Keeping toes warm while cycling

It's December. The good news is that it's almost Christmastime! The bad news is that London has been experiencing a colder than average winter thus far, and it isn't even officially winter yet.

Whereas last year there were three weekends in February that we didn't go riding because the temperature had been below freezing overnight and we worried about ice, nights below freezing have been the norm these last few weeks. This has introduced a new barrier to my winter cycling -- cold feet.

Alberto has an uncanny ability to never experience cold (you probably don't want to witness the debates in our house about when to put the heating on!), but I've always been particularly susceptible to it, and especially my feet. In 'average' winter conditions of 6 or 7 C (low 40s F) my feet become uncomfortably cold, but not unbearably so.

However, last weekend I headed out for some Regents Park laps at 2 C (35 F), and my feet were painfully cold from almost the moment I left home. I only cycled for an hour, but an hour was enough to convince me that I really need to find a solution as we have a long winter ahead of us, and the predictions are that we are going to continue to experience a below-average winter.

My system for keeping my feet warm on Saturday was as follows:

• Thick wool socks 
• Sealskinz mid-weight waterproof socks over the wool socks
• Normal cycling shoes (MTB/touring style, mainly leather body)
• Thin plasticky overshoes on top

Now, I know this system isn't perfect. First of all, there is a school of thought that doesn't believe in layering so many socks in a normal cycling shoe as apparently it could restrict blood circulation to your feet. My shoes are on the large side so I don't think it is an issue for me. 

Secondly, the overshoes aren't particularly insulating. I bought them because they were on sale and fit my abnormally large shoes (as in, the shoes are quite bulky as cycling shoes go. My feet are actually on the small size!). But I'm not sure I want to invest in a pair of good overshoes as there doesn't seem to be any consensus that they can actually keep feet dry and warm. 

Despite these shortcomings, however, I was honestly surprised that my feet were so cold so quickly. I  think there must be something else I'm doing wrong. Some googling helped me come up with what I think is the most probable cause: my feet are too cold to begin with. 

Basically, as the internet argument goes, if your feet are borderline cold when you're getting ready for your ride, they have no hope of warming up and will basically just continue to get colder and colder for the duration of the time you're out in the cold. I have no idea if there is any basis in fact for this theory but it resonates with me, because I spend a lot of time with my feet feeling just on the okay side of cold.  That's just the way my feet have always been. 

So now I think I understand the cause of my problems but I don't necessarily have a solution. We don't have a fireplace or space heater that I can use to heat my feet up in advance of a ride, so as far as I can see I have a few options:

• get warmer slippers/socks to wear around the house to try and keep my feet warmer in general
• stick chemical warmers inside my cycling shoes
• Rule Number 5

I haven't yet decided what I'll try next, but in the meantime if you have any suggestions for keeping feet warm while cycling please do let me know in the comments!

Review: Vaude Road I Handlebar Bag

Vaude Road I handlebar bag on the mountain bike in Dartmoor.

It was about a year ago that I won a Vaude Road I Handlebar Bag from Travelling Two. I've had the chance now to use it in an incredibly wide variety of circumstances--on a mini-tour in France and Belgium, on a mountain bike on the Camino de Santiago, and on so many audaxes I've lost count--so I figured it was time to finally write a review.

Overall, I've been pleased with its performance, but having never used a handlebag bar before, I don't really have much to compare it to. So I've rated it out of 10 on a variety of characteristics I'd look for in a handlebar bag.

Storage: 8
At 5 litres, the bags capacity is on the low side--not that that's a bad thing. In general I like the smaller size of the bag as it prevents me from adding more weight to the front of my bike and is easier to carry around off the bike on tour.

But despite its small size, I've been incredibly impressed with the bag's storage capacity. The front pocket is great for things like my wallet and phone, where the fact that they're slightly bulky isn't a problem and they're easy to access. The flat compartment at the top of the bag  is great for storing cereal bars and a packet of tissues for audaxes, where again I can easily access them. On our recent camping trip to Dartmoor I also found that it was the pefect size to store a Kindle. But the big advantage of this bag is that with a little careful arrangement, the main compartment fits an incredible amount of stuff. On the Camino, I cycled for two or three days under the impression that the bag was completely full with my camera, waterproof jacket, buff, snacks, its own waterproof cover, and spare batteries. Then we stopped to buy more sunscreen, and I could only buy a full-sized bottle. It needed to go in the handlebar bag for ease of access, and lo and behold--it fit right on top.

