Another cycling holiday

I just got back from another cycling holiday in the Netherlands. We rented a small cottage in Zutphen, in the provence of Gelderland. Last year I rode my velomobile up to there and found out that my velomobile was a bit too wide for some of the bicycle paths (like the ones in the National park the Veluwe). Also some of the paths of the bicycle route system are gravel paths running through forests, not ideal for velomobiles. So this year, I took my 700X with me, which turned out to be the perfect choice !

Weather was nice all week : mild temperatures with strong breezes earlier this week, but the second half turned out to be a real Indian Summer when the wind lay down. During day time I rode my 700X in shorts, short sleeve shirt and (SPD) sandals, only at night rides, it was a bit too chilly and I had to put on a jacket and bike shoes. Since my 700X has a good head light, it was the ideal bike to ride through the city at night.

Miles and miles of bicycle path near the river the Ijssel

Although I hade one pair of bib shorts with me just in case, I never needed it. There were days that I rode my bike for 60 + miles without any discomfort, in total I had a little over 300 miles on my bike computer from last week. Pictures I took during my bike trips can be found here

Changing the seat

So far, I've ridden a little over 300 miles on my Alterra Road. On my second or third ride, the right part of my bottom got sore after the ride. But last week I did a 60-mile ride with no discomfort at all. When it comes to the handlebar, I change my hand positions a lot and I'm still searching for the perfect spot. On some positions, my hands start to get numb, defenitely not the way to go. Altogether, I'm pretty happy with my Alterra, but comfortwise it's no where near a recumbent. I do not want to get into putting extra padding to the seat or anything alike in order to get a more comfortable ride.

My friend Wijnandt and CF-pal is very satisfied with his Alterra seat on his DYNAMIK PRO, and since I have a spare Alterra seat I changed the seat today. First thing I noticed that there were 2 metal plates underneath the carbon seat pan of the Zenetik's seat. When using the Alterra plastic pan, it is impossible to use the largest of the metal plates since it is too big for the Alterra pan. So I only used the smalles metal plate to put the Alterra seat in place.

Useless piece of metal for the Alterra seat pan

First thing I noticed when sitting on the Alterra seat is the upward curve of the seat pan, which is more distinctive than the one on the Zenetik seat. I compared both seats before putting the Alterra pan on my bike, but both seat pans seem to have the same curving line at the back. Maybe it's because of the material that the Alterra seat pan feels different? I'm not sure. Anyway, I'm curious how the Alterra seat'll do in practice, I'm about to find out !