The Bad Kind of Pain

I have been on the road in DC for the last couple of days with the Emory and Henry Trumpet Ensemble playing at the National Trumpet Competition. It was a great trip, and we had a lot of fun, but the problem with being on the road is that it's hard to get any training in. We were holding up at the Marriott at night so I was able to get some time in on the trainer down at the fitness center.

The random hill climb program on the bike was amazing. I got up early every morning and would set the timer for half and hour and then try to work my way through the random hill climb program. It did a great job simulating a real ride with some great climbs and then spinning for a short time and then hard climbing and then spinning. I was averaging over 150 watts over the entire 30 minute workout.

Everything would have been perfect, but the bike had one small, well not so small problem.

The saddle on this thing was about as large as what you would expect from a beach cruiser. Trying to spend 30 minutes hammering away on this thing was somewhere between uncomfortable and painful.

I found myself standing up every 5 minutes just to try to get the pressure off my rear. I was ready to give up after 15 or 20 minutes every day even though my legs still had some juice left in them. Only my quest to complete the workout kept me going.

Why don't serious trainers have serious saddles on them... then I would have been able to get in some real training.