TT Training - Numb Balls!

Cornish-J

Noticed it last year when doing 25's and just kinda put up with it, however i've started doing longer turbo sessions, 45mins to an hour and it's really starting to bother me.

I guess being bent over in a TT position, things are bound to get squished but is numbness normal and can i do anything to help?

GiantMike

I recently changed to a Specialized Romin saddle (with a decent cut away section) and it made a difference on the road and the TT to my 'numbness'.

Failing that, you could try to release pressure by standing up/raising your body every 5-10 mins. I notice I never got numb on my MTB or during CX, probably as a result of the regular periods off the saddle.

cougie

I'd definitely do some lifts out of the saddle just to get the bloodflow back.

Strangely I never had that problem until I did some track training at the velodrome - but since then - things do go numb if I'm in the saddle for long periods.

I did think of suing the velodrome, but I realised it'd never stand up in court.

McBain_v1

I did think of suing the velodrome, but I realised it'd never stand up in court.

Very funny

Never done a time trial but I always shift around in the saddle to try and keep the blood flowing - particularly when the weather is cold :shock:

Cornish-J

I dont experience the problems much on the road bike because as you say, you're always in and out of the saddle whereas TT'ing, you need to be in the saddle all the time - not sure what the answer is.

dru

Cornish-J wrote:

I dont experience the problems much on the road bike because as you say, you're always in and out of the saddle whereas TT'ing, you need to be in the saddle all the time - not sure what the answer is.

Do you ride a saddle with a cutout normally or not?

I'm in a similar position to you. Also its not helped that ther saddles I was perfect on are now not necessarily the right shape due to 2 stone weight loss.

Recently got a flite gel fow for the road and its MUCH better - particularly with seated turbo sessions where you don't really have the op to move about and get out of saddle etc etc.

As regards to TT I'm in a similar boat - and hence looking to go adamo or cobb type route.

Cornish-J

no, never ridden a cutout.

i've always had fizik ariones on my road bikes but i'm still using the saddle that came with my giant trinity. it's probably crap but i cant see another saddle will be any better as i'm still going to be squishing them up against something??

what's adamo/cobb?

pilot_pete

http://www.ismseat.com/ look at the TT specific one. And http://www.ismseat.com/sites/ismseat.com/files/documents/racing-road-male.pdf which shows the nerve that is your problem.

PP

mclarent

I have a Selle Italia SLR Gel Flow on one of my bikes, which is cutaway and soft, def helps. On the others though getting out of the saddle every now and again is the only real way to deal with it.

huuregeil

I went from using regular flites (TT numbness), to a SLR flow (better but still numbness), and finally tried a Selle SMP (stratos) which is a revelation (no numbness!). Well worth trying, the cutout on them is significantly larger than the Selle Italia one and there's no pressure on your soft bits.

dru

huuregeil wrote:

I went from using regular flites (TT numbness), to a SLR flow (better but still numbness), and finally tried a Selle SMP (stratos) which is a revelation (no numbness!). Well worth trying, the cutout on them is significantly larger than the Selle Italia one and there's no pressure on your soft bits.

Interesting - but at double the prices of the Adamos and Cobbs - think I should try one of those first instead.

huuregeil

Look for somewhere doing test saddles, or buy a secondhand one on ebay to try (applies to any saddle!). SelleSMP really are very good, I can't imagine being on anything else now. (Although you need to take some time to set it up correctly, they're quite angle and fore-aft position sensitive. And there are a few models with different widths/amounts of padding).