Speaking of black leather(breaking in the Brooks)

I wanted to follow up on my new bike saddle post of awhile ago. This is the one I ended up with – the B68. It's black instead of brown, and no springs. They're heavy and squeaky, and since I already have a suspension seat post there didn't seem to be any need for them.

So I've been riding on it for a few weeks and am happy to report that my fear of the "impossible to break in" Brooks saddle seems to have been greatly exaggerated. Yeah, it's pretty stiff at first – almost like sitting on a piece of wood. The first ride, my butt bones were not happy. But my other parts, the ones that hated my last saddle, loved it. I can't say (yet) that it's the most comfortable saddle I've ever ridden ... but it was clear from first ride that it has the potential to be. My main complaint so far is that it's too slippery. I imagine that will lessen as the leather softens up.

In other black leather news, I did finally order some boots. Three pairs actually, in hopes that at least one of the three will work. In the end what I'm looking for is not a gorgeous pair of fancy dress boots but a clompy pair of kick-ass riding boots, so the ones I ordered are all some variation of the classic engineer boot. Why variation? Because the actual classic engineer boot is, I don't know, kind of too mannish, even for me. Plus, I don't like the way they cut the heel all curvy:



Just my weird little bias. I like a straight-cut heel.


The ones I'm hoping will work are from Frye, which means they cost about twice as much as I wanted to spend, but will last forever or until I get tired of them – which, given my habit of relentlessly searching out the perfect thing and wearing it until it rots off my body, may never happen.

My big hesitation in ordering these boots is that they look like they might be too narrow, or too "nice" looking. I won't know how they fit or whether I really like them until they get here. That's the trouble with living in a town so small you have to pretty much order everything off the Internet, and then wait .... But it's better than living in a very small town without the Internet (which is how I grew up), so I'm not complaining.

Especially if it means that while shopping for boots, I may get to look at something like these bubble-gum-scented beauties!

I don't know if they're really bubble-gum-scented. But they should be, right?