northeaster

I'm a 57 year old male who rides my bicycle everywhere I go (haven't owned a car for years). I never wear bike shorts, just regular shorts with cotton boxers underneath. Most of the time this doesn't bother me at all. You would think that riding every day would get my crotch area used to the idea of being on a saddle, and usually I have no problems. But when I go touring - that's when the problems start. Anytime I ride more than, say, 40 miles a day, I get this red, painful chafing in those crease-like areas right at the top of my inner thighs. This obviously makes it difficult to climb back on the bike the next day and repeat the process. So my question is whether there's any way to avoid this pain. Do any of you tour in "regular clothes" - ie, without bike shorts? Do those products like Chamois Butter help? Or is a certain amount of pain and chafing just a basic part of the touring experience?
Thanks for any advice you can give me.

B. Carfree

People don't wear cycling shorts to look cool or as a fashion statement. They wear them because they are functional for the activity of riding a bike, especially when one is putting in long days in the saddle. Your clothing choice appears to not be functioning for you. I think a change is in order.

Simon Cowbell

I've had good results with Body Glide. Started using it for toe and heel blisters in hiking boots, but IME it works wonders for any clothing-related chafing.

10 Wheels

Bike shorts..No underwear is what you need.

skilsaw

Bike shorts, or not, frequent washing of shorts with a thorough rinse is necessary.
Bike shorts are best.

Cyclebum

Agree that bike shorts are, for most, essential clothing for a DF being ridden for hours daily. Good butt salve may also be in order. I've used sunscreen with success.

fietsbob

No, I just wear regular stuff when local transportation is my Purpose...

On Bike Tours I have a clean pair of bike shorts on every morning, and to meet that goal I bring 3 pair.


+ I wash those skin areas with a surgeon's soap and have neosporin for topical applications,
when hot spot infections occur.

Its the skin bacteria in the pores that become the problem.

my last tour was March through most of November , and I had no uncontrollable issues ..

Big Lew

Get rid of the cotton underwear. Most riders cycling distances daily wear cycling shorts without underwear, but if you must, get the non-cotton 'wick-away' type. Cotton retains moisture which breeds bacteria, and as "fietsbob" says, bacteria in the pores cause the problem. Also the seams in the wet cotton underwear will grind into your skin giving bacteria a great environment to multiply.

bktourer1

Try Paceline "Chamois Cream" and wash yourself thoroughly and don't use cotton briefs.

Tourist in MSN

I wear bike shorts but I do wear underwear with them. For touring where I am minimizing how much stuff I carry, I use ExOfficio underwear and carry a total of three pair, it dries fast.

I find that my saddle works best if I have it pointing a few degrees to the left instead of straight ahead. You might have to experiment with your saddle setup.

Do you need a new saddle, perhaps narrower? As far as leather saddles go, a Brooks B17 is popular with others on this forum, but I personally find that the B17 is too wide for me, I would get chaffing sores if I used a B17 on a long day.

sstorkel

I tour in bike shorts

I've never needed these products. If you're wearing cotton boxers, I would think that Chamois Butter would make a huge mess.

If you're wearing cotton boxers? IMHO, yes.

mr645

you need bike short. There is a reason everyone wears them. Chamois butter of other lubricant also help some, but get rid of the regular shorts and cotton briefs, the friction is what is killing you

Notgrownup

Maybe some slider shorts, baseball shorts or even tight boxer briefs like under armour...

Rootman

Like the rest - bike shorts. I am too modest to wear them alone so I slip a pair of cargo shorts on over them, the seam in the crotch negates a tiny bit of the shorts benefits but they still provide comfort and support and padding.

kwmcd

Why not try something like this instead of underwear. You can wear them as underwear and wear your street clothes over them. The chamois is even removable
https://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Izumi-Me...f=pd_sim_sg_26

There are also plenty of cycling bottoms with a built in and removable chamois that are not tight bike shorts. like this for example
https://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Izumi-La...ds=bike+shorts

These are the kinds of things I try to wear when going on long rides or simply commuting. Its a lot nicer to stop for lunch or go shopping or hike a trail you found with these kinds of clothes than your typical bike shorts

Rwc5830

I use good cycling shorts, no underwear and a generic version of aquaphor...can get it at Walmart or Walgreens. The non-generic is fine, just more expensive.

Used to use some of the cycling creams also. My dermatologist who used to cycle a lot recommended the aquaphor after I got a bad case of jock itch last year.

Works well for me, I ride around 650 miles/month.

It's hot and humid year round where I ride.

lanahk

Rootman, consider mountain bike shorts if you don't want to go full MAMIL (Middle-Aged Man In Lycra). They are padded, work well on a bike, and won't make you feel self-conscious. But if you are going on a long ride, just get the bike shorts.

Every now and then I will wear the lycra shorts on my commute. One day when I was getting ready to go home, I came out of my office in my shorts when a female coworker was coming down the hall. She looked directly at my crotch. I had to remind her that my eyes were a couple of feet up from there. Haven't felt self-conscious about wearing them since.

bradtx

Rwc5830, I'll PM you before my next home town visit.

northeaster, Buy some cycling shorts whether road or mountain style. The lycra takes the chafing one layer away from the skin.

Brad

shipwreck

Around town I just wear my boxer briefs(with something over them of course)
I ride about ten to fifteen miles to get errands done. Enough so that I wear the cotton underwear out so it looks like I am wearing really old ratty underwear a lot of the time.
For anything over twenty miles, or on tour I wear cycling shorts.
I just got some from these guys, https://www.aerotechdesigns.com/roadbikeshorts.html I have to say that they are pretty good, follow the size charts. Throwing my PI shorts to the back of the drawer as they do seem to be really nice, as good or better than anything I have ever bought.

One thing, I got a couple different styles cause experience has taught me that it is good to run a different style of pad every day to help prevent one style rubbing the same spot day after day. I don't use creams, maybe they would make that moot.

stevepusser

Another voice in the chorus here: For commuting and anything under 15-20 mi. in a day, basketball shorts with synthetic boxers underneath work fine here. For touring, it's got to be the real bike shorts. If you can expect warm, dry weather, you can get by with just one pair---I had planned to bring two pair on a nine day summer trip in the Sierra, but forgot one somehow. I did get by with just the one pair simply by washing it every night, either in the shower or by hand in cool water and dish soap, and it would be dry by the morning or shortly after the sun came up. The same with the bike jerseys, too.

That's what made me cringe when I saw what these guys decided to bring on the PCT bike route: https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/p...id=338102&v=2W

Plus a lot of food they had laying around, plus camp chairs---hey, there's room in four panniers plus a BOB, isn't there?

Needless to say, if you read more of the journal, so far there's been a lot of misery on the hills, not to mention loads of hitchhiking....

Notgrownup

I read the whole thing...That is ballsy but good on them...I am not ready to do anything like this but it's adventurous/....My wife's idea of roughing it is Motel 6....

Big Lew

Shorts aren't that heavy, so I always tour with a total of three. (I could get by with two) It depends on where you're touring. Most of my touring is up north in cool/cold climate, so unless you try drying them over a fire, a washed pair won't dry by morning if you're camping. I wrap the washed shorts in a dry towel before leaving the next morning and they are dry to wear by next morning.

Notgrownup

Get a flagpole for the bike and let them wave...they dry quiclky...

Big Lew

Hanging them out in the breeze works well...if it's not raining, snowing, or below zero...

stevepusser

Well, I'm curious to see if they get stronger. What they've encountered so far are speed bumps compared to what's ahead in the southern Sierra and Socal's ranges, depending on if they stick to the ACA route. Of course, no hill is too tough to hitchhike up.