Here is a photo of my 1991 Specialized Allez Epic carbon fiber road bike…and hubby’s bike is also in the photo. This photo was taken shortly after the bicycles came out of the bicycle shop from their first cleaning and tune up in over a decade. (If you care to know why my bicycle was not used for over a decade, you can find out in the My Journey Back to Cycling post.)

If you look at the photo carefully, you will notice the downtube shifters (or control levers) in both bikes. That is the way the shifters came in the 1990’s bikes.  And to be honest, I don’t have a clue on when manufacturers changed the location of the shifters to the handlebars. Once I stopped riding in 2000, the only connection I had to the cycle world was that of looking at my poor old bike relegated to a corner in my home office.

Also, look at my bike again, which is the one with the two red bottles.  You can see the old saddle with all the scuffles from my pre-year 2000 falls. Yes, that is the saddle that was installed in my bike back in 1992, when we purchased our bikes.  I remember the day we purchased our bikes, I did not feel like making yet another decision. So I basically did make a decision by selecting the cheapest saddle with the most gel that Cycle World had on their showroom. There was no research, no asking anyone, not looking around.  I didn’t know a thing about cycling; but I knew that my tush needed comfort.  I realized immediately that it was big, ugly, heavy and lacked all the features and characteristics that serious cyclists considered essential (hey…I am taking about the saddle here and not the tush). I thought that I would eventually replace the saddle with something lighter, smaller and better fitted for my anatomy. But I never changed it!  Why fix something that isn’t broken?  I never experienced pain, discomfort nor chafing with that cheap, ugly, huge and obviously comfortable gel saddle. (Note that when I say no discomfort, I really mean no discomfort beyond what is expected from riding on a saddle. After all, the saddle is not a LaZBoy recliner.)

So, roll the clock forward to the year 2014 and my heavenly saddle turned into a rock.   I got on my beautiful 1991 Specialized Allez Epic bike the day after it had its rejuvenating cleaning,tune up and equipment update and I felt pain like never before. I knew the bike would eventually need a fitting after so many years, but the saddle…HAD TO GO.

So…I rode for a very short while experiencing pain and discomfort and while also searching for a new saddle.   What did my search consist of?  Well..Lili Peraza here, who researches every purchase (except saddles, obviously) until she is 100% absolutely sure that “that product” is the best that her budget can afford, broke ALL the rules with this saddle…AGAIN.  Weight, size and comfort (all together) are usually the top criteria used for the selection of saddles.  My criteria for this purchase? It had to be comfortable, nor more than $100 and…red.  So, I basically followed the same scientific approach I used back in 1992, with the extra feature…red.

So…I went  for the Selle SMP TRK Lady Saddle you see below.  I ended up buying it at eBay for $69.99 and with free shipping.  The listing is now gone, but you can see the men’s version of the SELLE SMP TRK saddle in Amazon now for a similar price.

So, below you can see my bike…with the red saddle and also with new red handlebar tape. So, you are all thinking, so what about the saddle? About the saddle, I am very happy with my purchase. I know it is bulky, heavy and not even the proper saddle for a road bike, but I love it. My tush is very happy with it and I have not experienced any discomfort since I purchased it.

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