Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Intro, & I found my limitations....

And surprisingly, it's not my breathing and heart (cardio). Turns out I was looking to High.

Its my arse!

Live in Toronto, and in my early 40's. Used to ride a lot in the mid 90's. Getting back to it for health and for fun. More fun with the Health thing to sorta happen along with that.

I got my bike last Friday and have spent an hour each day riding. It's a 09' Gary Fisher Marlin Disc.I didn't want to start by hacking up a lung. I am about 235, dunno for sure because I don't have a scale. Got back into this because I was tired of huffing and puffing on the stairs. Not even gone more than 100 feet of the pavement with the bike yet. Just riding the neighborhood streets.

My hour tonight got me on about a 4km loop near my house. And the limiting factor was not my endurance on Cardio. It was not the heat that got to me, but I was sweating, and I was Hydrated. Took about 2L of water with me and used about 2/3's of it on the ride. Yes I stopped to rest often, because my arse ached.

Okay so I need to get some padded shorts, that I know, and its in the plans. But I am not gonna let it stop me. I just don't want to get to the point where I avoid the riding because of it. So I am trying to be positive.

So, I am turning to you guys for suggestions. I have lowered the nose slightly to get the fore/aft feeling that I like the most, and took the post down a bit more to get more bend in my legs. The pain seems to be coming from the actual contact points on my pelvic bone. I know the padded shorts will make a difference but are there any other tricks I should look at? And I am not ready to give up on the stock saddle yet, it needs to be broken in, I know that much.

When I used to ride regularly, 30-40 K rides off road were a breeze. But I am not the same man as I was, and I know that.

So? Any tips for me?

Give it a couple weeks. The saddle's not the only thing that needs breaking in. Your sit bones need to get used to it too. Keep making adjustments and make sure your bits don't go numb. If after a couple weeks of regular riding your butt bones still hurt, get measured for a saddle. Most LBS' have the Specialized assometer that measures the distance between your sit bones. Then you can get a saddle that's the right width. That doesn't always help, but it can't hurt.

I just had to give it time and then "everything" got used to the saddle. I also find that sometimes I need to just stand up for a few seconds to keep the blood flowing through!!!!

I have a Giant FCR 2, so I'll probably be going through this again when I get a road bike in the spring. My neighbor was just talking about the @$$ometer as well!

It took me a week and a half for the butt pain to go away when I started riding. It also seemed like I was riding too far forward on the saddle, and sitting back further helped a lot.

Not sure I would lower your seat stem to get more bend in your legs. Not sure how much bend you had before making the adjustment but if you have too much bend you will hurt your knees. At the bottom of the pedal stroke I try to have no more than about 10 degrees of bend.

ASS-O-METER...!

only problem is I forgot my size...

As others have mentioned, it takes time for your body to adjust. When I started riding regularly about 2.5 years ago (commuting 5 miles each way) at first my legs and posterior were getting quite sore after the twice daily rides. At first the Spring time weather caused me to ride about every other day. That turned out to be good as it let my body recover a bit between rides. After a while the commute because easy and I'd go on longer rides. At 1st I'd hit a pain point about 10 miles into the ride. Over time that point got pushed out further and further. When I got my road bike I started to develop pain that go progressively worse. I swapped out the OEM Bontrager saddle and put on a Selle Royal Dardo. The Dardo was better, but on longer rides it still left me in pain. Eventually this past Spring I started looking at some alternatives. I first tried a Fi'zik. That had the same curtves shape that the Bontrager and caused immediate pressure on the privates... I didn't even ride it for more than two miles before it caused discomfort. It might be popular with the riders out there, but it was not for me. Eventually I bought a Brooks B17. I 1st put the books on my commuter so I could get it worked in with my twice daily 5 mile rides. After a few weeks I put the saddle on my road bike. I just finished a Metric centry on Sunday and I had ZERO discomfort on Monday getting back on the bike. For my not so tiny body the B17 works infinitely better than the narrow racing seats. Mybe the Brooks Imperial would have been a slightly better saddle for me, but so far the B17 has been much more comfortable than any other saddle on my road bike.

Happy riding,
André

I dropped it about an inch, maybe less. Was too extended at the bottom of the stroke. Now I have a very slight bend, one I am comfortable with. That along with a slight drop in the nose of the saddle to keep the "Boys" happy.

I'm not giving up. Not by a long shot!

Will take time, that I know, just want to make sure I cover all the bases. Can't wait for tonight, cooled off and I am ready for another ride. Think this time, it will be much better. At least from what I could tell after I adjusted it last night.

When i got my new trek, i went thru several saddle, height, bar posistion combos before i found a comfortable posistion. lean forward too far and your hands hurt, to far back and you sit bones get sore quick. Too high and you rock your hips and balance suffers, too low and your knees hurt. Take any tools necessary to adjust all these factors on a ride and change one thing at a time. this sometimes takes awhile, but is worth it.