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Going to start riding hard again this year, any suggestions

Old 03-16-11, 05:05 PM
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Going to start riding hard again this year, any suggestions

Well I am planning on starting to ride hard again this year like I used to when I was 18. I used to ride about 100-150miles a week and weighed about 140-150lbs and then I got my drivers license and that all went down the toilet. I am now 26 and weigh 190lbs. I just bought a new giant mountain bike last year and started riding back and forth to work about a 15mile ride each way. I was getting pretty tired but liked it. The worst part was I got a serious pain between my legs from sitting on my seat and it made it hard to ride because of the pain. I tried different seats and this one is the best for me that I have now. Anyone have a suggestion for this problem. Also any suggestions and good food to eat for riding and losing a few pounds. Also any exercises to do to get me ready for the upcoming riding season.

Thanks,
Chris
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Old 03-17-11, 03:09 AM
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Make sure your bicycle fits. As as for exercises to get ready for the upcoming season ... try ... cycling!
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Old 03-19-11, 10:20 PM
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The worst thing is that "pain between your legs." Do not let that continue! No, no, no. The way to fix it is to go to your local bike shop and tell them about it. Bike shops will usually let you try saddles and bring them back if they don't work. Saddles are a very individual thing. No one can recommend a particular saddle for someone else. That said, the Specialized series of saddles work for a lot of people. Terry Fly saddles are much used.

For the rest of it, just ride like you've been doing. 30 miles per day is quite a bit. You may need to eat a little something with carbohydrate and protein in it after each ride. Flavored yogurt is good. So is chocoalate milk. Not a lot, just a cup or glass. Vegetables are the standard good food for riding and weight loss.
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Old 03-21-11, 04:36 AM
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Make sure that your seat really is right.

Put slicks on the bike to improve road handling.

Don't be scared to give yourself rest days, especially at first.

If pain returns, have your bike fit checked. A common error is to have the saddle too low. If your store won't help then post pictures of you riding the bike here.

Food: follow the standard diet advice that everyone should. Do NOT drink non-diet sodas - they're loaded with fructose, which will mess up your metabolism. Eat as little processed food, especially that containing HCFS, as you can. Avoid fruit juice too, but eat fruit (the roughage in unjuiced fruit makes the fructose safe.) Eat wholemeal pasta and bread, baked and boiled potatoes, chicken, lean red meat. Eat oily fish at least twice a week.
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Old 03-21-11, 05:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Machka
Make sure your bicycle fits. As as for exercises to get ready for the upcoming season ... try ... cycling!
+1. Train hard on a bad fit and pay like I did. 3 months of recovery.
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Old 03-28-11, 05:16 AM
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Thanks for your input everyone. I am just waiting on my new shoes to come and my shock seat post (and the warm weather here in ontario) and i'm going to start riding again. I'm going to talk to the guys at my bike shop to. Oh ya and i'm waiting on my new stem, I did the bike fit calculator I found a link to on here and it seemed everything was basically good on my bike except I had a 50mm stem and it said I should have had a 100-110 mm stem, so I have a 110mm on it's way.When I do start riding i'm also going to try changing the angle around on my seat to and see if it helps at all. I will keep in touch as I start riding and see if I can get this figured out myself and with your help.

Thanks again
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Old 03-28-11, 04:12 PM
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Originally Posted by kustom_katz
Thanks for your input everyone. I am just waiting on my new shoes to come and my shock seat post (and the warm weather here in ontario) and i'm going to start riding again. I'm going to talk to the guys at my bike shop to. Oh ya and i'm waiting on my new stem, I did the bike fit calculator I found a link to on here and it seemed everything was basically good on my bike except I had a 50mm stem and it said I should have had a 100-110 mm stem, so I have a 110mm on it's way.When I do start riding i'm also going to try changing the angle around on my seat to and see if it helps at all. I will keep in touch as I start riding and see if I can get this figured out myself and with your help.

