TCI Friday

I’m not much on the latest innovations that can take you cycling to Nirvana, according to marketing whizzes.

When I took over as marketing director for Bike Friday, hardly a whiz, I had been out of the cycling journalism biz for 10 years, so you can imagine how much technology whizzed past me while I rode my bikes into the ground.

I slowly became introduced to some new stuff to help our customers put together the perfect bike for them.

That’s when I stumbled on two items that I refuse to live without now, and for the rest of my life. You get one this time and another in the near future.

So, what about saddles? First of all, again, since I’m pretty much bike part ignorant, I always called them seats. And just like with bike fit, I never met a seat I didn’t like. Then again, I never met a seat I really did like. Not until I started calling them saddles.

This mind-boggling transformation happened when I found myself and our Bike Friday booth next to Selle Anatomica at the Seattle Bike Show. This was shortly after the founder and inventor of the Selle Anatomica saddle, Tom Milton, passed away and his sister Carol Hosmer inherited the company and started running it with her two sons, Ryan and Andy.

Basically, Carol’s family didn’t know anything about the cycling industry, they were just stepping in to keep a legacy alive. They knew so little that I appeared like an expert to them. I helped as much as I could, especially after I heard the heart-warming story of the company. Tom inventing the saddle on his own and starting the company.

They lent us a couple saddles to let customers use on their test rides that weekend. I, too, tested one, and thereafter I refused to ride anything else and converted a lot of Bike Friday customers to them.

They are American made with American leather and have a slit in the middle so the “break in” time is, well, there isn’t any.

Another case of I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

I had no idea how comfortable a bike saddle could be. I bought one that weekend and have ridden it for about 13 years. I bought another for another bike. Again, I won’t ride anything else.

So, this week’s question, what’s the one piece of bike equipment that’s your No. 1, won’t live without no matter what bike you ride? And keep it to No. 1 since No. 2 is coming next!