Comfort Dude

Of course, this weekend is race number three of the Winter Shart Tarck series.  It's like Groundhog Day around here, except each day lasts 168 hours... which is a dog day essentially.  Come 1:00PM on Sunday, I'll be throwing dookie at the wall and seeing what sticks once again.

More importantly than my week on repeat, I got a chance to have an early look at a thing.  Something Ergon has been dropping hints about up until today.  Let the embargo dam be released.

It's the new Ergon SM Pro saddle.

I've been riding nothing but Ergon saddles on all my bikes for awhile now, including the tarck bike I ride at work every day and my beer fetcher.  I love them so much that I'd sold all my Phenoms and have been buying up all the white SMR3 saddles I can find online or anywhere else.  I don't think Ergon will be doing any more white saddles. Vanity has its price and inconvenience

I love the SMR3, but I'm always willing to try something new, especially during what some call the "off-season," or what I call it, the "slow rides with slower friends" time of year.  Not that my friends are slow, just that the rides better be.  No one with intentions on accumulating athletic fitness allowed.

I put the new saddle on the Vassago Meatplow V.8.  It's definitely not my B bike, especially this time of year.  Fatter tires and a squishy fork make for a pleasure cruise.  That said, the bike was out of commission with a brake warranty recently.  Add to that, rain.  I'm sure most are aware that things have been messy in the Southeast.  At one point, we were at over 80% of our weekends since September affected by some sort of precipitation.  Thusly, I only got a few rides in on the new saddle before the official launch today.

Hard to complain about not getting out for too many rides when parts of the country are experiencing way worse conditions than I've been seeing.  My social media feeds are full of people riding trainers, so I'll count my blessings that I haven't had to revert to such torture to maintain some sort of fitness.

Ergon has more to say about the bits and baubles than I do...

And the bells and whistles version that I'm riding.

And visual aids that gave me an idea about what's going on in my chamois that I think I woulda been better off not knowing.

Hard to tell the frank from the beans.

My actual ride experience?

The saddle felt more minimal between my legs.  I don't know how else to say it.  Easier to get my body around when maneuvering the bike through technical sections, yet still providing pain-free support to my sit parts.  It feels more cushion (like the SME 3 I've tried before) without as much bulk.  As far as relief for my naughty bits, I've never had issues with other Ergon saddles in the past... unless I was doing one of my over-extended, zero-climbing, greenway junk mile rides where opportunities for standing up on a 32X18 to stretch my legs were minimal.  Given that the relief channel is deeper and reaches way further up on the nose, I'd hope that this would feel better during long seated efforts.  I'm looking forward to some longer rides, especially once shart tarck is over and I start ramping up for some real long bike cycle racing.

Not a feature, but still...

Some excellent brand exposure for one of my long time Dick Supporters... when I'm not sitting on it... and your looking in my genital relief hole.

I just wish this saddle was white.

Sooooo obviously this saddle gets my...

Seal of Semi-Approval.

I know, I know.  Mebbe 99% of mountain bikers think white saddles make as much sense as a white stretchy kit, but I'm a 1%er.  Keeping a white saddle clean may be a labor of love, but I'm an easy lover.   It's the saddle that I dream of, dream of keeping hold of... you'd better forget it.  You'll never get it. I don't expect you to tho.