very newbie here, my seat hurts help

[tallented1]

ok I am new here and new to biking have not ridden in 15 years so i will introduce my situation and then hopefully some one can help with some advice

I come from a family that none of the women on my fathers side in the last 3 generations have lived past 50 years old, diabetes/heart attacks I am now 33 years old. I am 5 feet tall and 200 pounds and I smoke so something has got to give and I dont want it to be my life. So a couple of years ago i bought an old style schwinn that looked retro real cute no gears no hand brake. I am very short I got it home and from the seat I could not reach the ground standing up the seat hit my tail bone and the bar touched very sensitive places so i was chicken never road it, i did cut way back on the smoking and thought that was a good start and made my excuses.

Wll here I am 2 years later and still 200 pounds so on a whim at walmart I bought a cheap 24 inch bike, do not want to invest a lot of money untill i see if I will stick to this. I rode the next morning for the first time in 15 years a mile and half about killed me i got home and did not even have the streangth to put the bike in the garage I had to put my poor dogs in the back yard in 100 degree heat untill I could breathe It felt great I was a little wobbly at first but got the hang of it.
Today I went for a second ride dont know how many miles i need something to clock that. My husband rode with me this time and I was nervous about that hubby is very fit and I thought I would be embarassed. He said lets go to the park, I thought I would never ever make it and told him so. He said "lets just try if you need to stop I will go back to the house and get the car and pick you up." All I could think is I will die before I have him do that. I kept telling him I will never make it, he encouraged me I was surprised when he said look ahead and I could see the park! we made it to the park stopped had some water rode for a very short distance I had to tell him that if I rode much farther I would not be able to make it home so we headed home I did have to stop at the half way point home and that last incline home took the last bit I had hubby had to put the bike away while i sat and tried to breathe 10 minutes later i was up and moving and felt great except for my girly bits and my hip.

I have arthritis in one hip and boy does it hurt 3 hours later and i still hurt and that seat really tries to go places it shouldn't. I do not want to spend alot of money on this yet but I know I will not stick to it if I have to deal with pain like this can anyone recomend a good saddle for a large woman that does not cost a fortune?
And the really embarassing question can some one explain all of the gears on an 18 speed? i read the book that came with the bike but it was confusing.

Please help I really loved the feeling of being on a bike again but with that seat I wont do it for long.

[PAP103]

Welcome to the cycling world! There are lots of us here that are or were in the same place you are. Keep riding and before you know it you'll have many miles behind you!

As you may have already read here, seats are a very personal choice. That being said, I would recommend you try a women's specific saddle with a cut out where the girlie bits go. I have a Serfas RX women's specific seat that I love. It was about $40 at REI. You can check with your local bike shop (LBS) to see what they may have or look online at Nashbar.com or Performancebike.com There are many other sites including TE that carry seats. Its a trial and error type thing so check the return policy where you buy it.

Good luck!
Patty

[Bikingmomof3]

You have made some great strides already! You got on a bike and you have come to a forum looking for advice. I would say you are well on your way! As for endurance, please do not be hard on yourself. You are up on that bike. Many others choose to do nothing. You will build confidence, strength, and endurance. Be proud of yourself! You have made a lot of progress in a few days.

This forum is filled with wonderful women of all different ages, shapes, and skill levels. I am new to biking (about a month now) and I am hooked. The saddle problem, that is not so worrisome, I am concerned about your hip. Does the pain heal quickly after you ride or is it sticking with you? If it is not going away, you may want it checked out. Biking should not hurt. It is possible your seat is not in the proper position. You could go have it checked out at your local bike shop or your husband may be able to fiddle with the seat adjustment for you.

As for the saddle-everyone is different. There is a section titled "saddles", read through those. Some places have a return policy, others do not. I bought a Brooks saddle and love it-I heard wonderful things about them, and they have a 6 month money back guarentee. So, I thought it worth the $67 to try it out-turns out I love it.

Keep up with biking. You are doing well. Set small goals for yourself. it is not a contest. Biking should be fun. Celebrate each milestone you set for yourself.

Again, welcome to TE!

[esther231]

Me too. It's gotta be fun or I'm not gonna keep doing it and I know it. I've only been riding again for a couple of weeks. I found that the first few rides - while fun - felt like a ton more work than the last few have. It gets easier the more you go.

I move my tush around on the seat - I find tilting my pelvis a bit takes the pressure off the girly bits. My tush does feel a big sore when I get off but I remember from when I use to ride that it took time to get use to it. I have also found that stretching a bit before and after a ride helps with soreness.

Mainly, I wanted to say congrats for making it to the park. I think that's utterly cool.

[Cassandra_Cain]

Hi, welcome :)

You are making a wise choice by getting back into riding. Not just for your health but it is fun, I'm sure you already know!

