Frickin bloomin saddle sore - Arrrrgh :-(

daniel_b

So I have been Trainerroading since January.

Had a few issues with saddle sores coming up (The bumpy variety) but only seemed to be if I followed the prescribed drill of super fast pedalling - like up to 150, or if I had my saddle too high.

Bought in decent chamois cream, messed about with the saddle height, and mostly it has all been ok.

Perhaps twice one has come up, always the same place, but if i give it a day or three, it goes away, and I can get back to it again.

All was going well up until June, new FTP, and then I went on holiday for 3.5 weeks, on my return 12 hour flight, I caught an annoying cold, so although I rode on, it has taken me 3 weeks to get back to the level I was at prior to the holiday.

And now at this point, where I am feeling as good as I ever have, the sodding thing has reared it's ugly frickin head again, and this time it's more painful, and seems very reluctant to go.

I appreciate due to the discomfort (It's even a tad awkward sat in chair at work) that there was no way I could ride with it, but I thought I could at least go for a run, but oh no, that caused pain as well, so I aborted that within a few minutes, as realised it would set me back further.

Since the last time, I have been applying chamois cream a plenty, and also bought this cream as a kind of extra belt and braces approach, which is meant to keep the whole area hyper clean:


I also bought some 'drawing' ointment, which is meant to help get it to come out properly (Opinion seems divided on if that is a good thing to do or not) - it was reputed to smell of, and be the colour of Tar, and it certainly is, but I can't find anyway to use it really, so am not sure it will be of much use.

So mostly a rant really, just wondered if anyone had had this issue, and found a good way of dealing with it.
Another frustration is that die to where it is, it's virtually impossible to get a proper look at it - and I will not be asking my other half to do so!

I realise now I am likely to need an entire week off the bike, which will likely see my fitness slip backwards again, after 6 months of solid hard work - highly demotivating.

I have googled and searched the internet for all sorts of methods and cures, but thought some of you on here might have some good methods to share.

I only ever wear shorts once before they are washed - in case anyone is wondering.
And the saddle is the same one I use on all my bikes.

itboffin

I've always suffered from saddle sores, when i get a really persistent one i put a bit of tough cloth plaster over it and ride, after a day or two its less angry and either pops or starts to go away.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I can only sympathise, I'm experiencing what I think is my first cycling niggle this year, that all started with a slight twinge at the top of my right hip muscles as I left work a fortnight ago. Since then, I've been experiencing soreness at the top of the right hip joint, that doesn't give me much agro on the bike, but screams to various levels if I move my hip through its left-right range of motion.

Ended up yesterday doing an extremely rare non-training ride (which shocked me how easy a 16.5mph average on a flatish route is on long rural roads on the Cube, even though I used the hoods instead of the drops for 95%+ of ride), trying to keep my cadence down to ~100 tops (instead of typically 100-110 average) and my heart rate under 150bpm (instead of normally averaging ~155 and maxing out at 180+). Hip joint felt quite good when I got home (plus it was quite nice to not feel completely drained from a "workout" ride for a change!), but got a tiny bit of discomfort from both hip joints as the evening progressed.
http://www.strava.com/activities/1126927367/analysis

jgsi

Concentrating on the saddle sore issue.
I'm not surprised that repeated super fast cadence drills are bringing up a 'weakness' in the groin skin area.
Be honest, are you possibly bouncing on the saddle?

I've had almost a lifetime of taking measures to avoid saddle sores but in the last few years exacerbated by the presence of a benign cyst (been checked out by consultants/NHS).
A few factors to consider...
Correct pad / high quality bibs - Endura do pads to match your saddle width.
Cheaper bibs often have oversized pads.
Medicated creams (chamois) have little benefit for me as my sores are induced by pressure and less by chafing.
The area that is at most risk is always now covered by a gel plaster.
Post ride belt and braces is to use iodine cream. Tried the Assos post ride gel - I dont think it helped that much.

Over time , I have managed to do long weekends of high intensity riding without issue when keeping to a strict procedure.

