klmmicro

Ow! Been working on the riding over the past week, putting in about a half hour a day. This is the first weekend ride and I decided to roll 20 miles. Success, but I found a weak link. The legs seem to be fine, as do the lungs and heart. It is the link between posterior and saddle that is the issue. The callouses and work hardening have all but vanished over the last year...

This will all come back in its time. Will have to stick with it. Easing back into it is sort of hard when the body remembers what it was able to do before injury put the bike on the rack.

Week 1 through 3:
Tuesday and Thursday for 30 minutes per day.
Saturday and Sunday for 1:30 split between.

Starting weight: 235. Success on week 1 so far!

Dirt Road

Good work! I got back into riding after doing not much of anything last year. I'm still having ups and downs with loving and hating the same saddles as I go. I resolve to try some padded bike shorts soon. Have you?

linnefaulk

Well done.

klmmicro

Thanks! I pulled the bibs out of storage so had padding...just not used to the saddle again is all.

bbeasley

Please keep us updated, I'm curious how long it takes you to get to your former fitness level.

MacNasty

That seems the hardest part to condition. Legs......ok, lungs......ok.......butt...not so much. It just takes time.

chriskmurray

Nice work! Getting comfortable on a bike saddle after a long time off is always tough but it will come back before you know it!

TrojanHorse

I TOTALLY slacked off at the end of last year from May through December... did some riding but really off my normal amount. I decided to do that strava challenge (Rapha 500) which is 500 km in 8 days. I made it but my ass was hamburger. Ow. I ended up buying a new saddle but I think the real issue was lack of readiness. And I had a nice saddle and nice bibs too, the issue was purely me.

Between that and a good month of January I was probably back to where I was after that 5 week period. Close enough, at any rate.

USMCRet

Give yourself six weeks and then watch the magic happen.

10 Wheels

Keep it fun and you will go far...

klmmicro

Thanks guys (and gals!) for the encouragement. It was tough being off the bike at first and I kept thinking of riding. After a while, I stopped thinking of riding. Now it is the opposite, but the habit should grow quickly! Will definitely keep posted as things come together. 6 weeks...6 weeks

laardvark

I'm also two weeks back riding after an 8 month "rest". One week on the trainer and one week on the road. Managed 70 miles this last week and definitely feeling my saddle. Hoping this gets better soon.

Cognitive

Just did my first 15 mile ride today, in humid weather. My rear end felt like it was used for target practice by Daenerys Targaryen's dragons... It recovered quickly but it is beyond silly that I had no problem doing it at 9mph, except for that little problem...

Being the engineer that I am, I'll try double underwear next time but it really feels great to put the effort. The trail is far from easy, Monon trail, entire Carmel segment, with several tunnels and bridges that are not very nice to beginner Clydes. Nice downhill on the way in, a bit of a slope on the way back.

Need to resolve the rear end situation quickly because the legs and cardiovascular system are doing fine.

klmmicro

Are you wearing cycling shorts? Bought a pair of Endura Humvee cycling shorts a few years ago. They are a two part system with an inner layer that is padded with a chamois and an outer shell with lots of pockets. The parts snap together so you can remove the inner part so that you have a cool pair of multi pocketed shorts for walking around. Put the liner in and it offers a pretty good padded layer for when riding.

The shell also fits over other padded cycling equipment, like bibs or regular Lycra shorts. Also, the chamois are designed to resist bunching and chafing. Same cannot be said for most "underwear".

RISKDR1

any time I have a layoff I experience that same "break in" period, and I am not talking about the saddle. Your body will adapt.

FIVE ONE SIX

i feel your pain. i'm 234 and i took 3 years off, so i started riding again, so over the last 6 weeks i've gradually worked myself up to rides between 30-45 miles at least once or twice a week. i'm in the same boat you're in, i feels great being in the saddle again and seeing results, except for the fact that on pretty much every ride my left sit bone gets sore. no broken skin, just sore. and i know the saddle's good for me, i've done 70+ mile rides at 205 pounds on it in the past, but since i was out of the saddle for so long the skin isn't used to it...

i'm going to start doing easy paced 30 minute spin rides this week, every day, just to see if i can build up my tolerance for it and burn some calories at the same time...

Cognitive

Well, the double layered Hanes didn't work quite as expected... Maybe I'll buy the 5 pack and wear all 5 at once Time for a trip to Big Box Sports for some decent cycling shorts...

Now, this begs the second question. How come my daughter (16, 115 lb) or wife (same age as me, but 135 lb) reported no rear end complaints riding a BSO with a $30 saddle? Is it simply a function of Clyde-dom, and the issue disappears after a certain weight???

DTSCDS

They probably have big, squishy seats. (I AM ONLY TALKING ABOUT THEIR BIKE SADDLES--THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT THEY ARE CARRYING BEHIND THEM ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS!)
They big squishy saddle will feel more 'plush' for a short time. Over a longer ride you will spend too much time squished down into its pillowy softness and it will cut off important blood flow. For serious riding, it's better to not have thickly padded saddle. You need to find that perfect saddle that fits your bone structure. It is a trial and error process.

FIVE ONE SIX

it has to do with a lot of things. less weight is obviously going to make a difference, but that doesn't mean that just because someone's lighter that they're not going to have the same problem, because they can also be doing something wrong that could cause the same problem. for example, if you're pedal stroke isn't smooth, than you're going to move around on the saddle and that could cause soreness. also, i'm guessing you're pretty upright on the saddle, and believe it or not putting your weight on the rear part of the sitbones is going to cause soreness. and the opposite holds true too, getting down on the hoods or in the drops (translation: aerodynamic) and putting your weight on the front part of your sitbones is more comfortable and will cause less discomfort. there could be a LOT of reasons why it happens to you and it's not happening to your wife and your daughter, but unfortunately that's how cycling is, every pedal stroke your body makes thousands of movement and muscle changes and if any of them are off you will pay the price...

and as far as the sit bone structure thing goes, having the right size saddle is very important, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all of your pain is going to go away if you find it. sure, it's a step in the right direction, but also have someone watch your pedal stroke and watch you ride to see if they notice anything of the ordinary...

linnefaulk

Even if you were the same size and weight, you would feel things differently. Young bottoms are firmer.

Cognitive

Well, my wife does the lean forward sitting approach on the BSO and reports serious back pain after 15 miles so... It is a smaller BSO than usual - pretend BMX - and I need to adjust the handlebars a bit.

I never thought about the lack of uniformity in my pedal stroke. One more thing to watch out for!