the ones where you have=20
to pick up and carry through a restricted space, and the ones where you=20
can just about squeeze a 'bent bike through without dismounting, and=20
neither would get easier with an extra wheel.

Also note that if you insist on a trike then a Kettwiesel might be a=20
delta, but so what? It's size adjustable which a Windcheetah isn't (so=20
a 2nd hand one is much less likely to fit you) and it costs a /lot/ less =

("only" =A31,450 new). You can get the Stein trikes from Westcountry=20
Recumbents that are tadpoles but /much/ less than the (admittedly nicer=20
looking) AVDs and Tricen. I'm sure Carol will furnish you with more=20
details on request.

Get too hung up on Windcheetahs and you might end up passing over a gift =

horse, and not only that but a gift horse with perfect teeth as well.=20
IME it's difficult to be completely sure in advance about what will work =

well. Roos' first reaction to a Fiero was it was too low and she=20
probably wouldn't be able to tour on one, to the extent that the first=20
test ride was just an afterthought for a Quick Larf before we left the=20
shop. She did 300 miles loaded for camping on hers last week, including =

sections that are by-passed by sensible alternatives for loaded tourers..=
=2E

Pete.
--=20
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/