"Butt Training"

DaveLeeNC

New guy here (clearly).

I have been a serious runner for extended periods in my life (now age 61) and also have not been a serious runner (like now - badly out of shape). But for several years in the 90's I did some road biking/racing because of running injury issues.

I now find myself back in the 'seriously out of shape' mode and am going to get back into biking. My only experience with 'butt training' (getting my butt used to a racing saddle) was one time where I first did 3-4 months of relatively hard gym club upright bike training (with 'pillow seat') before I bought a road bike, so my move to a racing saddle was not that hard.

I am now coming off '10 years since having pushed a pedal' and am wondering how long the 'butt training' portion of this is going to be.

Thanks.

dave

rick_chasey

From a prolonged period off, the 4th day of riding in a row is enough for me.

MichaelW

Break yourself in easy.
Ride by time not distance
Start with 20mins then extend a bit each day.
After a few days you will be able to up your pace and distance.

Modern racing saddles are nowhere near as hard as they used to be.

reacher

weeks , its been a pain in the arse geting used to it , excuse the pun fellas ,
seriously limits training time in the saddle , an i have only done the gym bike so far ,

rogerthecat

Sorry if this is a given, however padded bib shorts will help. but as has been said time is the only way to do this.

Pokerface

A good saddle can be made of pure carbon (no padding at all) and still be comfortable. It's about finding the right fit for YOU. It's not about getting your butt to conform to the saddle or make your butt 'tougher'.

I personally use a saddle that is carbon only covered by a layer of leather. No padding at all. And can ride it for hours on end. But might start to hurt on a heavily padded saddle quickly if the saddle doesn't fit my body.

Essex Man

Pokerface wrote:

A good saddle can be made of pure carbon (no padding at all) and still be comfortable. It's about finding the right fit for YOU. It's not about getting your butt to conform to the saddle or make your butt 'tougher'.

I disagree. A few weeks off the bike and the discomfort returns for a ride or 2 for the previously "comfy" saddle. There is definitely some acclimatisation to a lot of weight being taken on a small area, i.e. "toughening up".

DaveLeeNC

Thanks for the comments. I am guessing that the real answer here is that "it depends".

I'll know in a few weeks, I think.

dave

DaveLeeNC

FWIW, it would seem that just a week of daily riding (no more than an hour) is enough to build up a substantial amount of 'butt fitness'. I was surprised at how quickly this developed (or maybe there are advantages to a 'fat butt').

dave

paulbox

Also try some Assos Chamois Cream, I find it helpful.

DaveLeeNC

In case others with limited experience (like me) run into this.

Do NOT underestimate the major difference that very small adjustments in your saddle (up/down, front/back, and in particular the angle vs. level of the saddle) can make.

dave

neeb

It's a really complicated subject because as well as everyone's butt being different, people mean different things when they talk about saddle discomfort.

The first thing is to make sure you have a saddle that is supporting your weight on your sitbones and not on the perineal area. This will make sure you don't damage yourself and end up with numbness issues, but it does mean that the sitbones are taking all the weight so if you have had an extended period off the bike it will take a few days for the tissue to toughen up.

Heavily padded "pillow" saddles are definitely not good for perineal issues and uro-genital health - the padding just bunches up and compresses things in all the wrong places.

Agree with the comments about setup/adjustment too - it's really important to find the correct height and setback, and 5mm can make a significant difference...