A saddle sore is extremely debilitating -- slight muscle strains are not in the same league of 'niggles' , I'm afraid.

sloppyschleckonds

NitrousOxide wrote:

I can only sympathise, I'm experiencing what I think is my first cycling niggle this year, that all started with a slight twinge at the top of my right hip muscles as I left work a fortnight ago. Since then, I've been experiencing soreness at the top of the right hip joint, that doesn't give me much agro on the bike, but screams to various levels if I move my hip through its left-right range of motion.

Ended up yesterday doing an extremely rare non-training ride (which shocked me how easy a 16.5mph average on a flatish route is on long rural roads on the Cube, even though I used the hoods instead of the drops for 95%+ of ride), trying to keep my cadence down to ~100 tops (instead of typically 100-110 average) and my heart rate under 150bpm (instead of normally averaging ~155 and maxing out at 180+). Hip joint felt quite good when I got home (plus it was quite nice to not feel completely drained from a "workout" ride for a change!), but got a tiny bit of discomfort from both hip joints as the evening progressed.
http://www.strava.com/activities/1126927367/analysis

hUH?

daniel_b

Thankyoiu gents - nice method with the fabric plasters ITB, have just gone out and bought some - I guess you pretty much cruch it into submission.
Thing is if you solely rely on a bike to get you to work, you have no other choice anyway do you.

I'm going to try some of that drawing ointment with the fabric plaster and see how it goes.

The actual sore is tender to the touch, so even clothing rubbing against it is mildly uncomfortable.

Sorry to hear of your woes NO, hopefully some stretching exercises might be the trick - hip flexors perhaps?

@JGSI - yes I dare day you are correct on the bouncing in the saddle bit, but I made sure I didn't do any of that on the workout that caused that - it was all just below 100, which I am entirely comfortable with.

I do use high quality bibs - I used to use cheap ones, but as I train more on the turbo I realised the insanity of this - so now use Craft, Galibier, and funny you should mention in, but the Endura ones you speak of exactly, with a narrow pad for my Arione saddle - and they are supremely comfy. I liked them so much, I bought 5 pairs when they were on offer for something like £45 each, instead of £100.

I can't overly tell what causes my sore, or sores - it generally seems to be on the same side, and I assume in this instance is one repeat offender, so don't know is that follicle (If that is what it is) is always going to give me trouble, or if I can find a mechanism to not aggravate it.

If mine are caused by pressure, then perhaps I have a similar issue, it's around the sit bone area I guess.

I am intrigued by these gel plasters you speak of - as mine always seems to be in the same spot, potentially i could place one there before everyride - on the downside, a quick google seems to suggest they are around £1 each?
Do you have a preferred brand\supplier?

Another frustration, is that I have my first timed event in just over 8 weeks time, so was training to try and get fitter and faster for that, so pretty demotivating when you hit setbacks like this - still, everything is relative I guess.

Thanks for all the suggestions and feedback, thought this might be a tumbleweed thread, but I am proved wrong!

reacher

If your peddling at 150 rpm an it's causing saddle sores why are you peddling at that speed, that makes zero sense to me

daniel_b

Because I do not know for sure, and as it stood, I was trying to stick to the workout as delivered on TR.

However, I did notice them crop up a couple of times after fast pedalling, which is why I have reduced, or just avoid carrying out that part of the workout now.
What I will likely do instead, is either just ride normally, or jack the resistance up, and carry out some out of the saddle pedalling, but at a lower cadence, so perhaps 60-75 cadence.

For example, I stated it came back up again after a turbo session where I did not exceed a cadence of 100, which is entirely normal to most people I would have thought, and in that instance I think it's fair to say it can be proved that fast pedalling did not cause it.

@ITB - cloth plaster is working well so far, thanks for the suggestion. Not sure i am brave enough to get on the bike yet though, but will see how it progresses over the weekend.

itboffin

i'm sure you will but just in case, change the plaster daily (in the bath is best) and do ride on it, you want to pressure it, being covered it'll only hurt for a few mins.

daniel_b

Yep, no fear ITB, will change it tomorrow, but feels a lot more comfy already, will try bike tomorrow, or maybe a gentle ride tonight even to see how it goes.

PhilipPirrip

After every ride I use baby wipes and Germolene on one specific area prone to a saddle sore. It's just because none of us are perfectly symmetrical on or off the bike and just this one area under the left sit bone is prone to pressure that can develop into a sore if ignored.

