really rough ride today..

I need to vent to people that understand the beginning stages and how frustrating it can be to WANT to love your bike.

We started early to avoid the heat. Index today was above 105. We only rode 15 miles. They were hilly but nothing too bad. I was a roadie five years ago, but switched to trails and sold my bike. I'm on a new bike, new saddle now and have a foot issue I didn't have before. Boy is that all adding to create some problems. My saddle isn't right, my feet are getting hot spots that are REALLY hot, and my hands are now hurting. I'm a massage therapist....pain in the hands is NOT good! We tilted the saddled forward a bit to see if it would fix the current saddle issue, and that added more pressure to my hands. By mile 10 I was so frustrated and hurting in so many places I burst into tears! I wasn't too tired, I just hurt everywhere that touched the bike. It seems to be getting worse, and my speeds are getting slower.

I've had two fits but am thinking I need to seek out a different LBS. Someone told us this weekend that our LBS is great at builds and repairs but not so hot at fits. I just don't remember ever feeling like this on a bike. I know it takes time to adjust to the saddle and riding position. The rest of my body feels good. but hands, but and feet are miserable!

On a + side. DH felt so bad for me that he bought me a new pair of Sidi road shoes to see if they help the foot issue. If I could get even one area to feel better, it would be amazing!! We also grabbed a different saddle to try. Also a +, I tried the chocolate milk after the ride and it was wonderful!!!!

Keep trying. Maybe you should move your seat forward a touch? I did that a few weeks ago and it has made my hand pain go away almost totally.

Karen

Ohhh, that sounds no fun at all! You're not suppose to cry tears of pain after a bike ride. . . tears of joy are understandable but not tears of pain. Big no-no! You've gone to your local LBS for 2 fits already and are completely miserable. I think you should definitely try another bike shop that can help you out. For the hot spots, try moving your cleats all the way back in your shoes if they aren't already. I'm glad that the chocolate milk worked for you, I like a post-ride milk myself. Big hugs and let us know about your progress.

Karen, thanks for the tip. Unfortunately I've move the seat forward, and now we tried tilting. First saddle problem was pressure on sit bones. Now we've fixed that with new saddle - it's a separating and pressure on the nose end of the saddle. I'm trying a fizik that is flat and simple. I'll take it out tomorrow. I'm also making a call to a recommended LBS for a pro fit.

I agree - no tears of pain. I think I just melted down because it's not getting better...and there is heat to get use to in addition. I needed a pity party and it started without me even realizing it. Hubby handled it great. Once he realized it was happening. I'm not usually like that! We pulled off and rested for about 20 minutes. Let everything cool off and stop hurting a bit.

F8th - I will try moving the cleats back. The new shoes have a LOT of room for movement. I wondered if I could, or if it would cause problems.

thanks for the support! I have hope that it will improve. I just have to keep working at it and not give up.

see if you can find really really thin WOOL socks. yes, wool
it helps with hot spots.

like these:

http://www.teamestrogen.com/products.asp?pID=10340

I'm wondering if you really want to go back to the road?

Why did you quit before, even going so far as to sell your bike?

I know what it's like to want to love your bike but just not being able to get there.
These days I'm loving my new trail bike much more than my road bike :o.

I got hot spots from spd pedals but not speedplay frogs. My fitter also gave me a high quality replacement shoe insole helped to disritubute the pressure, eliminating hot foot (I think it was superfeet brand).

If there is pain in your hands, there is too much weight on them. When this happened to me, my fitter pushed my saddle further back. It pushes your weight further back on the bike, so you are not resting on your hands as much. But, if you do that and the reach is too long, you may also need a shorter stem. You also want to check the rotation of your bars, to be sure you are not bending your wrists too much to contact them.

Seems like you really need a pro here, as saddle for-aft should be set mostly in order to get the axis of rotation of your knee over the axis of rotation of the pedal, but there is a range. You also want the saddle level, to not push too much onto your hands. Its about achieving balance on the bike, and adjusting the bike to your body. Saddle height, stem length, stem height are also parameters an eperienced fitter will play with.

I know riding an ill fit bike is no fun, and in fact you shouldn't ride or you just get injured making it hard to find your true position.

Good luck, but you can work with out!

Zen - at the time I'd just gotten interested in mountain biking. A local radio station ran repeated morning shows that attacked roadies. They told drivers to drink you-hoo because the bottles were heavy and would hurt more when they threw them at us. They told people to run us down and to run us off the road and onto the side walks where we belong. They had daily callin's where people unleashed all this stupid hate talk about cyclists. I decided that I liked the trail better. If I hit a tree, I KNEW it was my fault. There was no hate involved. In the five years I've been away, I miss the road. It was much more "zen" to steal your name. Less adrenaline rushing and peaceful. I missed that and decided I wanted to get back on the road. It helps that in the five years since, I know not one person that has had an angry incident with drivers. Things felt very different when I decided to stop though. Does that help?

