I have always experienced some numbness in the toes on my right foot when I take long rides on my road bike. Lately, the condition has become much worse, with numbness in my lower leg and foot even on shorter rides, and even on my mountain bike, where I sit more upright. Not surprisingly, my doctor says the nerve that goes through my groin is being compressed by my saddle. He recommended a wider saddle, but that has not helped, and I obviously can't ride either bicycle with a gigantic cruiser saddle on it. One thing I have considered is one of those strange looking saddles that just has two pads for your buttocks, so that it does not compress the nerve in your groin. A quick search online found one called a Hobson Easy Seat. Any idea how effective these things are? Other ideas? I used to ride hundreds of miles every week. Being exiled from my bike is driving me nuts.

Consider getting a recumbent bike.

Have you had a professional bike fit?

I have the pro hub x2 the sporty version of easy seat and it's pretty effective against numbness. No numbness but other types of discomfort can appear after a while especially in hot weather. (have ridden 16hrs long with a 1/2hr break in the middle on this one)
Padding is gone after more than 2 years on it and discomfort come earlier than before so i need a bike short to get the same level of comfort as before.
Those hobson saddles are cheaply made especially the easy seat 1 so a better choice would be the easy seat 2 or mine or other noseless saddles (some seems to be better made).
The fact that you're riding a road bike means that most noseless saddles won't do including the easy seat and easy seat 2, mine should. My handlebar is 1 inch above my saddle and it's just fine with some work on the saddle (adding grip).
I have had several small problems with the pro hub x2 that i've all solved (no big deal but required some handy work).
I had forgotten about numbness until i tried a saddle with nose recently, numbness came after 4hrs riding. So i happily went back to my noseless saddle. (i have another saddle with nose that don't create numbness neither).

Also with several noseless saddles that have sharp edges you will feel the edge of the saddle going into the back of your leg as you ride. Take that into account when you choose a saddle.

Or get a saddle with a cutout.

GH

The few studies i've got my hands on couldn't conclude about the effectiveness of a cutout.

Have you tried different profiles? Different tilt on saddle? for / aft adjustment? I find on mine, it it's too far back, I can get numbness.

Moonsaddle

okay left field suggestion, until recently my right hand was always going numb on any length ride. Then I went to a yoga class...wow next day no numbness.. I had forgotten what that was like, it will be a yoga class per week for me from now on

If other efforts don't work for you (different saddle; yoga), I second the suggestion ref recumbents. It is not an issue.

If you can't find a saddle that works, there are worse things in the world than making your buddies chase you all day.



On the downside, when you're riding a lowracer, there's always a target on the back of your helmet.

^^^ What ya making in that garage? Lotta white powder on your driveway

I swear by Terry Fly saddles, I get the cheaper chromolly ones. No matter what, switch saddles.

I like my Terry saddle as well . I have found it to be the most comfortable one yet .