Thanks again
Are you sure that you didn't use a fit calculator for a road bike? I.e. a road RACING bike with drop bars?
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Old 03-29-11, 05:23 PM
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Originally Posted by kustom_katz
Well I am planning on starting to ride hard again this year like I used to when I was 18. I used to ride about 100-150miles a week and weighed about 140-150lbs and then I got my drivers license and that all went down the toilet. I am now 26 and weigh 190lbs. I just bought a new giant mountain bike last year and started riding back and forth to work about a 15mile ride each way. I was getting pretty tired but liked it. The worst part was I got a serious pain between my legs from sitting on my seat and it made it hard to ride because of the pain. I tried different seats and this one is the best for me that I have now. Anyone have a suggestion for this problem. Also any suggestions and good food to eat for riding and losing a few pounds. Also any exercises to do to get me ready for the upcoming riding season.

Thanks,
Chris
assos embrocation
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Old 03-29-11, 07:23 PM
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MTB's are good for offroad and junk roads. I'd suggest puting the money into a used but decent older road bike for riding more road miles.

Just an idea.
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Old 03-29-11, 09:49 PM
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Originally Posted by meanwhile
Are you sure that you didn't use a fit calculator for a road bike? I.e. a road RACING bike with drop bars?
No, when I did the calculator the very first option was for the bike you road. I believe they were road, MTB and MTB racing. Also when I was riding last year, my arm and wrists would get soar, like I wanted to stretch out more. If I would ease up and rest my wrists on top of my bars it would feel better. I remember when I used to ride everyday big miles, my MTB did have a much longer stem on it. Bit I guess I will see when it arrives.

Originally Posted by Chini563
assos embrocation
???? What the heck does that mean?

Originally Posted by treebound
MTB's are good for offroad and junk roads. I'd suggest puting the money into a used but decent older road bike for riding more road miles.

Just an idea.
Well I used to always ride MTB's awhile ago basically everyday about 40 miles a day. I bought 2 road bikes and couldn't get comfortable on ether of them and sold them. So I find I am more comfortable on a MTB myself. So this is why I am getting my MTB ready for riding this summer. Just have to get a few thing figured out to get the discomfort turned comfortable for the long hall. My parts are trickling in now and this week is finally hitting above 0*C. So I will hopefully be getting it all figured out.

Any other help or suggestions are appreciated.
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Old 03-29-11, 09:56 PM
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Originally Posted by meanwhile
Are you sure that you didn't use a fit calculator for a road bike? I.e. a road RACING bike with drop bars?
I found the site again it options for sizing were road, mountain or triathlon.
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Old 03-29-11, 10:18 PM
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Fair enough.

The embrocation comment might be a suggestion to use some chamois butter in your cycling shorts. If not then +1 to what you said.
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Old 03-30-11, 05:05 AM
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With that being I have never wore biking shorts when I have rode before. The soreness I get is not like a chaffing but more sore in like my bones were I sit on my saddle. This is why I thought of getting a suspension seat post since I never had this problem before with my full suspension bike I used to ride.
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Old 03-30-11, 07:42 AM
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There are methods to get approximate measurements for your sit bones (or whatever the proper terminology is). Basically sit on a stack of newspapers with a wet behind, then stand up and measure where the rough centers of the two main indentations are. This is what you want supported by your saddle.

Some saddles are wider, some have longer noses, some have different contours, any of which will affect comfort. If you know what your comfortable bike had for a saddle then you could find something similar.

As to the suspension seatpost, if I get a bike with one of those on it I usually swap it out for a non-susp. post. Too much bounce. Even on the MTB I've got set up as a commuter and grocery getter I've got a rigid seatpost. And on that bike I changed the stems and handlebars at least a dozen times with various combinations of bar/stem/shifters until I got it dialed in to where I find it comfortable. It currently has Serfas Drifter tires on it (26x1.25" road tread) but I'll be putting some 26x1.5" road tires on it this season to better handle softer/rougher roads. Going to use it as a fishing bike.

