Saddle comfort: road vs. indoor trainer

[zoom-zoom]

Someone tell me that my hubby is not full of bunk. He claims that no saddle is as comfortable on the trainer as it is on the road. I get some girly bits numbness with my saddle...perhaps it needs some angle adjustment. Not really pain, just pressure/pinching.

I only managed one road ride with the saddle before scheduling and weather got sketchy. I don't really recall my hooha bothering me so much, then, but I had so many pretty visual distractions. Since then my rides have been indoors and I find myself having to shift around and get myself off the saddle fairly often to get the blood-flow back.

My saddle is a Selle-Italia Gel Flow Lady.

[Eden]

Believe in the hubby. No saddle is comfy on the trainer.... See the thing is, on the road whether you remember/realize it or not, you are quite often getting off, stopping at red lights or stop signs, standing to sprint etc. so you are moving around a lot more than you ever do on the trainer. Trainer miles are harder and harder on your under carriage than an equivalent road ride could ever be.
Eden (who has cuts on her back side from an unfriendly chamois and a 2 hour trainer ride yesterday due to icy roads)

[Thorn]

Sad to say, hubby has a point. As Eden put it, you move around a lot while riding whether you realize it or not. Even if you don't stand, your position changes slightly as the terrain changes from flat to hill and back again.

That said,
+ check the angle of your bike with respect to horizontal. Your bike may be slightly inclined, thus increasing pressure on sensitive tissue. You can compensate by adjusting the front wheel or tipping the saddle down for indoor riding.
+ Stand more. No time like indoor riding to really build up the standing muscles. Even if you're not a rider that stands outdoors, stop signs, stop lights, etc give your butt a rest. Standing indoors mimics that pressure releif.
+ If you're going to stay on the trainer for more than an hour, consider changing shorts 1/2-way through. No matter how good the fan, you just don't get quite the air flow to keep them dry indoors. Wet shorts can be more irritating and...well...flora and fauna....

This year I tried to use an old saddle indoors instead of my Brooks. Big mistake. I lasted about 50 minutes and was standing every 30 seconds. Ouch. Put the Brooks on this weekend and managed 2 hour rides -- chafing from the short seams, but saddle-wise I had no issues.

[zoom-zoom]

Great advice, girls! I'm actually happy that he's right (for once, heh). I was starting to envision a long search for the perfect saddle. Looks like the one I have is fine. Now I just need Winter to go away (I'm in MI...fat chance! ).

[woohoo]

Might be worth doing some saddle-swapping. I had one that was brilliant on the trainer but terrible on the same bike outdoors. Changed it onto another bike and it's great outdoors but not too good on the trainer, lol!

[zoom-zoom]

Might be worth doing some saddle-swapping. I had one that was brilliant on the trainer but terrible on the same bike outdoors. Changed it onto another bike and it's great outdoors but not too good on the trainer, lol!

Oh, this is an interesting thought...I hope that discomfort indoors doesn't = discomfort outdoors, but maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to try something new.

[marni]

one of the reasons I only ride a recumbent in the gym is that the bikes in spin class, and the stationary bikes do nothave adequte sadddles, nor can I take my own saddle. Even if I could the positional relationship between seat and handlebars is pretty bad. I should bite the bullet and get an indoor trainer but with only 1 bike and really not minding the recumbent for an hour at high resistance intervals and then an hour of joggiing intervals plus some weights and resistance work equals good cross training.

I also live in Houston so unless it is freezing and or raining heavily or hurricaning, I can usually ride out.