The Great Saddle Debate

After a few rides on BAMA II, I quickly realized that the saddle she came with needed to be replaced. Not only was it sort of hard, it made my leg go numb (and some other parts too). I began my internet search immediately after and came up with what I thought would be a great option.

photo credit - Cobb Cycling

Cobb Cycling has some great saddles. I quickly narrowed down my search to two of their offers...the Plus and the Max. Both of these came in my preferred color (white) and both were geared toward some relief on the female anatomy when riding. I called up their office, which I might add they are super friendly and nice, to discuss with them a little more about which saddle would be a better fit. Their head sales rep pointed me in the direction of a very well written article about cycling and the female anatomy. Here's an except (and the part I laughed at) from the article ....

"So after a lot of dancing around, there is the answer, go look at your crotch and make the call. Comfort and happiness are what you stand to gain by looking and making the best choice."

After some more reading, I made my selection ... the Max. The sales rep at Cobb was able to confirm that our local multisport store, Podium, had them in stock. I headed on over that weekend and got the guys there to hook me up with what I had hoped would be my new saddle.

4 rides later and a lot of pain...the Max had to go. Not only was it painful, it left me with a bruise...down there. Not ok! Onto my next saddle of choice...

photo credit- ISM Adamo

My husband, Mike, rides an ISM Adamo Time Trial saddle on his Trek Speed Concept and I thought that it might be next in line for me to try out. While the shape looked like it was going to work for my frame, the 'prongs' and width seemed a bit iffy. Luckily, ISM makes a few versions of their saddles. I rang up Podium again and thankfully they had a few options for me as well. After talking it over with one of the guys there, we picked out the ISM Adamo Prologue saddle for me this time. The Prologue has a bit of a more narrow nose but still offers the cut out relief and a little more cushion and comfort over the Max, well in my opinion anyways. 

I'm 2 rides in on the new ISM saddle and so far so good. I know it takes a bit to get fully comfortable (if you can ever really get comfortable) so fingers crossed we're on the way to that. I'm not sure what saddle to hit up next if this one doesn't work out!