Seat Post

[darkemeralds]

I was toodling along towards the grocery store on Eleanor O when I went over a little bump and kronk, the metal undercarriage of my Brooks saddle gave way at the point where it joins the seat post.

"Ha ha ha ha!" the universe seemed to cry. "You think you are so amazing for losing 35 lbs, but you have broken the seat of your bike, so draw your own conclusions."

Eleanor O was instantly rendered unrideable. I wheeled her to the bike parking, locked her up, did my shopping, and walked the two miles home lugging her baskets. A couple of hours later my sis and I went to get her with a car and a bike rack, and I'll ferry her over to Clever Cycles tomorrow for repair.

Two good things came out of this small misfortune. Well, three if you count the fact that it happened when I was going very slowly on a pedestrian path.

The first is that I discovered to my surprise that Eleanor O, as big a girl as she is, fits just fine on a bike rack on the back of a 1988 Honda Civic. Mind you, she weighs as much as three sporting bikes, so she should probably be the only bike on that rack at any given time, but still.

The second is that I haven't walked two miles in several months, and boy was it easier this time than last time. So, though I'm still evidently seat-bustingly large, I'm returning to walking-doesn't-kill-my-feet territory, and I'm happy about that.

Comments

[kis]

I think the seat busting was probably something to do with a weakness in Eleanor O's manufacture, not you!

[darkemeralds]

I think so too, and I imagine the bike shop might take that same view. There's very little doubt in my mind, however, that the extra load on the saddle's springs made the defect manifest, whereas a non-obese rider might never have put it to enough of a test to find it out.

[panisdead]

it happened when I was going very slowly on a pedestrian path

Glad to hear it! That would be a bad way to get hurt.

[darkemeralds]

I was thinking about it afterwards and sort of shuddering. The saddle didn't actually come off, and even when I tried to take it off, I couldn't. So the chances of an ugly seat-post incident were pretty slim in any case.

Eleanor O is a very safe bike, I'm glad to say.

[executrix]

I don't want to be essentialist, but I bet if this happened to a man he'd blame the !@#$%^ bicycle manufacturer. And at least you have another bicycle to ride in the interim!

I'd also do a bit of shoe manufacturer blaming vis a vis two-mile walks.

[darkemeralds]

I'm fairly sure that riding a Brooks saddle daily at over 255 pounds is outside of its specifications. Even for a six-foot-four Dutchman, the bike's theoretical rider, 255+ would be overweight.

Reading the fine print on a lot of bicycle specs has taught me that there's a presupposition of non-obesity in the design of all of them. I bought Eleanor because my weight was over-taxing Clyde's wheels and breaking spokes.

I'm ALMOST not-obese now, so I can blame metal fatigue on the past year of daily use, and trust that my next Brooks saddle will last the lifetime it's supposed to.

Considering that the last time I walked two miles I was wearing expensive walking shoes, while yesterday caught me in a pair of imperfectly fitting backless slip-ons, I'm willing to chalk at least some of the noticeable difference in my comfort up to the reduced load on my feet.

Whether a man would think that way in either instance, I don't know, but I bet a fat man who was conscientiously dieting and losing weight would.

[verilyvexed]

"Ha ha ha ha!" the universe seemed to cry. "You think you are so amazing for losing 35 lbs, but you have broken the seat of your bike, so draw your own conclusions."

This made me gigglesnort, though I'm sorry to hear about Eleanor O. May she have a swift recovery. Yay for the walking discovery! Could this mean the introduction of new [exercise-type-things, I'm on cold meds, shh] for you?

[darkemeralds]

Clever Cycles fixed Eleanor in five minutes the following day. For FREE! The saddle (the whole bike) was still under warranty, so they just pulled a new one out of a box and stuck it on. Saved me over a hundred bucks, and she rides very nicely with her new saddle.

I shall be posting sometime in the next day or so about the new exercise vistas that are open to me, but yes, definitely. Losing weight makes losing weight easier. No doubt about it.