Seats are rather specific and a matter of personal preferrence. Some people swear by a particular model, while others may swear at that same model! The easiet thing to do, most practical anyway, is go to your local bike shops and see them in person. You can usually get them to put a seat on a bike, that way you'll have a much better idea of how they feel.

As far as gears, well I don't know the setup on your bike specifically but I can give you a few pointers.

Your bike has gears in the front, where the pedals are, as well as those in the back, at the center of the back wheel. One set of shifters, usually on the left side of the bars, controls the gears in the front, while the set of shifters on the right, controls the gears in the back.

If you want the pedalling to be easy, then use the smallest gear in the front combined with the largest gear in the back. This will make the pedals turn with the least amount of effort, but, the tradeoff, is you'll go slower. If you are just getting started OR going uphill, this might be useful

On the flip side, the fastest (but hardest to pedal) combination on your bike, is the big gear in the front combined with the smallest gear in the back. That will give you the most speed, which is useful going downhill or if you are really strong.

Play with the shifters a little on the bike, somewhere safe like an empty parking lot, and you'll see quickly how the bike responds. Practice a little and you'll do fine.

[mimitabby]

Dear Tallented1
Wow, you have made a big step. Keep reading all you can here and posting too.
I just wanted to address the gears thing.
It took me years to really understand them. (ah, heck, i still don't REALLY understand them)
there are two or three on the front and a whole bunch on the back.

The main thing is you don't need to worry which is which, just learn which direction to push them when the pedalling gets too hard (like up a hill) or when the pedalling gets too easy.. (like spinning out of control)
That's really all you have to know until you start getting more comfortable.
Bike riders arent thinking "hm, i'm in 4th gear, need to go up or down"
they're just pushing levers until they're comfortable.

Keep posting good luck.

[Kano]

Hi Tallented1! Welcome!

There are people here with far more experience than I, but I know where you're coming from -- I'm not so very far from ride number two myself!

It's a scary thought to look at the women in your history and know that they didn't live long -- good for you, deciding to break the cycle! Cutting back on smoking is a good place to start, but you're right -- it's not going to "solve things" by itself. My husband and I are a few weeks past where you're at today. We bought from a bike shop, but very low end bikes. Now that a few months have passed, I'm pretty sure he's hooked, and I know I am.

That seat thing -- the wrong seat does make it hard to keep getting back on the bike. You can replace it. I did. Even though your bike is from a box-store, find a bike shop that's willing to help you with the choice, and install it for you, and help you with the bike you have. While their first priority is to make money by selling bikes and such, they're going to want you hooked on riding so that you WANT to buy bikes and bike toys. When it comes to saddle recommendations, there's a pair of discussion areas here -- favorite and least favorite saddles. Read through those for what's worked for people. You'll find that what works for some is like totally wrong for others, but you'll get some ideas.

You mention wanting to know how far you went -- I like that too, and bought an inexpensive bike computer to keep track for me ($20). It's fun to keep track of the individual rides on my desktop computer too. They're not difficult to add to your bike -- I did it myself!

Riding with your husband -- yours sounds much like mine: let's just try, we'll stop if you need to -- and you sound a bit like me: stubborn and determined! He'll take good care of you, while giving you a little push to keep yourself working (or it might be easy to call it a ride before you really get started) Chances are, he's incredibly proud of you for taking your health seriously and will be a great help if you let him. Let him nudge you into pushing yourself a bit, but don't be afraid to stop when you need to!

Some things I've noticed when I ride -- the first few miles are the hardest. Things hurt, my breathing is sometimes ragged, my mind says, oh, please, quit! BUT, if I keep going through those, my blood starts moving, I start breathing, my muscles loosen up, and I can go a LOT farther than I thought when I started!

Sometimes, a bit of a rest is enough to keep on going. Five to ten minutes does wonders for me now and then! A drink of water, and sometimes a few nuts or raisins comes in handy too.

Hip pain -- I have one that bothers me too, and I'm finding that as my muscles get stronger, that's not so bad anymore.

Those 18 gears -- shift and shift and shift -- keep the pedaling easy and comfortable! There's "too easy" at times, but use the gears to make riding easy on your knees! You'll find that makes it easier to go longer too.

Make sure there's plenty of air in your tires! The bike rolls better!

When I got started, I hurt for a while. I think it was the second week -- When I wasn't on the bike, I just wanted to rest. It helped me to go for short rides, even in the heat of the day, as an effort to loosen up my muscles. No pushing myself, just gentle pedaling. Just so I wasn't doing nothing. Way too easy to do nothing until the hurting goes away! And then way too easy to not start up again!

STRETCH! It feels SOOOOOOOOOOO good!

