help with my seat/ saddle/ grips... need advice

[Kati]

I have a scott hybrid I bought from a bike shop long before I moved out of state. It was my first bike and I wanted to ride to take the pressure off my knees and be able to get some cardio. Fast forward two years of not riding to today.
I started riding 6 days a week almost 4 months ago. Was riding 30-45 mins a day most of the time until this month. I have been riding one hour to 2 hour rides. My max has been 16 miles, but normally ride around 10 miles. I am 6'2 and 320lbs. I went to a new bike shop in my new state and the owner was not very friendly concerning my size, so I am needing help. I get intense pain in my crotch after rides longer than an hour. When I bought my bike before I had no intention of falling in love with cycling and got the biggest most cushioned seat possible. Found this website and wondered if anyone could guide me about what to do... Also the palms of my hands ACHE... I called a bike shop and they said I might need to change my grips?
Am I hurting because of how heavy I am and it will go away in time or do I need a different seat/ grips due to the longer rides?

Thank you for any help anyone could give me... I really appreciate your time

[TigerMom]

I have a scott hybrid I bought from a bike shop long before I moved out of state. It was my first bike and I wanted to ride to take the pressure off my knees and be able to get some cardio. Fast forward two years of not riding to today.
I started riding 6 days a week almost 4 months ago. Was riding 30-45 mins a day most of the time until this month. I have been riding one hour to 2 hour rides. My max has been 16 miles, but normally ride around 10 miles. I am 6'2 and 320lbs. I went to a new bike shop in my new state and the owner was not very friendly concerning my size, so I am needing help. I get intense pain in my crotch after rides longer than an hour. When I bought my bike before I had no intention of falling in love with cycling and got the biggest most cushioned seat possible. Found this website and wondered if anyone could guide me about what to do... Also the palms of my hands ACHE... I called a bike shop and they said I might need to change my grips?
Am I hurting because of how heavy I am and it will go away in time or do I need a different seat/ grips due to the longer rides?

Thank you for any help anyone could give me... I really appreciate your time

Just to let you know, bikers of all sizes have saddle problems. So, don't think that just because you are 6'2 and 320 pounds that you are having pain issues when you bike. As an encouragement, besides enjoying biking, we have had a lot of TE members lose a TON of weight because of their love for biking.

There have been multiple threads on saddles as this is a common problem. In fact, see if you can find a store that has demo saddles for you to try. Maybe you should look at the SMP PLUS saddle first. I personally like saddles with huge cut-outs. In addition, some women like chamois in their bike shorts while others prefer bike shorts without padding.

Same with the gloves, some think the padding on gloves helps while other disagree. Unfortunately, the aching of the palms could also be a fit issue. If you are too far backward or the handlebars are not high enough for you, you might be having palm pain. How do you know the problem? Get a bike fit.

My recommendation is to work on the saddle issue first and try different types of gloves. If these basic recommendations don't help, you might want to consider a bike fit, which is expensive but well worth the money, especially if you think that you could really enjoy biking once the pain issues are resolved.

[ny biker]

If you're willing to give more details about the pain from the saddle, it would help to figure out how to solve that problem. Too much cushioning is one likely culprit, since you tend to sink into the cushioning and that causes pressure and sometimes numbness. The wrong size or shape could cause chafing in various places.

This thread is a good place to start for information on various saddle problems and solutions:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=39475

Also, are there other bike shops in your area you can visit, to find one that has better service? If there are any local cycling resources, like clubs or advocacy groups, they might be able to recommend a good LBS for you.

[nuliajuk]

Did you go from no riding at all to doing 30-45 minutes a day/6 days a week? That's a big jump. It takes time to get used to sitting on a bike saddle of any kind, and it's possible you may have to take some time off to let your problems heal completely before getting back into it. And NY Biker is right, a very soft cushy seat will make things worse. You end up "bottoming out" the padding (pardon the pun) and sitting directly on the hard plastic shell, plus of course the padding can create chafing. The more you weigh, the firmer the padding on a saddle needs to be. Some people end up getting leather saddles with no padding at all, but if you're presently in pain, I'd suggest easing into that gradually if you try it. You are probably a bit bruised in places and any saddle at all is going to hurt a bit right now.
As for the hand problems, that isn't uncommon with flat bars, as there is only one hand position and you're sort of stuck with it. One solution might be add-on bar ends that give you one more position. Here's what they look like:
http://oldglorymtb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/sycip_barend.jpg

[ny biker]

For the hand problems, it might be a fit problem causing the OP to lean too much weight on her handlebars. I really don't have any experience with fit issues and hybrids so I'm not sure. But I agree, bar ends can be helpful even without fit problems, because they give you more options for changing your position as you ride.

[Catrin]

I found when I first started riding in 2010 that it made a world of difference as my rides gradually increased to more than 20 miles. The saddle that was fine before...suddenly wasn't so much and it took some time to eventually find that the Sell Italia LDY Gel flow worked best for me. I had a flat-bar road bike which is the same riding position that your hybrid has. Working on your core strength off the bike may help your hands, it depends on what is causing the hand problem. You could be unconsciously weighting your hands too much and not engaging your core enough, or it could be other problems. All of my bikes have had bar-ends, but I removed them this year as I've never actually used them. We found that, for me, most of my weight MUST be on my sit bones to avoid hand pain (arthritis). Once we figured out the right balance I could ride all day long, literally, without hand pain.

The bottom line is it can take some time and experimentation to figure out what the problem is. If you can afford and have access to a GOOD fitter who knows how to think outside of the box you owe it to yourself to do it.