Last edited by treebound; 03-30-11 at 07:47 AM.
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Old 03-30-11, 01:20 PM
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Originally Posted by treebound
There are methods to get approximate measurements for your sit bones (or whatever the proper terminology is). Basically sit on a stack of newspapers with a wet behind, then stand up and measure where the rough centers of the two main indentations are. This is what you want supported by your saddle.

Some saddles are wider, some have longer noses, some have different contours, any of which will affect comfort. If you know what your comfortable bike had for a saddle then you could find something similar.

As to the suspension seatpost, if I get a bike with one of those on it I usually swap it out for a non-susp. post. Too much bounce. Even on the MTB I've got set up as a commuter and grocery getter I've got a rigid seatpost. And on that bike I changed the stems and handlebars at least a dozen times with various combinations of bar/stem/shifters until I got it dialed in to where I find it comfortable. It currently has Serfas Drifter tires on it (26x1.25" road tread) but I'll be putting some 26x1.5" road tires on it this season to better handle softer/rougher roads. Going to use it as a fishing bike.
so basically when I sit on the paper I'm looking for the indentation of where the bones are not so much your buns. Then you want a saddle that will support where those bones are or where they aren't? I'm sort of thinking I the your bones were right on the seat it would cause pain no? Or am I thinkng backwards. The pain I'm getting is like right between my legs just back from my sack. There like 2 bones just on eathier side there and that's basically where the pain consists.
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Old 03-30-11, 03:53 PM
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Originally Posted by kustom_katz
No, when I did the calculator the very first option was for the bike you road. I believe they were road, MTB and MTB racing. Also when I was riding last year, my arm and wrists would get soar, like I wanted to stretch out more. If I would ease up and rest my wrists on top of my bars it would feel better. I remember when I used to ride everyday big miles, my MTB did have a much longer stem on it. Bit I guess I will see when it arrives.



???? What the heck does that mean?

" I got a serious pain between my legs from sitting on my seat and it made it hard to ride because of the pain"


Assos is a brand of cycling apparel that has a cream for the chamois in bike shorts that help!!! good luck OP




Well I used to always ride MTB's awhile ago basically everyday about 40 miles a day. I bought 2 road bikes and couldn't get comfortable on ether of them and sold them. So I find I am more comfortable on a MTB myself. So this is why I am getting my MTB ready for riding this summer. Just have to get a few thing figured out to get the discomfort turned comfortable for the long hall. My parts are trickling in now and this week is finally hitting above 0*C. So I will hopefully be getting it all figured out.

Any other help or suggestions are appreciated.
//
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Old 03-30-11, 08:02 PM
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Forgive me if this reads crude (Mods feel free to edit or purge):

If the pain is between your sack and your gas port then look for a saddle with a cutout or relief in that area. Look at the Brooks site for their Imperial saddle for an example.

If the pain is lateral or behind the stinky chocolate factory then, yes, support those bones, right on those bones, or find a saddle that graces your bones like a hammock. I used to have a well broken in Brooks B17 that was the definition of support and comfort melded into one.

But I'm no expert, and this could have been better worded, but sometimes a grape is a grape.
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Old 03-30-11, 08:42 PM
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Ok, I just searched pictures of the human skeleton and it shows perfectly where I'm
talking about. If you look at the bottom of the pelvis right in the center where itstarts to
come down just off center, that's where it is. My saddle does have the pressure hole in it but that is not where my problem seems to be. Now I'm thinking about it and looking at the picture, I wonder if the point part of
my saddle is to wide maybe?!?! That is sort of the idea I'm getting. Whether that is my problem or not it
makes sense on how I feel.
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Old 03-30-11, 08:55 PM
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I just found the saddle I used to have. It was a specialized body geom. They call it vintage everywhere but it was like 10-12 years ago I had bought it. I'm guessing I probly won't find one at and store.
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