Saddle is killing me

[captenaj]

Hello all. I need some advice. I just got my first road bike, a 2007 Specialized Ruby Comp Triple. I love it but on my not-so-unusual 30 mile ride yesterday my butt was killing me. Then today I went on the local 55 mile Tater Tour and I didn't think I was going to finish. Everything felt great except my butt. No matter how much I shifted, where the pressure was, anything, it still hurt. The saddle is a "Body Geometry Jett Women's, carbon reinforced base, hollow Cr-Mo rails, [with a] microfiber cover." My old bike was a hybrid w/ a really soft, cushy saddle which rarely caused me discomfort. I have a cross country trip starting in March and I'm thinking my cushy saddle is going to cause too much compression of my, ahem, sensitive areas on such a long trip. Is my new saddle something I'm going to get used to? I know saddles are very individual but when you find a good one does it feel right from the beginning? Thanks.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Your hybrid had you in a more more upright position, which put your weight on your sitbones. A road bike typically puts your weight more forward towards your soft tissues/girly parts. It's a big change and might require some adjustments and various saddle try-outs.
You would do well to start reading some of the saddle threads here to gets lots of good ideas from MANY other women's past experiences. There is a lot of great info and advice already there for you.

[captenaj]

Thanks Lisa. But it's my sit bones that are killing me. Actually, with my hands in the drops it felt only marginally better. My girl parts aren't hurting though. The cutout in the seat is great for that.

I'll check out the rest of the forums to see what others were saying. I was just hoping some one would say that this is common and every seat has to be broken in.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Thanks Lisa. But it's my sit bones that are killing me. Actually, with my hands in the drops it felt only marginally better. My girl parts aren't hurting though. The cutout in the seat is great for that.

I'll check out the rest of the forums to see what others were saying. I was just hoping some one would say that this is common and every seat has to be broken in.

Oh!- that's different then! If it's your sitbones that are sore- and you just started riding a different type of bike and a new saddle?- I'd say your sitbones will feel way better after another few rides. Sitbones tend to adapt to new saddles, unlike soft parts.
When I got my first Brooks leather saddle and new road bike (previously rode a borrowed hybrid with padded saddle) I thought I would die for the first few short 10 mile rides, my sitbones were SO sore! After a few more rides it got better, then they only got sore on longer (30+ mile) rides. Now I can do 50 miles on my Brooks with no soreness at all.
Sounds like you started right off on your new saddle with long rides- no wonder you are sore. Give it 2 or 3 weeks of riding to evaluate the saddle, with a day of rest between rides perhaps. I think you will find your sitbones will stop hurting after a while.
If your soft front tissues hurt, it's a whole 'nother story. Then I wouldn't give it 2 or 3 weeks! You are lucky it doesn't hurt there, and that shows that this saddle might work out well for you if your girly bits are ok!

[captenaj]

Oh!- that's different then!

I've never used a saddle w/ a cutout before. THAT part is great. But right where the bones are is killing me. I have been looking around the forums and found a post discussing my exact problem with my exact saddle. The woman said that just by changing the size of the saddle her ride went from miserable to "riding on air." That's what I'm looking for. I'm going to go into the LBS tomorrow and see how cooperative they will be with swapping the saddle.

[VeloVT]

Agree with Lisa that changing bike type/riding style/saddle all at once could require a sit-bone "training/break-in" period .

But my bf has the Alias, which I THINK is the men's version of your saddle, and damn, that's a hard saddle, much harder on the rear than my Fizik Arione, which ostensibly has less padding... you may need to do some trial and error to see what agrees with your anatomy.

The other thing I notice about the Alias (which bf, by the way, likes but doesn't love), is that it has corners that I run into, and the edges are square/hard/sharp instead of rounded/tapered. I think this actually is a shape issue for me rather than a width issue, since my saddle isn't any wider than his but I don't have this problem...

Anyway, good luck!!! have fun with your new bike!

Edit: Just for yucks -- I decided to look up the width difference between bf's Alias and my Arione. Turns out my saddle is 132mm, while his is 143. Go figure.

[captenaj]

To follow up, I went back to the LBS and told them about my saddle issues. He measured me with the little Specialized thingie and said the 143 Jett was the right size. So he swapped out the Jett for a Women's Dolce Gel, which only comes in 155. In the shop, it felt much better. He gave me about a $50 credit for the old saddle so I ended up paying $1.59 for the new. I know the Jett lists for much more but I wasn't going to argue the point, specially when he said I should try this new saddle for a week or so and if I wasn't happy then, bring it back and we'll try another. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.