R_Z

Greetings. I finally hit one of my personal goals of riding 30 miles.



I have questions on two issues that would make the ride much more enjoyable.

1. My butt was killing me! I wear decent cycling shorts. I've had my seat adjusted every which way. It is now perfectly level and supposedly is positioned correctly. Yet, I'm finding myself standing up a lot to give my "bootay" a break during the ride. The saddle is the standard that came with the Madone 4.5. I know it's probably not the best, but short of buying saddles until I find one that will work, what are your thoughts?

2. I work on my posture and try to be light on my hands, but my palms really begin to hurt and I find my right hand goes numb on occasion. I wear gloves, I try to grab the bars lightly, but the palms kept hurting.

Any ideas on these issues? As it is, trying to hit my next goal of 40 miles would be tough to do with these two concerns.

But I did 30!!!!!! Whoooo hoooo!

snailsontour

Hi there, and congratulations on your 30!!!

I'm sorry but I've no advice to give, but I am interested in your questions (and hopefully some answers) as hubby and I are new to cycling - 3 weeks - and have just done our first 22 miler. (We've clocked up some 70 miles in total).

Well done you on 30 though - I'm so jealous

I too share your 'pain in the butt', and hubby also has the probs with tingling hand plus a bit of neck stiffness. Like you we have good quality padded shorts and gloves.

teachme

Congratulations! I too have just started cycling a couple months ago. 30 miles is my farthest so far. I have reached this plateau twice so far. In fact I did it for the second time this morning. I am riding a hack hybrid schwinn and am experiencing some of the same booty pain and hand numbness as you are. When I upgrade to a nice bike I am looking at the Madone line also. I don't know a lot about this sport but I think there will always be some level of discomfort on long rides.

PatW

Well, saddle fit is tricky. One our LBS' here has a little gadget that you sit on. It has gel that changes color with pressure. It yields a determination of where one's ischeal processes are and how far apart they are so one can get a saddle with the proper width. Your weight on the saddle is supposed to be supported by the ischeal processes of the pelvis. If the ischeal processes do not line up properly with the saddle the soft tissues end up taking part of the load. Soft tissues do not like long periods of weight bearing, as you can probably now attest.

Now soft saddles are have been sold as being "comfortable" but if a saddle fits properly, I think a hard saddle works better. A soft saddle lets the processes sink into the saddle which makes you soft tissues take up part of the load. But a poorly fitting soft saddle might be more comfortable than a poorly fitting hard saddle.

As to the hands, moving your hands around in different positions helps. I do not know if you have a flat handlebar or a drop handlebar. The drop handlebars yield more hand positions which is help. Also having cushioned handlebar tape can help.

kenji666

Have you had a professional bike fit done with this bike?

BHOFM

A lot of this is normal to starting out. It takes time and miles.

I started a year ago and it damn near killed me, every thing hurt
all the time, but;; No pun!

I ride every day, every day..

This morning I left the house before 5, home just before 9,
80.2 miles in just under five hours. Two short stops. Showed
16.8 average. Just a bit of numbness in the hands late in the
ride. Let my arm hang down and it went away. No seat issues
at all. Ate some raisins, drank about fifty oz's water.

Just a walk in the park.

"91 Trek Mulit Track, Zefal gel seat. 85psi in 700cX35's!

R_Z

Yes I was fitted at the LBS where I bought the bike. They have a computer setup with cameras shooting different angles. After 1 month, I brought it back for another fitting/adjustment. We even worked on my bending properly at the hips without the rounded back. They thought that I was putting too much weight on my hands. Another thing, they tilted my drop bars up. I wonder if that is putting undo pressure on my palms. Who knows!

OldsCOOL

Having been where you are now (just 2mos ago) I can say one thing: saddle time.

Keep riding and keep pushing yourself and the pain at thirty will become the pain at 40, 50, 60, 70, 80.......

It'll become more enjoyable for sure.

Ridinmurray

Congrats to the new riders & on the 30 miler. I started 1.5 years ago & went for a hilly 50 about 500 miles in. It just takes time & once your LBS sets up your bike, give it & honest try & then make minor adjustments as you feel it necessary, only minor & give it another try for a while. When adjusting seat heights you should measure from the crank to the seat & record the height so you can return to where you were if it's worse than before. As far as Butt pain goes, time will help but you need a saddle to fit your sit bones as was noted above. Then try some "Butt Butter" it helped me. It's a skin lube so to speak, it will help inflammation in all the right places.

