Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - You have a saddle sore and you still have to ride

Hi

I like to take weeklong trips and will get the occaisonal saddle sore.

I know how to treat it (tons of posts on that subject) and there's no substitute for rest, when you can.

If you need to ride the next day or so, what is the best way to bandage or cover it up to get you through the remaining days?

Wow tough one. The best solution I have come up with is to build up a lot of bandage around it, leaving a hole for the sore, a lot like a corn pad on your foot or something like that. I have a prosthetic leg and get them on the stump sometimes, and unless I want to go around on crutches I have to find some solution.
As far as "how to build up the bandage" you just have to get creative. Neoprene cut to fit and duct taped on seems to work pretty good for butt stuff. Just be careful taking it off.
Ultimately there really isn't any perfect solution, it will still hurt, you just won't be aggravating it quite so much.
I did the last 30 miles of a century once standing up the whole way because of not being used to the saddle yet (sit bones gone soft from a few months of not riding and riding a racy saddle)

Bag Balm is very good for saddle sores, all kinds of abrasions really..,. Also, if its really tender, you could try some Mole Skin (sp?) from Dr. Schols I believe. Its a rectangular sheet of a kind of padded dense felt on sticky back paper. You cut out a piece big enough to overlap the sore spot, then cut out the center area, that would go over the sore.

So,..you have a built up rim around the sore that will take most of the pressure and rubbing away from the abrasion/saddle sore .

ride through it. You might want to ask this in the touring forum.

On the 600k I rode this past weekend, I got saddle sores the first day, as expected. I started noticing them at about 150 miles, and they were pretty well developed at the overnight control at 240 miles. I took a shower, and cleaned them, trying to stifle the screams so that the people that were sleeping wouldn't awake. Before I went to sleep I put triple antibiotic ointment on them. I woke up 2 hours later, and they were much better. They were itching a little all day, but no significant pain. When I got off the bike after 600k, they were itching like crazy so I ran to the shower. Everything seems to have resolved itself now, 3 days later.

I've always found that saddle sores were pretty much self-healing given adequate hygiene. On a tour, that might be a problem, but on a typical long distance ride you can have enough shorts along to have a clean pair every day.

If there is any fluid - don't put up with it. Heat up the area with really hot water/cloth - grab affected tissues and prick all the area with pin until you drain it as much as possible. Clean up with antiseptic and put on big band aid with tape over it. Stand more when you ride.

Another method for staying in the saddle in spite of saddle sores. Ride wearing two bike shorts. The inner one is worn inside-out.

I forgot to mention shifting up a gear if your knees can stand it. It takes just a slight amount of weight off your sitbones. That got me through a rough patch last year on a 600k ride.

I concur that this is more for touring than LD. Only the most epic LD events go for a week straight.

The real key is to avoid developing the sores to begin with. Keep in mind that you get saddle sores from a combination of chafing and bacteria. So I'd do the following:

• start using bag balm or bodyglide
• consider replacing your shorts; if you've had them for a long time, you may not be able to ever get them clean enough, or they may not be working for you
• get ridiculously scrupulous about keeping yourself clean
• shower as quickly as possible after the day's ride
• do not wear your bike shorts a minute more than is necessary; change into something clean as soon as possible

Diaper rash cream is great. On a 1200k last summer I developed a rash around the second day that I think was a recurrence of what I think was a reaction to some detergent or something. Not sure, except that it wasn't really like any saddle sores I've ever had. I'd been using bag balm like always. Anyway, I bought some diaper cream and started applying that instead, and the sores/rash/whatever pretty much completely went away, even though I was still riding, it kept raining, and I only changed my shorts once during the ride.

Before applying moleskin or duct tape, be sure to shave that area! 155037

+11ty to bag balm. I am VERY susceptible to saddle sores (I can get them on a 4 mile ride while wearing bibs) yet a thin coating of bag balm takes care of all that.

Another method for staying in the saddle in spite of saddle sores. Ride wearing two bike shorts. The inner one is worn inside-out.

Lon Haldeman taught me that trick 25 years ago. It's really good when you have to ride in the rain.

In addition to the other suggestions put vitamin E directly on it. Break open the capsule and put the oil that comes out on the sore. It will heal much faster. Of course make sure you also use the triple antibiotic or bag balm or whatever.

I did a solo ride from St. Louis to Columbus Ohio last summer. 500 miles in 4 days.

Because I'm an idiot I had just switched out saddles for something new (and racier). Did the ride on a Tarmac which is more suited for crits and worst of all I wore a camelback that weighed about 50 pounds fully loaded (no panniers, rack, or handlebar bags for me!).

Well, the extra 50 pounds of crap pushing down onto my saddle gave me hoooooooorrible sores. I spent the better part of the last 300 miles just bleeding down my legs (even after dumping most of weight I was carrying). Every place I stopped I would clean the blood out of my socks. It was the worst.

The last two days I spent as much time as possible up out of the saddle doing the whole push-push-(tuck)coast, push-push-(tuck)coast.

I use a low tack medical (Spider-Tech)tape directly over the affected area, wear some unpaded compression shorts and topped with bibbs.

I am a Obsessive Compulsive long distance biker and do not like saddle sores.
My solution?
Shower, dry well and use anti biotic cream on that area. I use no padded shorts. I use Hydro Dry Under Armor Shorts. They look like bike shorts but are not.
I was out of them and used my PI bike shorts on a recent 100 mile tour.
Saddle sores!

Thanks to an "overly helpful" crew member who moved my seat I ended up with a saddle sore on day one of RAAM. I used Lanocane as a pain killer (works great) and Udder Butter. Keeping clean and changing shorts is required. It actually healed up pretty good until day five when I came unclipped and landed on the seat. Tore it wide open...not a pretty sight. Anyway, if you take care of it properly with some cream and a painkiller you can continue a ride/race with a saddle sore.

this thread borders on the verge of TMI

I do most of my riding on the hoods. A bike shop changed my saddle and I forgot to check it before starting to ride--saddle sore after 100 miles.

Correcting the saddle position and then shifting up from my usual gears and staying in the drops (and standing as much as possible) helped me this weekend on a 600K.

Do you know how hard it is for a most-of-the-time recumbent rider to stay quiet during a thread like this?

I will not comment... I will not comment...

Do you know how hard it is for a most-of-the-time recumbent rider to stay quiet during a thread like this?

No, because you're so far back on the hill that we can't hear you anyway.

No, because you're so far back on the hill that we can't hear you anyway.

Ahh yes, good one. Hadn't heard that before.

The scenario the OP mentions is precisely why I started my slow switch over to 'bents. A raging sore that refused to heal quickly a week before a 3 week tour I had been planning with friends for quite a long time was the trigger. The sore healed during the tour and without hurting me at all and I haven't had a sore since then. Going on 3 years and 15,000 miles since then. Before the 'bent I probably would, on average, get a saddle sore 2 or 3 times a season. Never fun, but like everyone, I'd deal with them.

Getting on topic, finally, I actually used to take foam beer can cozies and cut out a donut shaped piece, place the center hole over the sore, and then tape it up (with some neosporin put on top of the sore prior to the tape going on). This would keep pressure off the sore and allow for semi-comfortable riding. Without the use of painkillers.