Slightly off-kilter rain cover on the Camino de Santiago

Waterproofing: 5
The bag isn't waterproof and doesn't claim to be -- fair enough. It comes with a rain cover, which is a nice gesture, but unfortunately it isn't truly waterproof and is inconvenient to use. The cover goes over the front, top, and bottom of the bag, but not around its back side (facing the bike). Under persistent rain, the cloth on the back side of the bag becomes saturated, and then the water starts seeping to other areas of the bag. I also noticed the zipper on the bag's front pocket has started to wear tiny holes in the cover. Contents inside the bag become damp, though I haven't seen any actual water pool on the inside.

The cover itself is also a bit fiddly to get on correctly. It has a clear plastic panel on the top to facilitate mapreading, but it's hard to get it to line up properly and the cover isn't easy to take on and off. I'd ideally like to be able to take it off without stopping the bike (if it has stopped raining), but this hasn't really felt possible.

Riding in the UK gives one high expectations for waterproofing and I think setup would be perfectly suitable if you weren't planning on riding more than a few hours in the rain. For me, I'm willing to put up with the lack of perfect waterpoofing because I take precautions with the items that would be really damaged anyway; my phone and camera are always ins a ziploc plastic bag or similar, even inside my handlebar bag.

Ease of use: 9

I've found the bag to be incredibly easy to use both on and off the bike. The Klick-fix mounting system is easy to operate meaning that I can easily pop the bag (which usually contains all my valuables) off the bike to take into a shop with me if I'm leaving the bike unattended. The zippers also mean that I can access the main compartment and the flat compartment at the top easily even while riding. This has made a huge difference to my overall average speed as I don't need to stop everytime I want a few M&Ms or a cereal bar.  I can  even use the two zippers to zip up each of the sides and keep the bag unzipped in the middle so that I can snack even more continuously. The map sleeve which attaches to the top of the bag with velcro is also easy to use. The size of the bag means that the viewing area isn't very big, but the map sleeve can be unfolded for a bit of a bigger area for the map if needs be.

Durability: 7
Given that I've used the handlebar bag on the majority of my rides this year, I reckon I've put at least 4,000 km on it. That includes 1200km off-road on the Camino de Santiago. So I must admit it has held up well. However, I can see that the outer cloth is starting to fray at the back near the mounting mechanism. It's entirely possible that this is because I tend to put too much weight in the bag or overstuff it, but it's still worth mentioning that it isn't indestructable.

Handlebar bag on the road bike in the Peak District.

Overall: 8
This gives the bag an average score of 7.25--I'd give it the benefit of the doubt and round up to 8 out of 10. I haven't experienced any major issues with it and it has definitely made a positive contribution to my rides. It's hard to imagine what I would have done without it over this past year!

PS: In case it isn't obvious, we don't get paid for our reviews and we only review products we have bought ourselves unless otherwise stated!

Dipping our toes into cycle touring

We may have fantasies about grand cycle tours, but the truth is we don't have much experience with touring! All that is set to change this year though, with a series of different trips that should ease us into cycle touring.

Our first ever mini-tour: Isle of Wight April 2010

First of all, the equipment. Alberto asked for a lightweight tent for Christmas, which was the main expensive item that we were lacking in getting started. We've also just ordered new sleeping bags that should be warm enough for three seasons in the UK. And we're slowly collecting all the other little things we'll need as well. But it's not enough just to have the gear -- we need the experience!

We'll be testing the tent out for the first time in mid-March when we will head up to the Peak District for a weekend of camping. We'll ride a 100km audax on Saturday and our own shorter route on Sunday, staying in the same campsite for both Friday and Saturday night. This should allow us to get a feel for the tent and the sleeping bags without too much stress. Last time we camped in the Peak District (late October--without the bikes) we were very cold, but we're hoping the new gear will help with that!

Frosty tent in the Peaks in October

Then over the long weekend of  Easter in early April we will take the tent with us on a four day cycle tour of Northern France and Belgium. This will be the first time we have done a proper cycle tour (by which I mean we will be camping in a different place every night), but it's still quite short and we'll be staying in towns so we will always have the bailout option of finding a room!

We'll spend around two weeks cycling the Camino de Santiago in May and June. We won't bring the tent as there are pilgrim's hostels all along the route, but we will be carrying all our other gear including sleeping bags, and it will be the first time we've done more than a few days consecutively of proper riding. It will really be a test to see if we truly enjoy extended bike trips (I think we will!).

