Training & Nutrition - Worn out shorts chafed me... what's a good treatment?

I wore this pair of Garneau shorts on a long ride the other day. THe thing is they were kind of worn out on the inner thighs and ended up causing an irritation. NOt saddle sores thank god, but when I went on a ride today, it was all irritated. Like when you wear an itchy scarf in winter and it makes your neck red and irritated.

What's a good way to treat a surface irritation so I don't have to stay off my bike? The weather finally got nice after a week of rain and I'd like to keep riding.

Zinc oxide cream ... found in the baby department of your local department store or pharmacy. Apply a liberal dose tonight before you go to bed. Wear loose shorts over top so it doesn't get all over the place. And by morning you should be fine.

Vaseline or chapstick, if the irritation is not too big of an area.
You can also try making an oatmeal paste (rolled oats with a little water) and apply that at nght while you're watching TV or something for 15 minutes (oatmeal is a natural skin soother!). Aveeno (Aveno?) has oatmeal based products that can help.

Re: the chapstick thing - it works wonders if you are wearing a new pair of shoes and start to feel a blister coming on - rub with chapstick to "lube" the area, and you'll be blister-free!

Any paste lube that preferably doesn't have water listed as the first ingredient.
Vaseline is good but greasy, Bag Balm, Udder Cream are variants. Bike specific stuff is available such as Chamois butter, Bodyglide and several others. You want at least a noxzema consistency cream, not liquid as it will last longer and to stay away from lubes with water in the first or second position as listed ingredient. They don't last long enough.
Steve

Have worn older, semi-worn out shorts, where wondered if something Might be showing.? but never have experienced a chafing problem about the chamois area ..seems ,the chamois, in my expereince is usually intact. just the material gets a little thin.

Zinc oxide cream ... found in the baby department of your local department store or pharmacy. Apply a liberal dose tonight before you go to bed. Wear loose shorts over top so it doesn't get all over the place. And by morning you should be fine.


Bumpity.

. . .

What's a good way to treat a surface irritation so I don't have to stay off my bike? The weather finally got nice after a week of rain and I'd like to keep riding.

I have found that if the injured area is mainly red and irritated (not raw, scraped-oozing), Neosporin ointment spread on the area in question helps me out, usually overnight. Inbetween the legs is a hard place to bandage so I have worn a loose pair of bike-style shorts (no padding) to cover overnight.

For the future, I recommend using BodyGlide when using older shorts. I use older shorts for shorter rides of an hour or so and the BodyGlide stays in place, is not absorbed and really stops chafing if I apply it where I need to, like in the creases of my crotch (geeze, how poetic. . .maybe this would be a good punk band name. . .) and where any rougher, worn edges of an older chamois touch or tend to rub my skin.

Good suggestions, all, i found that neosporin worked really well. I didn't ride today anyways, it was too windy, so that gave it a chance to heal. Time to retire those shorts anyways.

I just read this article about Preparation H as a quick fix for saddle sores.

Got a pimple-like saddle sore that's uncomfortable to ride on? Treat it with Preparation H or a generic version. No, this isn't a joke. Prep H works on saddle sores for the same reasons it works on hemorrhoids -- it shrinks swollen tissue and soothes pain. Apply it five minutes before slathering on your chamois cream and pulling on your shorts. Also try a dab on sores after rides to dull discomfort. Get the ointment rather than the cream because it works better for this application.

I don't know if this works, I just read it and thought it might help.

Once I had a saddle sore that was taking forever to go away. In desperation, I thought I'd try Traumeel cream. It stung a bit but the next day it was almost totally gone!

Once I had a saddle sore that was taking forever to go away. In desperation, I thought I'd try Traumeel cream. It stung a bit but the next day it was almost totally gone!


Whats Traumeel cream?