Karen in Boise

[nicola77]

hello im also new on here and have just taken up riding the last time i rode a bike i was 19 im now 28 and very unfit . i really enjoy going out on my bike but lack motivation any suggestions .

[xeney]

For the saddle, you might look around for a Terry Liberator on sale. I have seen them as low as $25 recently; I picked one up for $35 at Performance. It might or might not work for you, but it's a pretty good saddle, and I am guessing you are riding a bike that's fairly upright.

Someone might even have a used one they'd be willing to sell you.

[Cassandra_Cain]

hello im also new on here and have just taken up riding the last time i rode a bike i was 19 im now 28 and very unfit . i really enjoy going out on my bike but lack motivation any suggestions .

There is no other suggestion I can give you (or anyone) than to have fun!

When I do something fun, (ride up a big hill, or whatever), then it stops being work or some chore. Plus I'll do it without needing to motivate myself, etc. Conversely, if something isn't fun, then I know I won't stick with it.

Make your riding fun, however you think works best, and you'll see that getting out to ride becomes a habit.

[matagi]

Hi Talented1,

try the following link for a guide to gear changing .... I hope you find it useful.

http://www.womenscycling.com.au/inform.php?a=4&b=22&c=124

[Trekhawk]

hello im also new on here and have just taken up riding the last time i rode a bike i was 19 im now 28 and very unfit . i really enjoy going out on my bike but lack motivation any suggestions .

nicola77 - do you have someone you can ride with. If someone is waiting for you to ride its a good motivator. If you dont turn up they get grumpy and you dont want a grumpy riding companion.:D

[DDH]

Tallented1, all I can say is yeah for you!!! I too am fairly new at biking again. I started biking 10 years or so ago with my husband about 2 years after the birth of my son, from the recomendation of my doctor. We rode quite frequently taking my son with us in the pull behind trailor. It was great, but as he got older and too heavy to pull anymore, and couldn't leave him home alone, and work, and just life, we quit. Well, like I said that was 10 years ago. I have now gotten my bike back out to start again, because, I am 42, overweight and want to be around longer and healthy while I am here.
I too have arthritis in my hip, but the biking doesn't bother that to much so I think you need to make sure your bike is fitting you correctly. Even though you didn't buy it from the LBS, try taking it in there, or calling them and ask them if they will help you fit your bike correctly. I'm like you if it is painful and a struggle, I am not going to stick with it long.
My biggest inspiration has been coming to this site and reading all the information. The stories of these women, who all have different shapes, sizes, ablities and talents, and get out there and just do this. These women are the best support and will help you in anyway they can. They help keep you motivated and help with problems, and tell you everything you might need to know or should know.
There is a lot of information on the site if you search for anything you want to know you will probably find many threads on it, but if not, you can always ask again, nobody has seemed to mind that either, or will tell you how to search. Gather all the information you can, and don't give up.
I've been going at it for almost a month now, and the more I go, the more I enjoy it. I still have mornings or days that I don't want to get out there and go, but if I make myself and go, I find that I am very happy for doing so.
I feel worse on the days I don't ride than I do on the days I ride even if it's a short one.
Oh, if you don't want to spend a lot of money right now, Wal-Mart, has some little cheap computers for you bike to give you distance, mph, and so on. I just bought one for 10 dollars for my son's bike because I did not want to spend a lot of money on one for him right now, but he wanted one. I don't know yet how well it works cause like I said I just got i a couple of days ago, and DH has not put it on his bike yet. But that is a thought.
Man, sorry this was so long.

[SouthernBelle]

Hi,

You've gotten lots of good advice about saddles and gears. Until I started riding seriously earlier this year, I really didn't understand bicycle gearing at all. I thought of gears in terms of shifting in a car, you start with 1st, go to 2nd, etc. But with bikes you can pretty much shift to where ever you are comfortable.

I started with 21 gears (3x7). After reading a little on the internet about how to shift, I put the front in the middle (2nd) and rode shifting just the back gears until I felt comfortable. Then I started working in the shifts on the front gears as I rode up and down hills. Sometimes I would end up spinning madly or pumping so hard that I turned blue in the face, but that's ok. It was how I learned.

HTH

[Granny]

Ouch,
Nothing like body pain to keep you from getting back on the bike.
I weigh about the same as you do and due to a deformative spine condition I ride sitting pretty much upright; which increases the pressure on the back portion of my sits bones. I started a yoga classs and several of the postures we learned for opening the hips helped tremendously. There are 5 great exercises at http://www.bicycling.com/ "Backache in the Saddle Again"; they are similiar and might help. The direct link is also included in the Backache string on this site...

Doing a few simple stretches as soon as I get off the bike seems to help.
I have also found that as I build the muscles in my legs, hips, and core it helps provide support and reduces the pain. I have only been riding for six weeks and can feel a big improvement.

Good luck!