At Christmas I decided it was really high time for me to walk around an industrial metal shop in Windsor, Ontario wearing nothing but spandex, crocs and safety glasses, because really, that check box has been sitting empty on my to-do list for WAY too long.

While I was there, I also decided that I might as well get some work done on my sled.

I had been eyeing some different handle configurations when I was over in Europe (if someone was seen covertly snapping photos of a certain German sled, it wasn't me ... ), and have been wondering if changing the way I hold onto my sled will potentially help to improve my notoriously bad form.

My father-in-law (conveniently) knows a metal worker ... or ten ... (if you live in Windsor, Ontario the likelihood that you are aquainted with a metal worker is superceded only by the likelihood that you ARE one ... ) and hooked me up with the good people of Jahn Engineering.

On the left is what my saddle handles used to look like, and on the right is the new configuration ...

There are two important points to this story.

First, I have to point out that a plasma cutter was used to cut the spaces where my arms go on my new saddle, which I believe officially makes my sled an official Galactic vessel of the Star Wars variety, and will hereby be known as the Torrent Starfighter.

Second, if you haven't walked around an industrial metal shop wearing spandex yet ... man ... you really need to get out and start living. There's nothing like wandering around heavy machinery, blow torches and saws that can cut through steel while sporting nothing but a protective layer of lycra. I like to live on the edge you know ...