I've also moved the nose of the saddle fractionally to the left which has pretty much alleviated the pressure point.

daniel_b

PhilipPirrip wrote:

After every ride I use baby wipes and Germolene on one specific area prone to a saddle sore. It's just because none of us are perfectly symmetrical on or off the bike and just this one area under the left sit bone is prone to pressure that can develop into a sore if ignored.

I've also moved the nose of the saddle fractionally to the left which has pretty much alleviated the pressure point.

Interesting - I have both of those products readily to hand, and mine is also near my left leg.
You would do that after a shower, or as soon as you are off the bike and out of your kit?

So you rotated the nose of the saddle marginally in the direction of your left leg, and that helped?

PhilipPirrip

Daniel B wrote:

PhilipPirrip wrote:

After every ride I use baby wipes and Germolene on one specific area prone to a saddle sore. It's just because none of us are perfectly symmetrical on or off the bike and just this one area under the left sit bone is prone to pressure that can develop into a sore if ignored.

I've also moved the nose of the saddle fractionally to the left which has pretty much alleviated the pressure point.

Interesting - I have both of those products readily to hand, and mine is also near my left leg.
You would do that after a shower, or as soon as you are off the bike and out of your kit?

So you rotated the nose of the saddle marginally in the direction of your left leg, and that helped?

Apply after a shower (or bath in my case as I don't have a shower) although sometimes I don't have that luxury if I'm away in the camper so may resort to just the baby wipes before applying.

I had tried altering the pitch, reach and height of the saddle with little to no effect. I was out one day and could feel the pressure building and thought the only thing I hadn't tried was altering the yaw angle so gave it a go and haven't had a problem with pressure points or sores since. I assume by turning it slightly left has given the left protruberence a bit more clearance and evened out the pressure across the saddle.

part time waster

Try and shower straight away and use a sponge with a rough surface on one side , there are plenty of these in any boots type shop , Tesco etc.
Give it a good cleaning but don't go nuts !
Only used chamois cream twice , not foe me , it's just slime you slip about on. If I ever get a slight sore I use sudo cream , nappy rash stuff. Frankly the rough sponge works for me

Matthewfalle

Paraffin. Sounds bizarre, works wonders.

jgsi

Matthewfalle wrote:

Paraffin. Sounds bizarre, works wonders.

OK, I'll take the bait... how?
A serious how as well.... last time one got me, was a week riding out of the fuffin saddle it hurt so much.

bobmcstuff

Might sound obvious and you're probably doing it anyway but making sure your bibs are properly clean will help.

daniel_b

JGSI wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Paraffin. Sounds bizarre, works wonders.

OK, I'll take the bait... how?
A serious how as well.... last time one got me, was a week riding out of the fuffin saddle it hurt so much.

Likewise.

I do keep my bibs clean, well I think so!
Always washed inside out with halo sports wash, all be it on a 30c wash, but have always done it like this. Seems to be intensity related, as not happened prior to this year.

Had a hot bath, potentially accompanied by a pint of cider this evening, and the super sticky fabric plaster, in combination with the black ointment stuff seems to have made a fairly big difference. Loads less painful, and have popped on a bit of germolene to aid repair overnight. Feeling more positive already, and that's not just down to the scrumpy :-)

If I do try a ride over the weekend, and the area is still 'raw' I might pop a plaster on it to protect it.

Thanks ptw, will invest in a sponge, currently just use a conventional flannel.

Matthewfalle

Honey is also very good - used in civvie and military trauma.

https://burnstrauma.biomedcentral.com/a ... 868.113333

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3665090/

Natural, widely available, doesn't hurt too much.

slowmart

Zap the area with witch hazel gel.

I don't know how it works but it simply works for me after a couple of days application.

bobmcstuff

Slowmart wrote:

Zap the area with witch hazel gel.

I don't know how it works but it simply works for me after a couple of days application.

Isn't witch hazel also the active ingredient in Bongela? Makes some kind of sense.

fudgey

bobmcstuff wrote:

Slowmart wrote:

Zap the area with witch hazel gel.

I don't know how it works but it simply works for me after a couple of days application.

Isn't witch hazel also the active ingredient in Bongela? Makes some kind of sense.

