The morning after I picked up my new bike, as I was heading out the door to work, I discovered the front tire on my old bike was flat. I'd meant to test-ride the Surly before taking it to work, but I was already about five minutes late getting out the door and didn't have time to fix the flat. Good thing I had a back-up bike. I've been riding the Surly sixteen miles a day, four days a week, to and from work since the first week of August - more than 150 miles already.
The Cross-Check comes equipped with a men's saddle, and the store didn't give me the option of ordering a women's saddle, based on the old misconception that men are normal and women are not, I guess. The standard saddle has a largish hump on the nose, which puts painful pressure on some very tender soft tissue when I lean forward. Moving the seat down about a quarter inch helped, but after only twelve or fifteen miles I'd find I was tilting my pelvis back to relieve pressure at the front, causing pain in my spine and low back muscles. Luckily I still have the original Terry women's saddle from my K2. The cover had weathered and split, but I patched it with moleskin and rubber cement and replaced the men's saddle. It's just the thing - I've done a couple of 25-mile rides since, with no discomfort.
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