she

I thought I had the bike set up right ..boy did I not. My crotch hurt,my back hurt about a 3rd into the ride. My arms and hands did not hurt at all so maybe I set that up right. I think the seats nose was to high..or something. Something did go right I think. It took 37 minutes for a 6 mile ride and that is because the bike is pretty fast. I couldn't slow down LOL When I rode my other bike yesterday for a trial I rode 5 miles in 35 minutes. Now I need to cool off whew. So glad I did it!!!!

Underground

It does sound like the nose is too high. Not sure about the back hurting.

Too bad I don't live 6 miles away from work, then I'd ride every day.

colleen c

Your seat should be level, but in your other post, you showed a Hybrid Raleigh bike with Avenir seat. Assuming your seat is really soft and cushioning, you may need to tilt the nose down. The compression from the cushion of the seat might make the nose feel tilted up.

Also check the length of the nose. As female, I prefer shorter nose piece and wider seat.

she

Yes the nose is longish. I knew I wanted a different saddle but was going to wait a bit. If I can't get this one adjusted right I will get one sooner. I will try the nose downward a bit. Thanks

2wheelcommute

Congrats on your first commute. If you post a pic of your setup, we can probably tell you if the nose does look too high (and, possibly, other glaring setup problems)

green427

Glad you made it safely. Yeah, what everyone said about the seat. As for your back, be sure your seat is at the right height where your leg is slightly bent when the pedal is at the bottom. My back will hurt if my seat is too low.

FunkyStickman

You made it, it didn't kill you. Just keep going!

The Chemist

That's either a joke site or a guy who has serious anger issues.

green427

Might want to move this to its own thread instead of hijacking this one.

jyossarian

If you're sliding forward onto the nose, you might want to slide the saddle forward a bit.

she

LOL you darn right!

she

Just testing

stringbreaker

If you had some allen wrenches and some other tools along you could make those adjustments during the ride instead of hurting all the way home. Lots of things to consider here like the fore and aft adjustment of the saddle along with nose tilt and height.

she

Yeah I did actually but I just wanted to get home. LOL I set everything up today and tomorrow I do my full commute. Everyone gives such good advice. Something I can really use and hopefully pass on to others. Thanks!

waynesworld

I recently got a new bike (Hooray me!) and the saddle just sucked. I try not to switch out things (tires excepted) without giving them a chance, but this thing hurt from mile one. At about mile 9 or so, I changed the saddle position, and that got me through the 28 miles, but it was never comfortable, and moving it up shortened my cockpit too much.

I bought a new saddle. So far this one is much better. We'll see. Saddles confuse me about as much as bicycle geometry. I can't understand either.

she

You could be right cause i think of all the years I hurt with "those" comfy saddles. I needed a different one. After tomorrow I'm going to check out a few.

waynesworld

The one I bought has more padding than the original, but not a ton of padding. I guess I'll have to wait and see how it works out, but I'm quite certain the original one had to go.

Of course you could follow the standard advice and get a Brooks. And a Surly.

cooker

Hi, She - if I understand your weight loss ticker, you are 160 lbs. overweight. If so, fantastic that you are cycling or being active to lose the weight and regain fitness. However, I hope you haven't taken on too much too soon - if you injure or strain your body you won't be able to exercise as effectively, so I hope you take it slow, maybe ride once a week at first or ease into it some other way.

she

Thank you Cooker and no I'm not over doing it. I'm "listening" to my body and plan are doing it (biking) just 2 days a week for a while. I'm riding slowly (not to slowly)and if I see its too much I'm stopping for a while. I'm planning cool down spots and all. Lots of water!!! Today is my full day of commuting and I'm leaving the house extra early in case.......

ItsJustMe

Best of luck, and stick with it. 2 days a week should be doable by anyone, and it's nothing to sneeze at, that's 40% of the time. I'm in the middle of trying to lose about 30 pounds myself (18 pounds down so far) and I absolutely couldn't do it without cycling.

waynesworld

Good for you! Let us know how the biking is working out.

she

Well it didn't go as I learned my lesson about fitting the bike. From the day I brought it home(bike) I bruised...how should I say this nicely my family jewels? LOL To tender to ride it in. On the good side I realize the seat on the new bike is not for me. Its got the material on it that keeps you from sliding. Because I'm a big girl I can't move that easily on the seat so I need material that lets me. So for now I switch the seat from my other bike and hopefully tomorrow I won't be sore and be able to ride!

Grim

Good job! 6 miles in 35 minutes is a pretty good time.

First few weeks is where most of the hurt will be. After that you will start to acclimate and it will get easier.

Anybody point you are Sheldon Brown's (RIP) site? https://sheldonbrown.com/beginners/index.html He has a good section about "pain" and how to adjust the bike to take care of most of it.

Get your rack sorted out?

green427

My wife is a big girl, and we got the biggest seat available. It just happens to have a "crease" in the middle to keep the "family jewels" from being crushed too much, and she hasn't complained too much. I think you can get one of these type of seats at Walmart. Unfortunately, those of us who are on the heavy side have to endure more pressure per square inch on these tiny seats until we get used to them and lose some weight.

she

Amen brother! Congrads on your weight loss hopefully mine is successful as yours.
I also realize the seat was pulled all the way back, I put mine in the middle so its closer to the handlebars. I think that will help, I'll know tomorrow!