Saddle Sores

[emily_in_nc]

I've also heard that cortisone shots from a derm can make them shrink pretty quickly.

I'll vouch for that! Mine was not diagnosed as a sebaceous cyst but was a chronically inflamed saddle sore on the crease between my buttocks and crotch. A cortisone shot from my dermatologist stung for a few seconds but provided instant relief. Still, it returned when I went back to riding on that same saddle several months later (I got the shot during the winter and started riding again in the springtime). Turns out I needed a wider saddle so that my weight was supported on my actual sit bones and not further inwards. Since I've gone back to a Terry Butterfly (from a narrower SSM Atola), I haven't had a bit of a problem with this area.

Good luck -- saddle sores of any variety are no fun!

[aicabsolut]

Mine are from clogged pores or a pinch or something aggravated by the folds at the sides of the chamois. It really came on after a wet ride when my chamois cream had pretty much disappeared and I was all red and raw. I suppose better fitting shorts/chamois could help, but I take what the team gets.

As for buttering our butts versus powdering a baby's, I think it has to do with the inevitable amount of sweat we produce when riding. Yeah, I guess some powder would help keep us dry, but it's a losing battle, especially on long rides. It's also not in a very good area for evaporation, so we're going to be a bit soggy. Sure, babies get sweaty, but between the diaper changes and baths, I think we keep that pretty well under control, right? I mean, you don't want to be hanging around for a long time in a wet chamois just like you don't want to leave a wet diaper on a child, but if you're riding around for several hours, you don't get the luxury of changing frequently enough. In light of that, the best thing is to try to reduce friction, condition the skin, and use something with antibacterial properties to make all that moving around in dampness as comfortable as possible. And if we do irritate the skin harshly despite all the lubing, to then try to keep the bacteria on our skin from causing some sort of infection (whether a cyst, infected hair follicle, ulcer, whatever).