The Camino trip will use up a big chunk of our annual leave allowance this year so it looks like we'll still have to wait for our chance to go on a longer tour... but it will be good to get our feet wet!

The first rule of flat tires is, don't talk about flat tires

(source)

A while back I wrote about how great my Continental Gatorskins have been great so far with very few punctures. And this is true. It has been great. At the time I wrote that post I hadn't ever had a puncture with the Gatorskins in around 2,500 km. We always inspect our tires before organized rides, and I'd often found pieces of glass embedded in the tire, but they'd just never gone through. I was starting to feel they were invincible!

Then, about two weeks after that post, we were prepping our bikes for the Tea and Biscuits 100 audax and I found a piece of glass. Deflated the tire, pulled it out with tweezers, and started to pump it up again. It wouldn't pump; there was a massive hole in the inner tube and air was rushing out of it. My first flat tire on the Gatorskins! Well, I was lucky it happened at home rather than out in the freezing temperatures the next day.

One of the (very few) disadvantages of a good set of tires is that I have very little experience with changing inner tubes. The first time I flatted on my road bike, I did most of it myself under Alberto's tutelage. The second time, we were in a rush so Alberto did it. And that's it. I've seen lots of people change tires and understand all the theory, I just haven't had much opportunity to do it myself. So I actually was very excited to change the inner tube. So excited, in fact, that at first I tried to get to work without taking the wheel off the bike! That didn't go to well. 

Alberto snapped this picture and then left the room. I think he probably couldn't stand to see me struggling! I imagined I was alone on a ride in the middle of nowhere (which I never have been) and got to work taking the tire off, replacing the inner tube, and putting the tire back on. It took me the better part of an hour but I managed to do it! On my own without any help! The only thing I would have struggled with would have been using the hand pump -- I used our floor pump and still found it a bit difficult to get it up to a high enough PSI. But in a real life situation, I know I could pump it up enough to ride home on. 

It has actually been a good confidence boost for me. I still wouldn't want to have to spend an hour in the cold or rain dealing with a flat tire alone, but it is a big step towards feeling comfortable going on longer rides on my own. So it turns out, my first puncture on the Gatorskins was a blessing in disguise!

My Giant Bowery singlespeed commuter

She's three years old now. I bought her after so much research into what would be best for a flat (well, mostly!) city like London. A singlespeed it was. It can be converted to a fixie by flipping its rear wheel, but I do not want to screw my knees up and to be honest (as of today!) I really do not see the point.

So, three years down the line, pretty much 7 days per week of usage, and more than 10.000 kms...I have only replaced brake pads, bar tape, cables, tyres, chain, and pedals (bmx ones, with spikes, for wet days). The rest remains original and going strong! Even the bottom bracket (something other users complain about) is the same, despite some creaky noises that could be fixed by removing and re-greasing it. No re-trueing has been necessary in three years. The rims show signs of wear now, so will be looking into new ones soon. And it has been used throughout the year, be it rain, sun or even snow!

Having a rest (see the double locks, a must have in London!)

I normally carry a backpack when I commute, and have fitted a clip-on rear mudguard for the rain. But due to some recent problems in my back, I fitted a Carradice SQR on to it and this is how it looks from up close. Again, a very high quality product that we've used in short "credit card" touring.

Carradice SQR saddlebag used to commute 

Although not as cool as the singlespeed/fixies that we see nowadays on the streets of London/NYC/Barcelona and the like, I can highly recommend this model. As an off-the-peg singlespeed for under £300 it really is good value.

This year should see her going to Brighton as a one-off experience without the help of the gears...let's see if I manage!

Bike Storage Solutions from Ikea

Space is hard to come by in London, and living in a shared flat with two other human flatmates and seven bicycle flatmates (six of them belonging to us) doesn't make it any easier! We've been talking for a while about building some sort of bike rack, but we recently saw a post by Travelling Two that gave us the confidence to do it!

The bike stand that they built is an Ikea Hack -- it takes parts from Ikea that are meant for another piece of furniture and repurposes them into a bike rack. We wrote down the parts that were needed: the Broder post, height extension post and foot, and two brackets, as well as four Stolmen hooks, and headed off to Ikea. We then found out that even though it was indicated as "in stock", the height extension post and foot was nowhere to be found on the shelves. We checked with some staff members and learned that the part is actually being discontinued! (So hurry up and make your own stand soon!) But also that there was a large quantity at another London Ikea. So, after two trips to Ikea in three days, we finally had all the parts we needed and set about building it!

