Greetings,

Brand new road cyclist here. I've ridden about 200 miles now in the past 12 days, mostly in 25-30 mile rides. I'm having some bad "rear end" pain from these rides. To be blunt and gross, it's specifically perineum pain. Every time I get on, the pain is significant for 5 minutes, then I ride through it, and feel the pain again after.

I know there's a TON that goes into this topic--position, technique, saddle height and tilt, etc. I want to say the position is ok, as the ride is comfortable otherwise. Am I just a newbie, and the pain will eventually go away, or should I be taking steps to fix the problem?

I'm riding a Giant Defy 5 size medium-large, all stock parts. If it matters, I'm 5'10" 175 lbs, an active athlete well before starting cycling. I'm open to all suggestions, including buying a new saddle, but I've read that this isn't always the fix. All input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I do not know your age, but guys sometimes new to this bicycle riding thing develope an inflamed prostate. Thus you see a lot of road saddle with a depression in the center, or a grove. Keeps pressure off your prostate.


https://www.prostatitis.org/bikeprostate.html

A different saddle can make a difference. But a new cyclist also has to give time to get use to a saddle. Rather than breaking in a saddle you break in your arse I hate to say. But then again you have to find the right saddle for you too.

Perineum pain or numbness is a very common complaint when the saddle doesn't properly support the rider's weight on the sit-bones. It might be as simple as adjusting the saddle's fore/aft tilt or positioning but it might also not be a suitable saddle for one's particular anatomy. If that's the case it might be necessary to look into a saddle with e.g. a center cut-out or groove to reduce pressure on this region.

6', 200# here. I bought a large 2014 Defy 5 last October or so, and changed out the stock saddle almost immediately, numbness being the main issue.

My first replacement saddle was a Brooks, which was good at the beginning of a ride...exhibiting much less numbness... but it routinely became painful in the sit bone area after 30-40 miles. I gave it about 300-400 painful miles before I decided it wasn't going to work for me. (My daughter loves it on her bike though.)

I then went on to a free Diamondback saddle equipped with a longitudinal indent that I thought might help the numbness and the sit bone pain. It helped with both enough that I thought a full cutout might be the solution.

A $20 Craigslist Specialized Phenom with full cutout came next. It was somewhat better, but the sit bone soreness routinely became a sit bone rash after 60-70 miles, even when slapping on some pre-ride Bagbalm. At this point, I probably had logged 1,500 miles trying out these different saddles, but the pain was not going away and I was beginning to doubt that I hadn't given my ass enough miles to toughen up.

I thought I hit the jackpot with the Defy's current saddle, another Craigslist-purchased Specialized Romin....nearly no sit bone pain and very little rash even after a full century. I was getting ready to equip all of my bikes with one, when...

...about a month ago I bought my factory-build Surly 29+ hardtail kitted up with an el cheapo Velo 2155 'comfort' saddle. Holy crap, the thing nearly disappears under me, even on a 50-60 mile pot-hole ridden gravel logging road ride. I was stunned. No pain, no numbness, no rashes or skin rubbing off. Of course, on these gravel roads my cadence is much, much slower than when I'm hauling flat out on pavement with the road bike, so that might have something to do with it as well. Still, its got me thinking in different directions again.

Point being to all of this wordiness, once you've got the height, tilt and forward to back stuff squared away, and it still doesn't feel quite right, a new saddle might in the end just be the option the works out best for you. And it might not always be the most expensive one out there. If you've got some cyclist friends, see if you can borrow a few different types and see what direction you think your butt is telling you to move in before you start shelling out money for new saddles.

Keith

See if your LBS has a seat testing program. The one near me has a wall of yellow "loaner" seats, and you pay a monthly fee and test out different seats until you find the one your butt is happy with, then buy a non-yellow, normal version of that seat. I went through 5 seats before getting to my current seat, through old fashioned trial-and-error.

To go from zero to 200 miles in 12 days is a lot. If you do nothing but continue to ride it will almost surely get gradually better.

I think that selecting a saddle is kind of a hunt and peck process and counter intuitive. New riders end to think they need wide, soft saddles and more experienced riders gravitate to narrower, firmer saddles. Brooks leather saddles, which have a kind of cult following, look to be scary hard. You will find that there are a million different saddles. Somebody loves and somebody hates every single one of them. Good luck on your search.

Might as well face the fact that no saddle for a DF bike will be truly comfortable. All you can do is chose the one that causes the least pain for you.

I took 10 years off of riding, and when I started up I had a problem with numbness, but never pain. Part of it was a lack of flexibility, part of it was that I got fat and couldn't sit right on my saddle. I went through a number of saddles. I'm guessing you need a different saddle. My LBS will lend you test saddles with a security deposit. You should check into that.

just curious how much experience you have that would back this up?

the posture issue, is always an unknown , if not said.. you trying to go roadie bent over on the drops? or sit up and cruise along ..


thousands of different saddles made, sold by the millions.. try sitting on several ..

bike shops have discounts on new ones out of the bike box, take-offs,
removed when customer bought a bike, but wanted a different saddle.

I have a fair amount of experience since I started riding a bike at about 5 years old. I rode DF bikes for 67 years. In 2005 I bought my first bent, was sold on the comfort immediately, and sold off both of my DF bikes. I can assure you I will never go back to a DF bike and their torture device!!!!!

Stick with short rides till you butt quits hurting, 5/10 miles.

Took me 47,000 miles to find the perfect saddle for my butt.

Also add a hot soapy soak each night if you have a tub.

I purchased a Respiro seat with a 120 day gaurentee to bring back if not satisfied. Looks awesome. Will b trying it out for a few months and see if it helps. hope so, damn thing cost $60

Your problem is simple, you haven't been riding long enough to acclimate your backside to riding. When I have been off the bike for a long time, when I start riding again I will limit myself to three moderate rides per week, and during this time, I fully expect to feel saddle pain. I will ride three more rides the following week, during which the pain will subside. During the third week I can add a day of riding, or increase the length of my rides. After a month, saddle pain on normal rides is no longer a problem, and after a few months you are more likely to have discomfort in your hands and feet than with your saddle.

Be patient, and let your body get used to riding.

There is quite a lot of truth in what you say, but I do disagree that HTFU for your butt is the only/entire issue. I'm pretty much a nube, only riding for a year, and when I got my first bike (oddly, also a giant Defy) my butt/perineum pains were a bit of a trial for months. Eventually, I started my saddle search and ended up with an SMP saddle...AND MY BUTT NO LONGER HURT AT ALL. I was able to go from 10 mile rides with discomfort to 25 mile rides with none. it wasn't a matter of getting my butt used to it, it was just the wrong saddle. Chapter two is I got a new bike this year, a size smaller, so my SMP no longer works on it (due to the placement of the widest part of the SMP, it has to be slid all the way forward, jamming up the cockpit.) after a search (which I detail in the fitting forum) I ended up with a Selle Italia Max flow gel, and now 40+ mile ride are without discomfort. And no balm or cream needed.

My point is: sometimes, even for a nube, it is all about the saddle.