Front Saddle Problems

[jcl531]

I've been searching this forum for saddle problems, and seem to come up with only rear saddle soreness. The problem I'm having is in the front. I have a Lady Selle Italia and it seemed okay the first few rides. Now after about 10-15 miles into a ride, the pain starts, and it is almost to the point where I have to stop the ride, especially when I pivot forward to get into good riding position. Only my soft tissue on the right side seems to be getting rubbed against or squished or whatever, and I come off the bike sore and red as hell. Sorry to get graphic, but where else can I talk about this…to the bike shop guys lol??? Last ride I tried putting on Aquaphor, but still was miserable. Could it be the cutout may not be a good thing for me and I'm rubbing against it? Any help would be appreciated!!!!

[OakLeaf]

You've read this thread?

(Admins, can we put a sticky on that thread? Muirenn's done such a great job with it, and it ought to be where newcomers to the forum can find it [and regulars can find it to refer newcomers to].)

[zoom-zoom]

Another thing to consider is the possibility that your positioning on the bike might be too aggressive. I think this is likely the key to my own persistent crotch issues...we've raised my seat, lowered my seat, moved it forward, backwards, tilted up, down...tried various shorts and saddles. I'm still ending up pinched and raw. Some shorts and saddle combos aren't bad, but I'm still ending up beat up after most rides...even with globs of chamois lubes.

So last night I had my hubby flip my stem back to a somewhat less aggressive posture. The rest of my body does fine relatively horizontal, but my hooha is the deal-breaker.

The weird thing is that I'm generally OK in the drops, it's on the hoods when I end up too much on a delicate and sensitive "sweet spot." I prefer riding on the hoods for the bulk of my miles, so that doesn't work.

[Biciclista]

another simple issue is, is the saddle too high?
get yourself a bike fit!

[zoom-zoom]

another simple issue is, is the saddle too high?

You know, this thread is really timely. Today I got out for 20 miles on my bike with the stem flipped-up. Crotch issues were still there...and now my bike feels awkward and less responsive.

So I came home and dropped my saddle a mere 5ish mm. and went back out for 2 miles. Immediately it felt better (though still not great, since my crotch is already POd). It wasn't my relatively low handlebars, at all (I still don't have truly low handlebars, since I have such a short inseam relative to my torso. My bars were barely lower than my saddle height). So I'm going to have DH put my handlebars back where they were and I can keep skootching the saddle down more, if need be.

[jcl531]

Never realized how tiny little adjustments can make all the difference. Let's see what happens with all the tweaking going on. To be continued……….

[zoom-zoom]

Interesting you should ask. So I started to wonder if perhaps my stem might simply be a hair too long. My bike came with an 80mm, which I knew right away was too short and it made my bike's steering sorta scary. I talked to our LBS about going up 10mm, but our shop buddy didn't seem to think it was worth switching out just 1cm and talked me into the 100mm stem.

So I purchased a 90mm stem on a hunch and had my hubby put it on my bike.

Hmmm...I think my hunch was right all along. While the rest of my body can tolerate being relatively stretched-out and aggressive, that 100mm stem was just a hair too long. The 90 feels perfect. Now my only discomfort is that of having tights over shorts, which just feels like too much bulk under me.

[jcl531]

Wow, thanks everyone. It is a Lady Gel Flow and I did have a very good bike fitting. When I went to the bike shop initially and told him the new saddle still wasn't great, we talked about it a bit and he tilted my saddle down a little, and it seemed to be okay for a while….I was able to do 40 - 50 milers no problem and I seemed to break it in. Just the last four or five rides it's really bad. I chalked it up to not being able to ride consistently for a few weeks.
When I just checked to see if the saddle was centered, it seems it is SLIGHTLY tilted to the right, when I look over the top of the saddle down to the tube. Maybe it has moved slowly over the rides and that's why I'm now in trouble. I will definitely try to get it dead center and see what happens before I take a look at my hips, leg length, etc. That is a great start and makes a lot of sense. Appreciated tremendously!