General Cycling Discussion - I Have a Painful Saddle Sore

I've been riding a lot lately in this humid Kansas heat, and yesterday I noticed a painful hot spot, right in the crack where my leg meets my groin. It's still pretty small, but it feels like it could turn into a boil.

I've been rubbing the area lightly with rubbing alcohol a few times a day, and trying to keep it dry and ventilated as much as possible. I was thinking about putting a hot pad on it to try to bring it to a head quicker, but I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do.

Do you more experienced riders have any sage advice for me?

Thanks,

Bill

Pretty hard to avoid such in high humidity and temperature. A cream containing a small amount of hydrocortisone (a medical steroid - not to be confused with weight-lifters, etc) - available at drug-stores - or a more powerful one (doctor needs to write a prescription) can be applied to the surface area 3 - 4 times/day.

Wear loose-fitting clothes down there so the area gets lots of air moving through. Never mind the heat-pads. It'll do whatever it will do when it does it. I had these in hot & sticky weather before. Add the corticosteroid cream - you'll be amazed at how fast you achieve relief. Just don't use that stuff willy-nilly. Reserve it for things like this.

Wash it well in the shower, and then apply zinc oxide cream.

have abotu the same issue. Thought it was a bug bite at first.
I ignored it and it went away. Just take a day or two off and you should be good.

Wash it well in the shower, and then apply zinc oxide cream.

I use Boudreaux's baby butt paste for saddle sores, it's a diaper rash cream which does contain zinc oxide, and works pretty good.

I've also used Lubriderm for friction burn spots and that worked suprisingly well.

If it's fluid-bearing and sebaceous in nature, it's no friction-burn. It's under the skin and likely to form a pustule and slough open. Hydrocortisone is what my physician prescribed - and it worked extremely well. 5% cream at any drug-store. Over-the-counter.

http://ephemerist.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/anti-monkey-butt.jpg

All kinds of good ideas. Thanks everyone. I just got some of the hydrocortisone to try for starters. It hasn't gotten any worse since yesterday, so that's a good thing. I didn't know zinc oxide was helpful for this sort of thing. Thought it was just for blocking UV rays. Never heard of the Boudreaux's cream. Been a long time since I had babies around. LOL
Nachoman, is that Anti Monkey Butt real, or a figment of your imagination?

Thanks again everybody. I owe you.