Week one aches and pains

superkenners

Hi,

I've just splashed out on an Specialized Allez Sport to carry my 14 stones the 11 milies or so back and forth to work from East London to Victoria in centre of town. Considering the 96.5 miles I've racked up in week one and lack of excercise for 3 years prior my legs are feeling fine, neck and back is a bit achey due to riding position but my backside is another matter, particulary at the start of the ride (before my mind turns to avoiding busses).

I expected a bit of punishment given how unforgiving the potholed roads of London town are and unforgiving nature of my method of transport but any ideas to what extent I need to ride in a new saddle to actually work out if thats at fault or my arse?

Thanks

Nick

glenwatt

Nick,

congratulations and well done.

From my personal experience it was the rear that hurt more than my legs.

Glen

snellgrove

Give it a couple of weeks I'd say.

Are you using cycle shorts with a pad in them? That'll certainly help a lot... wouldn't consider riding without one.

Took my road bike round the block after cleaning / re-chaining etc once without 'em on and my ars* hurt loads - Never again. The comfy seat, quite literally gets off the bike with you - it's in your shorts, not on top of the seat-post!

Have a read of this: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html The mighty Sheldon speaks the truth.

agv457

Yes, give it a couple of weeks max and it will be gone. The first week is difficult!

I was the same - I thought about getting a more comfortable seat and/or padded shorts after a few days but neither was required.

I think for 11 miles you dont need anything. Maybe for 20+ it might be 'nice' to get padded shorts.

superkenners

Thanks for the Sheldon link, very useful.

I have some padded shorts (though baggy rather than lycra, only starting out after all) which I guess are helping though I think I went for astetics rather thna actual padding which seems a little light so perhaps scope for improvement here. I'll see how it goes for the first month or so then and hopefully body will have fully adjusted.

Certainly enjoying it, even week one journey is only 5 mins longer than tube and only 10-15mins on top of my scooter which was my regular transport before this. Parity the objective!

Cheers

downfader

I never bothered with padded shorts, gel seats or the like, even when I have cycled 20+ miles (very rarely )

The bum pain will go in a couple of weeks if you keep it up.Your core body strength will develop too, as you learn to control the bike across bumps and around bends - your body is your suspension really.

Aidy

Both decent shorts and a good saddle help.

You need a saddle that's the right shape to support you - don't be fooled by softer/gel saddles, it's all about having your weight in the right places. Unfortunately there's no way to know what's going to work for you without trying them, if you've got cycling friends, see if you can borrow their bikes to see if any have significantly more comfortable saddles.

doog442

dont change anything and save your money

3 weeks in the saddle will sort your arse out.......next week will hurt like hell :evil: but just look upon it as a challenge

11 mile trip your arse can cope...if you get into it and start upping the mileage and still get issues then think about changing...dont go near a gel saddle