Hi all,

I am new to cycling but my husband is not. He recently bought a tandem and has been surprised by my enthusiastic participation in this new activity. Now the reason I'm posting. After quite a few miles my legs were fine but a few other issue that had me getting off the bike with some urgency was a problem. We recently changed my saddle to a Brooks B67s. I love it and my knee has been fine but my leg hasn't. I am having pain and tightness on the muscles on back of my left thigh. There is a spot near my sit bones that I am told by others that have more familiarity with the sciatic nerve, that the new seat is causing too much pressure on the left sciatic nerve which in turn is causing the thigh muscles to tight and hurt. This decreases to almost gone when I stand up and walk a bit.

I have been giving some suggestions including lots of stretching both on and off the bike but if we can't figure out how to adjust the new seat, give my backside some extra padding or another trick, I'm going to have to replace the new seat. A friend, (long time yoga teacher) says that my hips are unbalanced, hence the added pressure on one side. The cushy seat I had before must have compensated for a slightly tilted sitting position. Several suggestions have been, 1) keep adjust the tilt and position of the saddle, 2) add extra padding on one side to balance my sitting position so one leg isn't have to work harder than the other, and 3) adding an insole into the slightly shorter leg to even the stretch during peddling.

I am open to any suggestions.

Thanks,
Ellen