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JamLegend is a fabulously good time. Yes, I've played GuitarHero and RockBand, but to do so has always required that I spend time dinking around at a friend's house (since I would never get anything done again if I brought a game system into my own home . . . can anyone say "Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 and 4"?). Well, JamLegend has quite possibly ruined productivity for me for the next few weeks. I'm a sucker for video games, and JamLegend is now available to me anywhere I have an internet connection.

It is currently in closed beta, although getting an invite isn't too tricky. I got mine from a great blog, PaulStamatiou.com, where he recently reviewed JamLegend (that's where I found out about it). He had an invite code posted in the comments of that entry. Get them while they're good and hot!

And don't forget to check out my JamLegend profile. Let's duel!

Two weeks ago, I rode in the LOTOJA bike race from Logan, Utah, to Jackson, Wyoming. Did I finish the entire course? The answer is a definitive "NO." That said, I encountered some really great successes along the way. It is one of these successes that I wish to highlight: the Specialized Toupe Saddle.

How can a saddle be one of _my_ successes? Read on and you shall see.

First, a brief history.

I've ridden bikes for a long time. I've bike commuted to school and work for more than a decade. All that time (until very recently), I rode a mountain bike. Sure, I slapped some slicks on the wheels to make things roll along more smoothly, but at the end of the day it was still a mountain bike. In March of this year, I was lucky enough to get a road bike from my wife for my birthday. Nice gift, to be sure. For the first time in my life, I could head out on a road ride and not feel like I was fighting myself the entire time. The efficiency of a road bike is so outstanding compared to a mountain bike. As a result, I began riding my bike just to ride, and not to get from Point A to Point B. And I bought more spandex than I ever thought I would. All excellent so far.

Literally, A Pain in the Butt

Out of the box, there were a few changes that I wanted to make to the bike. The biggest change that I made was to get a new saddle. Yeah, the saddle that shipped on the bike was less about being awesome, and more about being super-not-at-all-something-I-want-to-sit-on. I'd love to be able to point out the brand and model of saddle that shipped on the bike so that I could knock it here and now. It makes sense that the original saddle wouldn't have any branding on it. If I manufactured a lousy saddle, I wouldn't mark it with my brand either.

After the first few hundred miles, it was entirely clear to me that the default saddle had to go. That said, it was far from clear to me which saddle would be taking its place. I searched high and low for any clue as to which saddle is "the best." Turns out, there is no single "best" saddle. One of the things that was most frustrating about searching for a new saddle was that I wasn't able to find any in-depth reviews of particular saddles that interested me. Sure, there were plenty of one paragraph saddle reviews on sites like RoadbikeReview.com, but most of these were lacking in substance. Perhaps the lack of reviews is due to the intimate nature of the relationship between rider and saddle. Some people are uncomfortable speaking in detail about the fit between their seat and their seat, if you know what I mean.

Guess what? I'm bucking that trend.

Enlightenment Time

The Specialized Toupe is very, very, very comfortable. Anyone who has spent significant time on a bike knows that "saddle comfort" is a relative term. That said, the Toupe really is quite nice to sit on for extended periods of time. How can I be confident making such an assertion? The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. As I mentioned earlier in this entry, I rode LOTOJA two weeks ago.

When I first found out that I received a spot to ride LOTOJA, I started a training regimen geared toward making me a lean, mean, bike-riding machine in time for race day. Unfortunately, three weeks after receiving confirmation for the race, I hurt my back while rafting on the Green River. For the next two months, I could barely stand up straight, let alone ride my bike. When I finally got back on my bike, I only had time to log 71 miles in the saddle before race day. I certainly wasn't prepared for the 206-mile ride from Logan to Jackson.

Feeling certain that I wouldn't be able to finish the race, I started to wonder what would be my greatest hurdle. High on the list was whether my butt would be able to manage that much time in the saddle after nearly three months of a sedentary, non-bike-riding lifestyle. Believe me when I say, I was certain that I would not finish the race for no other reason than that I wouldn't be able to sit and pedal.

For me personally, I can't think of a more profound testament to the quality and comfort of the Specialized Toupe than to say that my butt loved sitting in the saddle the entire ride. Sure, there were moments where it felt great to stand and stretch things out . . . you know, get a little blood flowing again. But there was no sense of saddle soreness or butt fatigue during the ride. And the day after the ride, I was excited to discover that I had very little butt soreness to deal with (my knees on the other hand were barely attached to my body the next day, but that that's a separate story).

So, Where Does the Comfort Originate?

The comfort of the Toupe originates in the design. Looking at the saddle, you might initially conclude that it would be highly uncomfortable, as it simply does not appear to have enough padding. In this case, appearances aren't deceiving at all. This saddle has little-to-no padding whatsoever. Sounds super comfy, right? The comfort is the result of the saddle flexing, much like a leaf spring. When sitting on the saddle, all weight and pressure rides squarely on the sit bones. If you get the correct width saddle for your pelvic bone structure (130mm or 143mm), those bones contact the saddle in the middle of the flared rear part of the saddle. While pedaling, the saddle flexes almost imperceptibly beneath the rider's weight. In addition to the flexing, the cut-out section in the middle of the saddle serves to protect the softer tissues located between the legs of all mammals (at least those mammals with legs . . . sorry humpback whales). The cut-out not only protects softer tissue by absence of material (i.e., there is nothing there with which to come into contact), but the cut-out also serves to allow the saddle greater freedom to flex while riding.

Don't get the wrong idea. This saddle is not bendy or floppy. To the contrary, it feels very stiff when handled. In fact, before spending a significant amount of time in the saddle, I was concerned that the amount of flex offered by the structure of the saddle would be insufficient for extended time in the saddle. The nearly-fourteen hours I spent riding during LOTOJA proves (at least to me) that the amount of flex is dialed in perfectly (at least for me). This would be a great time to point out that I'm 6'4" tall and 170 pounds soaking wet. I purchased the 143mm version. I was initially thinking that I would need the 130mm version, as I have a relatively slender build. However, after measuring, I concluded that the 143mm would be a better fit. Specialized makes a tool for measuring sit bone width. Take a look at that link and you should see that it isn't rocket science. I measured the width myself, without the benefit of the tool. One thing to bear in mind when measuring is that the width will change depending on how far forward you lean while taking the measurement. Be sure to assume a bike riding position before taking any measurement. Otherwise, you'll end up with a "sitting-straight-up" width measurement. That might be satisfactory if you're measuring for a new unicycle saddle, but it won't cut it once you actually hop on a bike and get pedaling.

In Conclusion

In the final analysis, I couldn't be more satisfied with the Specialized Toupe Saddle. Thinking back to my original saddle, I can't imagine that I would have been able to finish LOTOJA with that saddle to sit on. I would have been out of the game before I was halfway through. I can almost guarantee that. The very fact that this saddle allowed me to continue pedaling all day, without hardly any training miles on my butt, makes the high-quality of the saddle crystal clear. Does this mean that no other saddle can compare to the Specialized Toupe? Not remotely. Does it make it more likely that I'll get another Toupe in the event that this one ever expires. Absolutely. I've never been more impressed with a saddle and I say without hesitation that upgrading to this saddle is the single greatest improvement I could have possibly made for my biking comfort.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!