It was relatively straightforward--just two screws in the ceiling, and the post supports itself via a tension spring. We glued pieces of inner tubes on the inside of the hooks to prevent the bikes from getting scratched, loaded the bikes up, and have been living much more spaciously ever since!

The Broder brackets and Stolmen hooks with inner tubes glued to the inside.

The only problem was that my road bike's crossbar is not round all the way along it and therefore does not fit into the hook. No problem, we just put the mountain bike there instead, and turned the handlebars so that they wouldn't jut out into the hallway too much. We are thinking about building a second one, and if so we'll need to either bend the hook, or find another solution so that my road bike can fit in the brackets (suggestions welcome!). But for now, we are very happy with our bike storage solution!

Our new bike rack!

One Year Later: My review of the 2010 Boardman Road Comp fi

It's hard to believe it, but exactly one year ago today I brought home my Boardman Road Comp fi from Halfords (at the time, Halfords was the exclusive retailer of Boardman bikes). It was a 2010 model, purchased at a steep discount, and it was my first road bike, so I will admit I don't have much to compare it to. That said, I thought I'd record how it has served me over the past 2,850 kilometers.

The Boardman in the early days.

Overall, this has been a great entry-level road bike for me. It has survived short rides and long ones; day rides and night; rain, cold, heat, and wind; two clipless moments; and a fair few accidental excursions onto surfaces that cannot by referred to as 'roads'! I'm thrilled with it. But I have had to make a few alterations to make it perfect...

Initial Changes

There were a few things on the bike that we changed almost immediately (and when I say "we", I mean Alberto!):

• Pedals: The bike came with some generic plastic pedals, but we decided to switch them out for some clipless pedals as part of the whole now-you're-a-real-cyclist thing. 
• Saddle: The saddle that came with the bike was absolutely unrideable. Just sitting on the saddle to practice clipping in and out was painful after a few minutes, and after my first 30km ride in Richmond Park, I knew I would need a change. It's not just me--every time I meet a fellow Boardman rider, male or female, we inevitably have a conversation about how awful the saddle was. After much research, I settled on the Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow saddle that I have already reviewed.
• Spacers: Alberto noticed that there were't enough spacers on the steering tube, resulting in the headset being loose. This might have to do with the way the bike was assembled at Halford's, we'll never know. Since spacers are pretty cheap, we just bought a new set and replaced them. It was a shame, because I liked the subtle pattern on the original spacers better than the plain black ones we replaced them with. 

Further Changes

After going on several longer rides, a few more changes became necessary:

• Brake pads: From the beginning, I never felt comfortable braking on this bike. At first, I thought it might be because I wasn't used to drop handlebars. We tried changing the angle of the handlebars so that I could squeeze the brakes better, but this only had a minimal effect. Even in the drops, I couldn't really come to a quick stop. Eventually we decided to buy some brake pads for wet conditions. This made a big difference, but I still can't really do an emergency stop, or stop myself completely on a steep downhill, unless I ride in the drops. As a result, I tend to ride in the drops whenever we're in London traffic or going down even the slightest of hills. Alberto thinks it might be down to my rims, which are pretty thin. I still think it might be because I have small hands! Either way, I've developed a system that works for me. 
• Tires: The original tires were Continental Ultrasport, which were fine for the first 750km; no punctures at all. Then, between 750 and 1000km, I got three or four punctures in short succession (including the puncture from hell, let's not talk about it!). We replaced them with Continental Gatorskins, and I don't want to jinx myself by announcing how many punctures I've had on them so far--let's just say it is less than one.

After a wet ride!

Ultimately, none of the issues I've had with the Boardman have been significant and I've been happy with the solutions that we have devised. The bike was good value for money, so I don't mind having to make a few, relatively inexpensive, changes. I understand that the 2011/2012 model has even better specs (and is a bit pricier to match). It still seems to be a great value, like all Boardman bikes--I predict Boardman will be inching up the market share even more over the next few years. 

PS: In case it isn't obvious, we don't get paid for our reviews and we only review products we have bought ourselves unless otherwise stated!

Those who can, do; those who can't... shop

The winter is making me a little stir crazy. It's been so long since we've been on a long ride and I'm really starting to anticipate the start of the cycling season when we get back to London. I seem to be responding to these feelings in a similar manner as I used to do when I was a kid during back-to-school season.... shopping!

