Random mention @Nate_Pearson made on his strava (i’m josh hilby over there) post about his 10 hours spent at 300watts sweetspot training got me asking the question to myself, “dude, I think you might be on the wrong saddle.”
Someone in the comments mentioned something about getting numb in the saddle that long. Then I thought about how on every sweet spot interval up the canyons here in Utah, I am having to get out of the saddle at least once to relieve some pressure.
Anyway, long story endless…I had a 168mm spec power saddle overnighted to me and got on a Geiger -1 session last night. There is no question that I was on the wrong saddle. First interval I was bumping up to 120% of the workout, which put me about 10% above my ramp tested FTP. And I was doing all this in the saddle, no numbness and at a HR about 10bpm lower than normal.
How I got to a too narrow specialized power saddle is a long story. Basically got a canyon aeroad last year. the fizik i alway rode simply didn’t allow me to get into my normal position, so i moved to the specialized power elation saddle. I bought the widest they had (or so I thought) at 155mm.
The point of all this is a thank you to @Nate_Pearson for bringing it up. But also for everyone to not give up on perfect contact points with the bike. Ever. Having been riding as long as I have, I should know better. But I was ignoring both the comfort aspect and an FTP (even untrained) that was well below where I usually ride.