Originally posted by aswoo
First of all, I'm having a lot of trouble clipping out of wellgo pedals on my bike. I asked the guys at the LBS about them and he mentioned that it might be my shoes, because I'm using mtn biking shoes. Do shoes make a great difference (mountain vs road) or should I switch the pedals first?
I'm not sure what KIND of Wellgo pedals you have, but you should be able to set the release tension with a turn of a bolt. If you're using MTB shoes with road pedals, the problem may be that the tread of your shoe does not have sufficient clearance for the pedals.
Also, after about thirty miles, I find that my bottom begins to bother me as well as my lower back. I had just switched to a Selle Italia Flite Gel saddle but don't seem to notice a great difference in comfort. I also suspect my saddle is a little low despite having been fitted at the LBS, possibly leading to a little lower back discomfort. Any suggestions?
My butt hurts like this for the fisrt few rides of the year. [I live in Canada, so there's a layoff of a couple of months for winter.] My theory is that cycling kills some of the nerves in your butt, and every year, I have to kill some of those regenerated news all over again. That may be part of your problem.
As another poster suggested, it could very well be saddle position -- and this may have something to do with your back pain as well -- so you might want to experiment with turning the saddle angle up or down a notch. You should always do lower back-stretches before a long ride, in any case, and you might find that, by strengthening your abdominal muscles through sit-up or crunches, your back gets stronger.
I'm wearing a $40 pair of Pearl Izumi bike shorts. And I'm a pretty thin guy (not much natural padding). Think it would be worth it for me to take the dive for a more expensive pair of bike shorts? UncaStuart did mention that the $80-110 variety were "like buttah." But I've heard other comments to the contrary.
PI's are good shorts. Stick with them for a couple of weeks and see what happens. It's entirely possible that other adjustments might make you more comfortable, or even that your shorts need to be broken in. I have a pair of Sugoi shorts that I love now, but it took a couple of weeks for the stiching on the chamois to soften up.
Your butt soreness might be due to friction, though. This is going to sound weird, but a whole lot of roadies I know [including myself] smear some hand lotion or Bag balm on their buts at the contact points [the perch bones] before putting on their shorts. It goes a long way toward reducing discomfort due to friction.