A combination of the friendly pound-to-dollar exchange rate (friendly for me, anyway!) and the after-Christmas sales means that I am running in to a lot of too-good-to-pass-up deals on cycling clothes... but I fear I may have gone overboard.

Between my new purchases and the cycling things that Santa brought me, I will be returning to England in a few days with...

• a new pair of cycling shorts
• a new pair of thermal cycling tights
• two new short-sleeved jerseys-- a bright yellow one and a super-cool Philadelphia one pictured above
• A new lightweight waterproof packable jacket
• A new buff
• A new cyclocomputer (for my mountain bike)
• Two new sleeveless base layers
• A new little bag that sits on my bike's crossbar

Not to mention the new running shirts and shorts that I picked up, which will double as my 'civilian' clothes when we do the Camino (due to their quick-drying properties).

It's been a very successful shopping season, but I'm ready for the cycling season to start again! 

The Mary Poppins Saddlebag

On one of our FNRttC rides this summer, the mount for the saddlebag that we normally take on my bike broke off. I felt it break and stopped as soon as it felt safe (the bag was hanging on by a velcro strap, rubbing against my back wheel), but it was dark and we didn't want to turn back to search for the bolt that had held the saddlebag in place. We managed to pack the contents of the saddlebag into our jacket pockets and into Alberto's large Ortlieb saddlebag, and continued on our way. Shortly afterwards we bought a new saddlebag, the Topeak Aero Wedge QuickClip.

This new saddlebag is incredible! It is compact and unobtrusive, yet holds a ton of stuff! Here's a picture of it, fully packed, on my bike.

The Topeak Aero Wedge QuickClip

You can already see two of its excellent features--the pump holder straps along the bottom of the  bag and the strap on the back of the bike for a back light. It certainly helps to fit things into the bag when you can store some stuff on the outside of it!

But the best thing about this saddlebag is how roomy it is on the inside. On our 200km audax last month, I managed to fit all of this into it....

That's the routesheet, two spare inner tubes, a patch kit, a back light, a pump, a multi-tool, a spoke tool, two spare AA batteries, our alternate sunglass lenses (in a plastic bag), tyre levers, and my packable waterproof jacket! 

I'm so glad we have this one, especially as it means I have more room in my jersey pockets for FOOD!

PS: In case it isn't obvious, we don't get paid for our reviews and we only review products we have bought ourselves unless otherwise stated!

I bought a mountain bike!

For a few months now I've known that I wanted to buy a mountain bike. Having just bought the Boardman in January, I wasn't ready to buy another bike right away, but I knew that I wanted one. This is despite never having actually ridden one before!

But we have ended up on bridleways and other trails enough for me to see that they're nice places to cycle  (and would be nicer with some suspension!). I thought it would be nice to not have to worry about cars sometimes. Also, Alberto and I are planning to complete the Camino de Santiago, a historic pilgrim's trail in Spain, this summer. A mountain bike is necessary for that.

So, I had been keeping my eyes open for good deals, waiting for Autumn when I knew the sales on last year's bikes would begin. And wouldn't you know it, it's now Autumn!

Alberto was just participating in one of his favorite hobbies--window shopping on cycling websites, when he came across the Corratec Expert Xvert Disc Hardtail. It was the 2009 version and was on sale from £650 to £350, and in my size! It was a clearance sale and we didn't know how many they had in stock, so I felt I had to make my decision quickly. I bought the bike!


I placed the order and then waited an anxious 48 hours for it to be delivered. Luckily, Alberto happened to be at home in the middle of the day when the bike arrived, because having to pick the box up from a post office would have been a nightmare--it was huge!

I'm still not sure how he managed to get it into the house.

Since Alberto likes to live vicariously through my bike purchases (as he has not bought a new bike in 3 years -- meanwhile I've bought 3 in just over 2 years!) he kindly unpackaged it and put it together for me so that when I got home from work it was there waiting for me.

My beauty!

I was a little busy on the road bike last weekend, so have only been able to ride it in the neighbourhood, not out on the trails yet, but I'm looking forward to doing that very soon!

Hand-made British cycles

The UK has historically been one of the world mecas for bike builders, and lots of amazing designs that we see nowadays on the roads come from bright English minds (e.g. Alex Moulton and his high-pressure small-wheeled bicycles).

We all know that most of our current bikes, well, frames (unless you're into fixies or old bycicle frames, or indeed have plenty of pounds/euros in your pocket) originate from Taiwan. Even expensive top-end bikes come from that tiny island in the far East. They do produce amazing stuff, but as you get into the whole bycicle culture, you realised that they're no longer unique...and they're mostly mass produced.

