Measuring sit bones--is my yoga mat defective?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I'll agree that sit bone pain is normal until you break in your backside - but your description of excruciating pain after 20 min doesn't sound like normal sit bone soreness.....

"excruciating" means different things to different people.
The substantial sitbone soreness I'm feeling today might possibly be called excruciating by someone else. I'm cringing every time I sit down today. I'll live.

It's been a while that I've been off the bike long enough, but what I remember is being on the saddle wasn't painful, what hurt was getting back on the day after or after a break - it would hurt for a few minutes and then that hurt would go away. Like breaking in a new pair of shoes.

I've had a lot more sitbone pain than that- but even the worst has always faded away completely after a week or two of regular riding. I guess we are all different- differently 'padded' behinds, different saddles, angles, etc.
I used to own a horse when i was young and rode all the time for hours. Now when I go for years without riding and then suddenly ride one day- I feel excruciatingly sore and painful both during and after the ride. One time I truly didn't think I could unmount and hit the ground standing because of the pain....but I did. I had to retreat to a bed for hours afterwards.

[GLC1968]

For measuring, I have a much simpler method assuming you have reasonable flexibility.

Get a tape measure (a flexible fabric or paper one), and lie on your back on the floor. Flip your legs into the air (towards your head) and feel around for your sit bones. When you locate them, measure them with the tape measure holding it with your thumbs marking the location of each bone. Then, without letting go, put your legs through your arms so that you can veiw the tape measure in front of you. Voila!

My sit bone measurement is 133. When I sat on the butt-o-meter, all they told me was that I needed a Specialized 143 saddle. No other information, which wasn't very helpful when looking at other brands! I tend to favor men's saddles. So far, I've been successfully using the Terry Fly, but because of the padding, it does get softer over time and needs replacing. Luckily, as far as saddles go, it's not that expensive. I need to replace it about every 3000 miles or so. I may have an extra one lying around, and if so, I'd be happy to let you try it out. I'm still searching for the perfect saddle which for me would pretty much be a Fly with minimal padding.

[malkin]

I went to the press the flexible tape measure against the bones school too. One hand on each side and don't let go before reading the measurement.

[tzvia]

Ana,
Yea the saddle is one of the new Inform ones, and I had seen it several times at the LBS before a crash damaged my Aspide and I had to buy a new saddle. At first, I looked at the WSD ones, which had more padding than I wanted. Then I noticed the RXL (Unisex) came in wide 154 (my sit bones measure 144)...

I had gone the padded route previously, with a Terry Butterfly TI, and it was ok till the padding 'broke in' and I just sank into the thing and it became painful. Then I found the Aspide Glamor, which felt ok, and I realized that padding is not for me; I want support. No holes, no Gel. I want my weight distributed evenly over the thing so I don't get pressure in any one spot.

The Jett just plain hurt. My sit bones hurt all the time. If I hit a bump, it hurt more. The longer I rode, the more it hurt till I was thrilled that the ride was over. Even my Terry was more comfortable. I read about the Aspide Glamor here, and bought one. One ride - no pain - and I realized that it was not my sit bones that were the problem, it was the Jett. To be fair, while I don't know what size it was, I am certain it was in the 140's and was too small. But I had ridden mens saddles for years without that kind of pain.

Yes, your sit-bones may need to get used to the saddle if you have been off the bike for some time, but you should see improvement over time as you put the rides in. If you don't then maybe the saddle isn't a good match.