Changing saddle from Cobb to Adamo

Yasko Howell

Hi Ladies, only 4 weeks til IM CDA, aghhhhhh!  Just finished my second RR there, and I am a bit freaked out about the hills & wind combination.  Didn't feel great during the bike and a part of the problem was pressure/pain I felt on my girl part.  I have Cobb v flow and it has worked just fine in the last 2 IMs, but I lately feel the pain for longer rides and am considering trying out Adamo race saddle.  I read some of the past posts, and got impressions that it would take longer time to get used to the saddle than other types of saddle... What is your experience with the transition?  Is it too close to change the saddle now?  Appreciate your feedback.

Nemo Brauch

What I've seen from my own experience and watching others with the switch to Adamo is this. You either love it- or it just wont work at all. But even if you are someone who loves it- it does take a little time to get used to it and it does sorta change your bike fit a little because you'll sit on it slighltly differently than you do your other saddle. I personally thing 4 weeks is just a tad too close to race day to make that switch (considering you'll start tapering in 2 weeks). If the other saddle worked fine for the last 2 IM's, I'd stick with it one more time and try out that switch after IMCDA. You might make the change and be just fine too- but there is a risk there and I don't think that risk is worth it. Too many moving parts this close to the race is usually not a good thing.

Jess Withrow

Hi Yasko,

I definitely agree with Nemo that 4 weeks is just a bit close, BUUUUUT..... Believe it or not I JUST switched from a Cobb V-Flow Plus to an Adamo this past weekend. I never really hated the Cobb, but just felt like something was *off* (and the girlie bits were NOT happy - definitely a soft tissue thing for me). I kind of thought, "well... it's early in the season, I have to give myself a little time to get adjusted, etc, etc, blah, blah." I was constantly trying to adjust my position. Luckily I have a VERY persistent husband who convinced me to try out his Adamo. I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I tell you it was INSTANTANEOUSLY more comfortable. I was convinced I needed a re-fit on my P3, but after riding on the Adamo both Saturday and Sunday (a total of 116 hilly miles), being completely comfortable both days AND feeling like I had just gained "free" power - I'm a believer in finding the right saddle for your body! I never thought the Adamo would fit me b/c I have a smaller build and a narrow pelvis, but it was perfect.

In short, I think it can't hurt to try it out, and if your experience is anything like mine (with the Adamo or another brand) you'll know fairly quickly whether or not it's going work for you. If you try it and there's any question at all in your mind that it's not going to work, then I wouldn't try to "make" it work, esp this close to IMCDA. I didn't realize just how much the Cobb was NOT working for me until I switched (and yes, after looking at the data there was a bump up in my NP by ~12w... free power - yay!).

Good luck!!!

Yasko Howell

Nemo and Jess, thank you so much for your feedback. Jess, wow, 12w increase?? That is amazing! I think I will call the local tri store and see if they have a demo saddle available, and try out hopefully this weekend (a total of 7 hrs ride), and if I don't see the benefit like you, I will stick with the Cobb saddle.

John Withrow

Yasko-- (sorry in advance for lurking on the women's forum, but Jess told me about this post since she was so excited all weekend about how much of a difference the Adamo made for her with literally zero acclimation). She was seriously gonna put a post about her experience with it when she told me about yours. There are a whole bunch of different kinds of Adamo saddles and Jess was on was the "Time-Trial" version. I originally picked that one because it seemed like one of the more narrow Adamo saddles and I was trying it instead of my V-Flow Max. It was just too wide in the front for me, but seemed to fit Jess' anatomy perfectly. As far as fit goes, Jess' Cobb V-Flow Plus was already as far forward as it was safe to go on the rails. The V-Flow Plus (or Max) is about the same height as the Adamo, so for Jess I made NO adjustment to seat height and simply put the Adamo on as far forward as it would go on the rails (and made it perfectly level). No other changes were made to the bike setup, bars, or cockpit. It was a bit annoying that I have been crushing my bike workouts for 9 months to improve (and I'm already a relatively fast biker) and all it took for Jess was one month of EN and a new freakin' seat and now I can't drop her on rides!

Yasko Howell

Thanks for the comment, John. It's awesome it worked out for Jess. Hoping for the best for me, too, and I want my husband to say he can't drop me

Jess Withrow

HAHA!!! You sound like me... I don't want flowers, I don't want jewelry... I just want him to tell me I'm fast! And... no... not THAT kind of "fast." ;-)