Holy cow, where do you live??

Karen

I do remember hearing about that but I can't remember what city that was in. That's just absolutely horrible!

I live in Raleigh NC. It happened with 3-4 other radio stations owned by Clear Channel. The FCC gave the local station some piddly little fine and they had to have public service messages on their station for a while - but nothing productive came out of it. It went on daily for about a week. There was even a day when they said they were going to apologize at a certain time the next day, only to do a skit about how men in spandex are gay and don't know it. About that time a kid buzzed a group ride and caused several people to wreck. The ones left standing chased him down (he got stuck behind sitting cars at a stop light). They got his plate numbers while he cussed them out, and they emptied their water bottles in his sunroof. They did not use profanity or threaten any violence on him. They tried their best to let him know people were really hurt behind him. The kid left and police were called. Nothing happened to the kid. Frustrating to say the least.

You wrote: First saddle problem was pressure on sit bones. Now we've fixed that with new saddle - it's a separating and pressure on the nose end of the saddle.

Pressure on the sit bones is normal and kind of what you look for when you are just starting out. The ONLY acceptable sorness in that area is the sit bones. Is the new seat softer? That would allow your sit bones to sink in and cause smashing of other bits.

I have read that you can sometimes reduce hand pressure by moving the seat back, rather than forward, because you are actually looking for the perfect triangle for your particular body.

I'm with the rest of them that advise you to go find someone who will do a good fit. Maybe contact a local bike club and see if they have suggestions.

Barbara

Quote:

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Originally Posted by littlegrasshopp

We started early to avoid the heat. Index today was above 105. We only rode 15 miles.

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Dang! Where do you ride?? Mexico??

I'm sorry you are having so much pain on a bike. I can sympathize with you because I rode my road bike, switched to mountain bike in the winter through the first part of this month and was mostly pain free (except for the dumb falls) until I got back on my road bike. I now have some pain issues with my achilles and I know how frustrating it is to want to ride but don't want to hurt while riding.

Since you are already acclimated to riding more upright on your mtb, perhaps you should consider tweaking a few things on your road bike to make it more comfie. Maybe add an adjustable stem to raise the handlebars up. Also measure for your saddle size by sitting on a Butt O Meter at a bike shop (Trek/Specialized dealers will have this). If this doesn't help matters, perhaps you should go shopping for a bike that does fit. ;) Perhaps you'd like a bike that will allow you to sit more upright--like a commuter bike or cyclocross bike. :cool: In any event, hope you find a bike shop that listens to you and works to resolve your fit issues.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sundial

Dang! Where do you ride?? Mexico??

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The heat index for our part of the east coast is 105+ through tomorrow. We're suppose to get some respite come Wednesday.

+1 for the SuperFeet insoles.

I had a really bad time with one of my feet going numb...I was able to resolve it with the SuperFeet insoles.

I also had issues with my stem. I tried higher, lower, longer and shorter. Finally I had the reach correct but my feet and soft woman parts were not happy. I ended up going to another bike shop. The Bike Guru took one look at my bike and said Oh, why don't you start by making your handlebars the same height as your seat. I bought a handle bar raiser, the pressure went away on my front, my feet (along with the insoles) and my hands.

So, +1 on the more upright position. If you have room and can raise your handlebars, give it a try.

A few thoughts on fit:

First, I agree that sitbone pressure from a saddle (and no soreness anywhere else) is just fine! Some saddles require a breaking-in period, plus your sitbones also need to get used to being back on a road saddle again. Get a little more cushioning from a better chamois and take it easy at first. Tilting the nose UP will distribute more of your weight throughout your crotch, which could help the sitbones, but it could make things worse towards the nose.

As for your hands, moving the saddle forward and down was probably the wrong way to go. Basically, you want the saddle fore-aft position to be far enough forward that if you take your hands off the bars (on a trainer), you won't fall on your face, with minimal extra support from your core. So find this point and then move it back a tad. This means you won't need your hands for support. This should roughly correspond to the position where your knee would be over the pedal spindle when at 3 o'clock. Some people like it back a little, some a little forward. So long as you don't have knee pain, you're in the right ballpark. From here, then you need to look at your saddle height to be sure you're square over the saddle and not hyperextending your knees or bottoming out too fast (forcing more heel drop than is natural for you).