Now, a few countries such as the USA, Italy, France and the UK are still going strong in hand-made frame building. Unfortunately I am not aware of any Spanish bike builders...! A few UK examples are:

- Roberts
- Dave Yates
- Moulton
- Bromptom
- Burls

A few pictures of each of these manufacturers' beauties are below (all images obtained from their websites). I have not yet had the opportunity to try any of these, and I am not sure I really want to, as this would certainly add to the n+1 number of bikes that I want to own... But if I were to pick one, I find the Moultons a fascinating piece of art (and apparently they are extremely comfortable and fast!).

Roberts Audax bike

Dave Yates mtb

Top-end Moulton (note the full suspension, design from the sixties!)

Folded Brompton

Burls racer (with mudguards!)

The funny thing is...most of these models would not cost more than a medium off-the-peg mass-produced bike!

The puncture from hell

Any cyclist has had many a puncture at least once in their live. But what happened in our last 2-day mini-tour almost made me run out of patience. Lucy's bike wears Continental Ultra Sport tyres, which although are not awful when they're brand new (as they usually come with low-end bikes off-the-peg), they tend to wear off quickly and get punctures every 20 km after 1000 km or so. This is a short summary of events that happened when we were only 10 km away from our final destination, King's Lynn:

1. Front flat tyre
2. We removed the tyre, inspected it for foreign objects, we found nothing
3. Put a new inner tube and put tyre back on
4. Realised that the valve is too short for Lucy's rims (they're kinda fancy aero tall rims)
5. Take inner tube back out to only realise that the rim tape had moved from its natural place and the hole along the rim is not longer visible
6. Unsuccessfully tried to move the rim tape so that the holes on both the tape and the rim matched
7. Given the heat (even in the shade) and the fact that we needed to get back home at a reasonable time, I decided to cut a new whole on the rim tape using the swiss knife
8. Put a new inner tube with longer valve in. Put tyre back on.

9. Sh*t, tyre lever breaks! First time this has happened to me! Strange...maybe blame it to the hot English weather?
10. Inflate the wheel with mini-pump, doing well, up to 70 psi, boooom! Valve has blown up. This is the very first time it has happened to me at only 70 psi!
11. Only have one other inner tube that would fit those rims, the original one that actually had the flat.
12. Get glue and patches out, fix it, leave it to dry for 5 min
13. Put inner tube back in, tyre back on with only two remaining tyre levers, and inflate to 60 psi fearing that the valve would blow up again and we will run out of options!

We thought this was bad enough, but no...

14. Monday morning we realised that also the back tyre was completely flat! Luckily, it held up on the previous day and we did not even notice! Phew...

Continental Gatorskins ordered!

So, make sure your inner tubes fit your rims, and always carry patches as well as inner tubes! And get reliable tyres to make life easier!

my comfy saddle

I spent all of last year riding my Raleigh Venture hybrid, with its original saddle. Since I was (am?) a slow rider, with a heavy bike, we used to spend 9 hours in the saddle easily when we went out for our weekend rides. I never had too much of a problem with that saddle; my butt would be a bit sore at the end of the day, but I never got saddle sores.

Then, I bought my Boardman. It was great in every way, except for the saddle. The saddle was awful! It looked good--white, smooth leather that really looked like it belonged with the rest of the bike, but it hurt my lady bits quite a lot! There was no groove or hole in the middle like most road saddles out there, and not much padding either. We cycled about 30km in Richmond one weekend and I vowed never to get on it again!

I did extensive research on saddles because I really wanted to find the right one. I read the reviews for every women's saddle on Wiggle! The one that was hands down the most well reviewed was the Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow. Actually, the Selle Italia Lady Diva Gel Flow was equally well reviewed, but it was £20 more expensive and the only main benefits seemed to be weight and a more sleek appearance.

I bought the Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow without trying it out, and I don't regret it at all! It's been immensely comfortable. Even on the 100 mile ride we did two weeks ago, my butt really wasn't that sore! I did have one ride of soreness, in the Peak District, but I think it was due to the warm weather (hence sweating) rather than the saddle itself. I'll be waiting to see if it behaves the same way next time we go on a ride in hot weather (that is, if it ever warms up again!!).

PS: In case it isn't obvious, we don't get paid for our reviews and we only review products we have bought ourselves unless otherwise stated!