Just make sure that you stick your finger in your mouth first, not second...

I suffer with reoccurring sores and so far have not found anything that works well.
Might give the plasters a go tho!

daniel_b

Slowmart wrote:

Zap the area with witch hazel gel.

I don't know how it works but it simply works for me after a couple of days application.

Thanks SM - going to grab some of this too:


My sore has gone down lots, the plaster trick combined with the black drawing ointment has reduced it a lot, but it's now sat at a little flat raised area (If that is not an oxymoron) - what I am trying to explain, is that it is no longer spot shaped, but is still raised. Trouble is, when it was like that at the end of last week, I rode, and it flared up, hence why I want to get some witch hazel tomorrow. I also managed a fairly quick run this morning, with no issues.
Going to try a ride tomorrow night, with a plaster in place I reckon, and see what happens.

This has been a very useful thread so far, thank you for all the contributions - appreciate it's a pretty grim subject, but comforting to see I am not alone in my suffering!

Hopefully some of us will come away with some new methods to try that might even work

johncp

Some useful stuff in this https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/ ... ore-medals

daniel_b

Johncp wrote:

Some useful stuff in this https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/ ... ore-medals

Thanks for that John.

So I rode last night, a 90 minute reasonably intensive turbo session.
Had managed to bag some boots witchhazel stuff earlier in the day, and that was already having an effect.

Popped a plaster over it, although by the end of the workout this was stuck to my chamois somehow :?

I whizzed into the shower, and it has raised up a bit again, and was mildly uncomfortable - though I had noticed no discomfort on the bike.

Popped a good dose of witch hazel on it again before bed, and this morning it is flat, but still there - difficult to explain, it seems to go dormant, and then riding will bring it up again. Hoping this is now not a long standing cycle I have to go through.

Previously when it has come up, a couple of days rest has meant it has gone down completely, so just cannot be felt, but at the moment it is there, but not painful, but seems poised and ready to come up again.

I'll keep plugging away I guess, and see what happens. On the plus side, after one more hard ride, I have a weeks worth of more steady rides, as it's a kind of rest week.

Additionally I have lowered my saddle a touch, and slid it forward a bit too.

fudgey

Mine have flared up these last couple of days, can't find any elastoplast in Spain either and the fabric stuff I can find doesn't stuck to my hairy arse...

Noticed on my shorts 2 shiny patches where my pressure point are. Today's ride I tried to rotate my pelvis back but couldn't do this for all that long before I noticed the pain again.

I think I need to change my pelvis position as when it was back it was way more comfortable. Day off tomorrow and try again on sat.

jgsi

https://www.reskin-xl.nl/en/

A preventative system (as opposed to reactive - when it's too late) for saddle sores/severe chafing pressure points leading to an occurrence.

Too expensive for me but do use the principle and have created my own solution.

daniel_b

Just wanted to update this, and thank all contributors.

Lowering the saddle a touch, and implementing the black drawing oitment, super sticky fabric plasters, and also witch hazel, seems to have done the trick - I've been riding (Including hard turbo sessions, and fairly steep outdoor climbs) with no issues, and what was the sore is still there, but has not re-surfaced if that makes sense.

So thankyou all, and I hope anyone who searches might find some useful stuff in this thread, I know I have for sure.

renevat

Recently read an article about some stuff called 'Bag Balm' that was originally formulated for cows udders and it received glowing reviews from users. 'Fraid I haven't tried it but might be worth having a look at the site to see if it could help :?

w00dster

I went to the GP about my sores, tied the usual stuff first, Vaseline, Sudacrem, different types of saddle creams before riding and nothing would clear it. I went to the doctors and was given some Fusidic Acid and seriously it worked an absolute treat. Within a day the pain had gone and I could train again.
I train indoors a lot and I think that causes problems, getting very sweaty, not moving about in the saddle, no fresh air etc. I got to the point where I couldn't face indoor training as I knew it would be agony, but I clean down below before training - apply the cream, after training I show and re-apply. Worked a treat.

cld531c

Not sure if it is coincidence, and it would have healed up anyway, but organic coconut oil worked for me!
Cheap as chips from Aldi and loads of uses (but would keep the jar for feet/saddles sores etc seperate from the cooking one!)