Saddle soreness and questions

[MollyJ]

I have the basic seat that came with my Madone. I am trying to increase my comfort to move beyond that 20-28 mile ride. I feel like my seat works okay in terms of fitting my sit bones. I'm going to get frank here. I have soreness in my labia. Sorry if that is TMI.

How to move beyond this. I know that sometimes people go for a new seat. I'm going to treat this like other muscle/body part soreness and assume that time might heal things. I do have cycling shorts.

Other suggestions.

[MollyJ]

I just now also read Orange Utopia's Saddle soreness thread but still accepting any thoughts...

[Owlie]

If you can give more specific information about your issues, we can help a little more. ;)

First, that tissue isn't supposed to be bearing weight. Give it a chance to heal, definitely, but it's probably going to get worse over time.

Second, you may want to measure your sitbones just to make sure that the saddle is indeed wide enough. If it's not, you end up putting weight on soft tissue. Ouch.
If it is wide enough...see if some chamois cream or plain ol' shea butter or some other kind of lubricant helps. You may want to try different shorts, but I think the culprit is going to be the saddle. Try playing with the forward/backward positioning. You may need a cut-out or an indentation (lots of us do.) Check the shape. If it's the wrong shape, the motion of your legs will push you forward and off your sit bones.

[Sky King]

Tons of forum thoughts on this just type in saddle fit if you haven't already. Also go out to Lovely Bicycle's blog, she did an awesome post in May? about discomfort. Meanwhile before investing in a new saddle play with the angle on your existing one. Everybody is different, could need to be tilted down at the nose or tilted a bit more up in the nose, or more level. The bike hermit, being male, has his saddle nose tilted much further than mine, My saddle, while still titled slightly up is almost level. As you know, you may like a saddle cut out. And don't forget to use a chamois creme, always! I like pura care myself. Butt Butter Brand sells little traveling size packets and I never leave home without first applying my pura care and then carrying my replenishing supply, even if I am only doing a 20 mile.

[Owlie]

Sky King hit on another thing--saddle tilt. Just be careful not to tilt it too far, as you'll start to slide! Three degrees in either direction is the usual guideline.

[Biciclista]

You probably need a different saddle, but a bike fit might be cheaper in the long run! you can rule out the saddle quickly, better than trying 50 saddles and never getting it right, get the fit right and then if they tell you the bike is fitting you perfectly and you still hurt it's the saddle.
Do not tolerate labial pain. that part of your body is not supposed to get "calloused" or "used to" bearing weight like that.
it is not acceptable. really.

[OakLeaf]

Uh-oh, we're going to start confusing the OP. :rolleyes: I say saddle first, fit second. Every time I've changed saddles, even to a saddle that appears very similar, it's really altered the fit. So unless your fitter will do a complimentary re-fit when you replace the saddle - and unless you have time for a second fitting - get the saddle sorted first.

[ny biker]

When did you get the Madone? If it's a 2011 or 2010, I think it came with a Bontrager Affinity saddle. probably 144 mm. if you look at the saddles for sale at your LBS, you might be able to figure out which model you currently have (R, RL or RXL) and which width. Then have them measure your sit bones to make sure you have the right width.

Is the soreness caused by chafing or too much pressure? Either way, if the saddle is the correct width, changing the position slightly might help.

[MollyJ]

This has actually been really enlightening! I am inclined to try the tilt on the saddle first and I think I will try some of the cremes too.

I have overall been really pleased with the fit on my bike. I actually was surprised at how little soreness I had. A little in the neck and shoulders but since I was going from an upright position to road bike, that didn't surprise me. I think I will explore the seat thing also and do some of that recommended reading.

As always, very helpful info.

[MollyJ]

NY Biker, my Madone is this year's model. It is a 4.5 and I am totally smitten with it. But I had heard all along that seats were relative weak points.

[ny biker]

Well according to the website, your bike came with an Affinity 1 WSD with steel rails. None of the saddles they sell individually has steel rails. Very interesting. I will ask the next time I'm at the LBS to try to find out how the stock saddles differ from from the other Affinity saddles.

But yeah, I think it still makes sense to play around with the position and tilt a bit, to see if you can improve things. Even if it doesn't resolve the problem completely, you might learn something that helps you figure out what saddle to try next. And in the meantime you might make it less uncomfortable while you're looking for a better one.

I found that moving my Affinity R forward a few millimeters caused soreness on the pubic bone as well as some chafing. It's amazing how small changes can have such a big impact.

BTW, I was going to buy that same bike, but they had a 2010 Madone 4.7 on sale for the same price so I got that instead. It really is very nice!

[ny biker]

The Affinity R has chromoly rails. I have no idea how that compares to steel in terms of cost (or weight). I know they are heavier than the titanium. The R is also significantly less expensive than the RL or RXL.

[KnottedYet]

Chromoly is steel. The weight is gonna be the same between plain ol' "steel" and "chromoly" steel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/41xx_steel

[ny biker]

Chromoly is steel. The weight is gonna be the same between plain ol' "steel" and "chromoly" steel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/41xx_steel

Aha! They might as well just say "steel" then.

That makes me think it is an Affinity R. I will still check the next time I'm at the LBS, because now I'm curious to know if there are any differences.