John_V 

I have only been riding for about a year and a half and so far this year I have ridden around 4,500 miles between both of my bikes. I do a lot of 50 and 100K + rides and thanks to the fitting I got, I don't have any of these problems any more. I take it you did the Retul computerized fitting? That is the same fitting that I had and I am just tickled to death with it. You should have more than two fittings on the bike. It took me 4 sittings and three months of riding before I was done. The fitter that I had is Retul certified and is also a semi-pro racer. Several things he pointed out to me, since I had the same issues you are having, is for the arms and hands going numb or hurting is to keep the shoulders as relaxed as possible. Don't shrug your shoulders when you ride as that is a sign that you are stiff arming the handlebars. Try keeping your hands on the bars as if you are going to shift gears, thumbs around the bottom of the hood and fingers on the shift lever (assuming you are on a road bike with drop bars). This position will help keep the shoulder down and more relaxed. Occasionally, you should move them around if your hand is starting to go numb. What I do is to think of a song and move my fingers to the beat which helps get circulation in the hands.

As for the saddle sore, I don't know that changing the saddle position (after it was set by the fitter) will help too much. In fact it will mess up your fit. I can tell you what worked for me, although it may do nothing for your situation. First thing is that I broke the rules when wearing riding shorts. The rule is not to wear anything between the shorts and your tush. My tush kept sticking to the darn shorts and I was miserable. On rides over 40 miles, I use skin lotion or baby powder and put it between my legs and on my tush. I also wear UnderArmour mesh, boxer style, underliner shorts between my tush and my riding pants. Now, if anything is going to stick to my tush, it's the underliner shorts. But it does prevent the chaffing that I was getting without them. I also invested in some really good riding shorts. The two pair that I had were 6 panel shorts by two different manufactures. These are fine for rides between 25 and 30 miles but after that they became useless. I got a pair of 8 panel shorts that cost considerably more than the two I had and the comfort of the more expensive shorts made a whole world of difference. Since doing this, at the end of my rides, I feel like I could get back on and continue doing some more.

BluesDawg

Congrats on the milestone.

Sometimes minor adjustments to saddle tilt and fwd/aft positioning can make a big difference in butt and hand comfort on the bike. But the most likely answer can be found in my sig below.

stapfam

Saddle time helps along with saddle fit.

But Butt ache- It can take time to learn how to set up a saddle for you and I would first start with the saddle make and type. Get thee to a shop that has a Buttometer. It is a firm foam pad that will measure the distance the Sit Bones are apart and will give you the width of saddle you should require. Then look at the saddles. The "Experienced" here will tell you to go for a firm saddle and probably with the cutout. Make is unimportant but certain saddles do have a good reputation. Brooks is one- and only one. Flite-Fizic and San Marco are amongst the others. I do not personally have much faith in Own Brand saddles but others will say different. I like to have a firm base with just a bit of cushioning over the base. That is a personal choice and comes with "MY" experience and the same will go for every rider and every make of saddle

Once the saddle position is set up on height and fore and aft- then the thing to think of is tilt. You have to get the sitbones in the right spot on the saddle and that is back on the wings of the saddle. Then the tilt. Sit on the saddle with hands in the normal riding position on the bars and see if you can feel the saddle on the tender underparts. If you can- tilt the nose down till you just rest on these parts. Go and ride. If can still feel the saddle- them more tilt down. If your concern is that you are sliding forward then raise the nose a bit. And go ride and adjust and ride and adjust till it gets somewhere near right. Then go and ride.

It can take a while to get the saddle position rightand will be different for different riders.

But the best comfort will come from getting saddle time in and hardening the butt. (That is if you don't have enough time in yet)

steve0257

When the LBS did the fitting was it a performance or comfort fitting? Many of the guidelines I find for fitting are based on an experienced cyclist who is mainly concerned about performance. Someone who is just starting out may want a more upright position to start out with, gradually adjusting the fit towards a more aggressive position as they gain experience and fitness. For the saddle, It's not really common to be straddling something like a bicycle saddle so it takes time to get used to it.

Banded Krait

R_Z and teachme,

I, too, am a new rider and am having some of the same issues with my hands as you are. The salesman at my LBS who sold me my bike said that my cycling fitness would improve with time, so don't make any hasty adjustments at the beginning. I am noticing that I can ride further each week before the pain starts in my hands and neck.