As for hot spots on feet, they will get better with wider platform road pedals. However, even then, improper cleat positioning will still cause hot spots. A good rule of thumb for an average foot size is to have the first metatarsal joint (the ball of the foot under the big toe) around 5-8mm in front of the pedal spindle. That means the cleat is just behind the ball of the foot. Note that this may impact your saddle, because it impacts your reach to the pedals. So, change cleats first, saddle second. On hot days, you may also need to loosen your shoes over the course of the ride. Feet can get really cramped and sore, though this won't feel exactly like hotspots on the bottoms.

Now if you look at all of that and you still find you're upper body isn't doing the right thing, you may want to check your stem length and height. You may be all nice and balanced as far as the saddle goes, but you're getting too cramped or too stretched out by the bar position. Also, get some nicely padded cycling gloves to get rid of soreness from road buzz.

You're supposed to have pressure on your sit bones. That's where all your weight should be. (or rather, your weight that isn't on your feet and hands)
However, if your sit bones are not used to this yet, they can be quitre sore and painful for the first few days of riding. This happened to me. It was VERY painful on my sit bones- hard to walk even! But my husband assured me this was normal and indicated my weight was in the right place, and that the soreness would go away soon.
It did- within a week or so my sitbones had gotten used to it and no more pain. In fact, I felt very very comfy from then on in. However, if I haven't ridden in a month or so like during winter, then my sitbones do complain again briefly when I start back in riding. :)

What you don't want is pressure up front on your girly parts.

I'm going for a pro fit. We've moved the seat, forward, back, up, down, tilted.....We've rounded the bars upward, moved the grips inward. I'm sure we've done the right thing in each area - just not the right combo. And as I've said, I did two fits with the LBS that sold it, but he's apparently not knows for doing good fits. Great bike builder though.

I love the wool socks too. They're all I wear, and I have the insoles too. I always wear those too. I think the fact that I had cheap cycling shoes was part of the issue. The hard bottom should help. I'm about to go on a ride and find out. I will keep you guys posted. I can't wait to fit better on the bike. No long rides - 30 minutes is all I'll do. I'm working on hills. So I still get a good cardio workout but not as much wear on my arms and saddle area.

Oh the sit bone issue was more than pressure - it was blisters too. I keep forgetting that I need to clarify that.

As for the heat. It's HOT! Wednesday it's suppose to drop into the low 90's and everyone is excited. The humidity is way too high also! Glad the a/c is fixed!!

Again, thank you for all the advice and support. I'm still getting on the bike regularly. I'm still hopeful that it will work. I need a fit though. That's for sure!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by littlegrasshopp

Oh the sit bone issue was more than pressure - it was blisters too. I keep forgetting that I need to clarify that.

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You shouldn't be getting blisters on your sit bones. Blisters happen with skin getting pushed back and forth under pressure and/or friction from rubbing back and forth. Your sit bones should not be moving/rubbing back and forth over your saddle as you ride. I don't get it. :confused:

I loved reading all the tips. I guess I am lucky on my fit so far, but time will tell. I have used Superfeet every day in my tennies and boots for years. They are the best! I use regular tennies with Superfeet in them on my bike, also (still a short distancer!). I, also, stay close to home until I am more fit and experienced. I don't want to end up miserable and far far far away. Cell service isn't consistent where I live so calling my hubbie isn't necessarily an option. You can buy Superfeet online. So far, Feet Relief http://www.feetrelief.com/feetrelief/superfeet.htm is the cheapest source I have found. Anyone find a cheaper price? Know that there are several styles of Superfeet, also, for different types of shoes.

me either. But on my right one I had an open sore/blister from a long ride. I've done the sitbone measurement thing since all of that trouble and the saddles I'm trying now are very nice in that area. After last night's short ride - where DH did an adjustment to new saddle, I can really tell how tilting the saddle forward puts pressure on the hands. We're making the pro fit appt today. So I'll stop whining about my bike fit problems :) :)

Thanks so much for the advice and encouragement!!

What shorts are you wearing?

I have about 5 different pairs. The latest that I bought were Performance Ultra.

I got all the info to make my appt with the bike shop for my pro fit. Very excited. Tonight we'll stick to my mountain bike and trails. That saddle doesn't hurt! I know, why don't I put that saddle on my road bike...can't put it on my road bike..too padded..if I sit too long on it, it doesn't work. I ride a hard tail so I stand a lot. :0

My seat bones were hurting me so much that i could not sit on the bike for a whole week after riding. So I went and had a fitting.
:) Now good stuff.. they measured my sit bones and also gave me a seat with less padding so my seat bones found there spot and didn't move. I got the specialized ruby gel seat w/ cutout. I'm still a little sore the next day but no sit bone pain. Also I bought the castelli gloves to help with the hand sores.. I have since invested in the Castelli Free bibshorts and LOVE them, nothing wrong with the Izumi's. I have my first charity ride in two weeks. 175 miles in two days.. so far I've only riden 50! Hope this helps! ;)