Saddle pain was gone, now it's back

[SimpleCycle]

So I spent the first three months on the bike battling with saddle pain, until I discovered that my saddle was too far back and I was sitting on my soft tissue, not my sit bones. Moved things around, and the pain went away. I was actually getting to the point where saddle pain was not what determined how long I can stay on the bike.

I have a Terry Liberator Ti Race, and it seems to match up with me okay, although the edges of the cutout are a little sharp. I went on vacation and took my saddle with me. Since putting it back on my bike, the saddle pain is back in a huge way. I swear the saddle is in the exact same place - I took a picture before I took it off. But still, my girly bits are quite squished and painful after long rides.

At what point do I throw in the towel and start looking for a new saddle? And what explains my one pain free month of riding, only for the pain to return after vacation? I rode on vacation, but didn't ride for two weeks after I got back. Could it just be that I toughened up and now I need to again?

[La Vieux]

You seem to know that it is in exact the same place, meening the positioning the place of the saddle to the saddlepost in cm? Maybe you have changed the horizontal positioning a bit? A few mm can make a difference?

[jeannierides]

SimpleCycle, I've had the same problem all season! I rode my Selle Italia Ldy (who, I believe makes at least some of the Terry saddles) all last season with no difficulties (at least no soft tissue pain), then this season I'm having all kinds of problems! We've moved positions back and forth and up and down...same problem. I'm thinking that my posture somehow changed over the winter (?) and I'm trying to work on that.
Wish I could help ya...

[Squirrel 2]

I would suggest looking for a new saddle. Pain in the soft-tissue area tends to be a cumulative problem in nature, it just gets worse & worse. There is no toughening up in that part of the anatomy.

Your pain-free vacation could be due to a lot of different factors -- since you say you took just the saddle & not the bike, how you were set up on your trip is probably not the same as how you ride back home (frame geometry, top tube length variation, etc, etc). Also, there is an adrenalin charge to trips away from home, riding in new & unknown terrain, sightseeing, trying not to get lost, all these things take your mind off saddle issues & your butt.

So try another saddle, and when you get it down to a saddle you can ride comfortably with maybe just some chaffing, try the lubricants. That's what they're designed to help with, even if they seem expensive.

[ryoko]

it may not be the saddle, but your fitness. I've heard that your legs support much of the weight (together with your arms and the saddle) when you're on a bike. from what you've described, it could be that you're trying to do too much too soon, and your legs are getting fatigued (trying to do what you did last summer) when they havnt readjusted. Weaker legs mean that less weight will be held up by them, so you'll sit "heavier" on the saddle.

[RoadRaven]

Simple... another thing to throw into the equation is how long are your rides?

After this length of time, have you increased the length of your rides...?

I have no problem for nearly an hour... by the time I have been riding for over an hour I am feeling a little numb... after an hour and a half I feel occasionally sore and numb...

I do not get off during my rides and walk around, so if you do prolonged riding too, it is important to vary your position on bike, or stand on pedals and wriggle your hips on straight stretches...

Trust you find a solution...