As I ride, I keep repeating the phrase, "Good form" to myself as a constant reminder to maintain good form. For me that means concentrating on keeping my back straight. As I get stronger, I can maintain good form longer, keeping the weight off my hands and postponing the numbness.

That said, I still might raise my handlebars or get a stem with a slight up-angle. However, if I do this at all, it will be at the end of this cycling season after I've given myself enough time to become reasonably fit.

10 Wheels

Get a strong pair of hand grips and practice holding them closed for 30 seconds.

R_Z

Thanks one and all for the sound advice. I don't get the luxury of riding more than 2 - 3 times a week. And longer rides are done on the weekend. Running your own company keeps one rather busy (even though my friends swear I don't get up till 10am! ). Before I make any drastic changes, I'll continue to ride and see if my rear end doesn't get accustomed to the ride. I will say, when researching my Madone, the one consistent negative issue was the saddle. In time, that might be the biggest change I make if I don't find "butt happiness" by the end of the summer.

Again, thanks for the great replies.

stapfam

As I said previously-I am not keen on OM saddles. Other members do jump on me but I am not a Trek fan. That is down to my experience with a lot of parts that are branded "Bontrager" They are the OM part of trek and are not the best. Some riders can get on with the Bontrager saddles but they are not numerous. Same will go for OM specialised- The low end Fizics that are fitted to Giants and the worst I have found are the "Coda" saddles fitted to Cannondales. Never found anyone that can use those.

So while I am waiting to get "Flamed"- look at some of the better saddles that are around- You and your butt will thank me.

gcottay

Two things:

First, congrats on doing 30 miles. I think that's about the distance where a person starts getting hooked on cycling for life.

Second, the combination of saddle and hand issues has led many of us to ride recumbents. Even if you do not prove to be one of the many riders who are happy riding a more conventional diamond-frame bike there's no need at all to give up on cycling.

Midlo Rider

One thing that helped me with the wrist problem was to get weight lifter gloves instead of cycle gloves. Used these for a long time until my wrists got used to the ride. Then I switched to the lighter cycle gloves. Big difference as I could go from riding 10-12 miles to over 20 before any real strain on the wrists. Now I can go much longer without the wrist pain coming on. This was after many adjustments to the bike to get it where I felt good on it. With the seat I was told to give it several hundred miles of break in before doing anything with it. I am still using the same seat and hardly notice it at all anymore. Your body will adjust with time. Constant changes to the set up do not allow your body to adjust to the new setting. Give each setting at least 200 miles or so to see if it works. Then try something else. Good luck on your riding.

KillerBeagle

If you do separate exercises for core strength, such as situps and planks, that will help you to maintain your straighter back, which should help reduce the weight on your hands. Again it takes time - I've been working on building core strength for months and I'm only part-way there.

NOS88

Wooo Hooo is right. Congrats on reaching the milestone. Lot's of good advice above. I will say, that I've never been a fan of any Bontrager saddle. So, maybe see if you can borrow a different saddle from a friend and try it so you have something from which to make a comparison.

rumrunn6

raise the bars. most bikes are set up for racing but most people ride on the hoods and don't race.

getting out of the saddle is good for you.

keep riding

berner

Congratulations and well done. Over time you will slowly find more comfort as your body adapts to riding. I have, after 4000 miles, found two saddles I can live with. The last one as of several seeks and some modifications (I love to tinker with gear) seems to be the best one yet. The previous one had been ridden 60 miles with moderate comfort but the hunt for even more comfort is always on.

I furthermore have some numbness in the right hand for which I'm continually messing with handlebar position and saddle set back. After 4000 miles, I feel this situation is getting better also. With the near constant adjusting I found it helpful to put a mark on the seat post and bar from a white-out pen so that there was a record of the original position if the new one did not work out.

Lastly, there are many very experienced people here who really know what they are talking about. I would pay careful attention to the advice they offer. I could not have attempted riding 60 miles (maybe even 100 miles by September) without that that level of advice.

Beach Comber

I tossed my stock Trek saddle within a few weeks of purchasing the bike. On a recommendation, I tried the Selle Italia SLC. WOW! What a difference. No more agony on long rides.

Don't be afraid to spend a few $$ on your butt!

OldsCOOL

I'm still riding on an ages old Trek System 1 seat