Have I been in the saddle for too long?

CleeRider

My rides are always restricted in distance by pain in the sit bones. I'm fine and don't feel anything for 20 miles but it then ruins the ride after that. I recently did 44 miles and the last 5 were absolutely unbearable.

I was all set to try out new saddles, having already spent £100 on a new one which solved perineum pain/numbness, when I realised that I spend 100% of the ride in the saddle and never stop for a break (cos it feels like I'm cheating myself to have a rest). Yesterday I rode a hilly route and purposely climbed out of the saddle when possible to give the bum a rest and it appears to have helped.

Admittedly it was only 24 miles so not a comprehensive test but do you think I'm on to something?
How long do you personally stay seated in the saddle CONSTANTLY until you feel pain/discomfort?

I'm going to get in to the habit of getting out of the saddle even on a flat road for perhaps 30s at a time for every 5 miles completed and see if it avoids the cost of a new saddle/bike fit. It should make me fitter/faster too so no bad thing.

Inutero

Get the same every now and then. I just stick it in a higher gear and stand up for a bit. Thinking is it lets the blood flow in that area again. Not sure if that's true but it seems to work.

elderone

Personally getting out of the saddle often,even for a few seconds lets the blood flow and eases numbness.Reckon you have definately found some sort of solution that will help so try it on longer distances.Im not sure it will cure the longer rides though.why is it cheating to have a stop and a break,its not a race.Just try it, also may help as can split a 40 miler into two halves,if you get my drift.
good luck.

goonz

BR chewed up my original comment!

Of course standing will help with the pressure on your butt, you may want to double check your saddle to ensure you have the right size for your sit bones, but standing is recommended too. You would normally move a little or adjust even sitting in your office chair so why not on the saddle?

Make a habit of standing when stopping/starting etc and in between for a few seconds too. Can only help right?

danlikesbikes

I find myself out of the saddle a lot & don't even think about it. Attempts at track stands, whilst slowing in traffic, giving the back/legs a stretch, plus the obvious climbing & speed descending.

Hope trying it out sorts out your pain.

keef66

The original Selle San Something saddle that came on the bike turned out to be pretty uncomfortable and I concluded it was too narrow. For £20 I took a punt on a Charge Spoon, which was a bit wider and flatter, and more comfy up to about 40 miles, then the sit-bone pain would start.

So I got to thinking about the all day rides I used to do as a teenager, and remembered the Brooks saddle that disappeared when the bike was nicked.

Sod it I thought. Bought myself a Brooks B17 special in honey. Copper plated rails and large hand-beaten copper rivets. A thing of beauty, but more importantly, splendidly comfortable from the day I fitted it. Now up to 60 mile rides, and never give a thought to saddle comfort.

Looks a bit incongruous on a lightweight alu road bike, but what price posterior bliss?

racingcondor

The longest ride I've done was 152 miles (Dragon ride plus getting to and from it) and I was fine. I've done plenty of >100 mile rides and never think about comfort.

The right saddle makes all the difference. On the way to my love of the Fizik Anteres I briefly had a Selle Italia SLR and couldn't ride that more than 20 miles without pain (and showing how personal it is many people rave about them).

goonz

I have ridden to Paris on my saddle which is the original Scott seat. I cant fault it in the slightest, makes me question whether I need to even swap it for an after market version.

lawrences

I assume you're using padded cycling or padded undershorts shorts too?

RubbishCyclist

racingcondor wrote:

The longest ride I've done was 152 miles (Dragon ride plus getting to and from it) and I was fine. I've done plenty of >100 mile rides and never think about comfort.

The right saddle makes all the difference. On the way to my love of the Fizik Anteres I briefly had a Selle Italia SLR and couldn't ride that more than 20 miles without pain (and showing how personal it is many people rave about them).

Ive had an Antares for a wee while now, thought i hated it at first but after adjusting it loads and getting a few miles on it it gets better and better

richymcp

Had similar problems for many years until I found a saddle that worked fo me (Fizik Arione) that was trial and error, also leant not to spend all the ride in a seated position. Get out of that saddle! Also good quality shorts and chamois cream help.

diy

I'm alslo not very good at picking saddles, only thing I would say is that a saddle that is good for 2 hours is often not good for 10 and the other way around.

My mtb saddle doesn't give me any bother at all even though I typically ride for twice the time than my road bike. I reckon its the getting out of the seat that does it.

for me its all about making sure your sit bone rests on the area of the seat intended to support the sit bone. It sounds obvious, but its easy to slide too far back or forward.

vortice

Definitely break up sitting with a bit of time out of the saddle. Interestingly, when i bought my second bike, although the saddle that came with it was no more comfy, it was slightly more slippery than the saddle on my first bike. I took this to be a bad think but then after a few rides, i realised that i wasn't "stuck" to the saddle and a little bit of slipping around altered my position on the saddle and extended my comfort range.

