Middle ground.

The middle is a glorious place, you feel. In the middle of the pack on race day, you draft off the flanks of bulkier, harder-working racers around you. On a middle-distance ride, you can pedal for miles and enjoy the scenery without being ruined for the rest of the day. You ride a mid-range bike that functions without fail, and that doesn't make you look like a guy who had a mid-life crisis but ran out of stalls in the garage for a new sports car. Continue your unabashed love for the middle, which in the cycling world, is still a pretty nice place to be, with the Fizik Antares R1 Carbon Saddle.

Sitting towards the upper end of the middle in Fizik's line, the Antares was built for cyclists with moderate flexibility. Its shape situates it directly between the slimmer Arione and the wider Aliante lines. With carbon fiber rails and a carbon-reinforced nylon shell, the Antares R1 sheds grams and dampens road noise better than more affordable options, and its shell achieves an ideal combination of power transfer and slight flex for comfort when you're out on the roads for hours.

• Embrace the middle ground with this light road saddle
• Carbon fiber rails absorb road noise to reduce fatigue
• WingFlex shell flexes to accommodate leg movement
• Thigh glides prevent mid-climb hangups
• Easy-to-clean Microtex cover protects saddle's internals