The other thing I have noticed is that different combinations of saddles and bib shorts feel different, so not only is it a case of finding the saddle that suits you but also the bib shorts that work with you and that saddle too.

Have a break half way round - even just for 10 minutes.

If you can, choose routes with climbs and flats which will alter your position on the bike and give you some relief.

racingcondor

I used to use an Arione but found that after a few thousand miles they begin to sag in the middle. A lot of people seem to think that is when they get comfy, for me that was when they start to cause aches in places I don't want them.

My good bike now has the carbon braided Anteres, much stiffer than the alloy railed version and just brilliant, just wish they weren't so expensive.

Monty Dog

Perineal pain suggests the saddle is the wrong shape / position - if the saddle is coming into contact with the soft tissue, it can lead to painful complications. Contrary to logic, softer saddles can be worse for inflammation than firmers ones - choose your saddle for shape / support and seatpad for comfort.

pride4ever

You need to strengthen your Glutes, most ignored muscle group amongst cyclists.

desweller

Monty Dog wrote:

Perineal pain suggests the saddle is the wrong shape / position - if the saddle is coming into contact with the soft tissue, it can lead to painful complications. Contrary to logic, softer saddles can be worse for inflammation than firmers ones - choose your saddle for shape / support and seatpad for comfort.

What Monty said. Check your setup or get someone in the know to help you.

CleeRider

I did state that it was sit bone pain, not perineal. Thanks for all the other comments, and to answer a couple, I'm using decent Assos bibs with chamois cream. I did another 20 miles yesterday with time out of the saddle and felt fine. Just need to do a long ride now to confirm that it's problem solved.
I'll also look into exercises to build the glutes.

peat

I'm in a similar quandry.

The stock bontrager that came on my bike was giving me greif. I was getting a numb johnson etc and i was always left very tender for a day or so afterwards in the soft bit between the sit-bones. I did a self measurement of the bones and it suggested i had a wide-arse. (I was hurt!)

After some research, i opted to try a Spesh Toupe which is wider and flatter. It Immediately felt better, but now i get pain on the sit-bones themselves. The pain comes at about mile 3 into a ride and is a real pain until about mile 8 or 9 when it seems to dull.

Now, i don't know if the saddle is bad for me or that i have never been sat on one properly and my arse just needs to get used to it. I'm doing a 500 mile week in May and i'm starting to get worried i might cripple myself. I was even thinking of taking a selection of saddles to swap each day to move the discomfort around.....

Mikey23

Not just bottom bits but a whole body experience for me... I used to sit on bike like I was superglued on and noticed I was very tense. Now I am more relaxed and move around changing body position particularly arms and wrists. Am finding that I am getting much less overall body pain. Also I get off and have a stretch and a walk round whenever I feel the need. My garmin is set on auto pause so no reason not to... Cycling should be enjoyable not a trial of strength

jouxplan

Have a read of this - https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/blog/2011/09/all-about-smps/

although it is about SMP saddles, it contains some useful info about sitting on a saddle

Saddles are very personal things, and there is little point in listening to anyone who raves that a particular make/model is great/awful. One man's great is another man's agony.

Bike set up can play an important part in saddle comfort and should not be overlooked. Particularly, saddle for-aft and saddle tilt. A tiny adjustment in tilt can make a huge difference.

For my part, I think SMP's are great

rrsodl

We all have different level of pain tolerance in addition, there are many saddles shaped to fit all kind of bums out there, hence the number of post on the subject here.

I don't know the answer and probably nobody does. What has been said so far on this thread is all true still it's not the solution for everybody.

Saddle position is another very important part. Weight distribution is something we should have in mind while setting up the saddle. If most of the weight will be resting on the saddle then we are asking for trouble but if we set the saddle so the weight is distributed between hands, bum and feet then we have a much better chance to have a more comfortable ride. This brings me to another point. After riding beyond the point my legs can comfortably take me I seem to put more weight on my saddle than on the pedals which definitely brings gradually a rather painful ride. So, on longer rides I tend to use higher gears and spin faster. If the gear is too high then I find the pain starts quite quickly so it takes some trial an error to find what works for you.

I also find that my peddling style has bearings in my overall comfort. If I do remember to put most of the effort between 5 to and 10 past then it feels pretty good. Unfortunately I always remember this when it's rather late. Not the most efficient peddling technique I believe but it works for me.

freddiegrubb

What we need is for a company to get this problem by the scruff of the neck give it a good shake & inject some science into the matter, whoever comes up with the definitive saddle range ( guaranteed) will be on to a world beater. I'm on my 3rd. & still not 100% happy.