Saddle soreness while climbing
 

Is there anything to be learned about saddle/bike fit or riding technique if I encounter rear end soreness and numbness while climbing only?

I just finished a trip that involved far more climbing than I have ever done in my life, my phone tracker was recording between 1500-2500 feet a day most days. I have a vintage Avocet Touring saddle on my bike, which fits my bottom well and has never given me issues until I started hills. On any sort of long or steep climb, I would start running into issues of soreness and then eventually numbness, once to the point of having to get off the bike for a few minutes. I had a low enough gear that I could go up most grades seated (or slightly standing to take the pressure off) and spinning, if that makes a difference

There is no such issue when rolling on flat ground, I have done a metric century on that exact same saddle with no discomfort at all. No issue in smaller rolling hills, just long or steep climbs. No issues on descents. Just on longer climbs.

Is your saddle a bit too far fore or aft? Climbing, I'd tend to move a little BACK into the saddle. So I'm guessing that possibly either you're sliding TOO far back or quite possibly your saddle is just the wrong shape (more pear shaped than T-shaped) to allow you to slide back...ie - the crease between the cheek and the hamstring hits the side of the saddle (when slid back) on every downstroke.

PS what goes numb?

Probably just sitting more heavily in the saddle while spinning in a low gear. Combine that with slower speed, less air cooling, we get swamp butt. Pressure point pain, then chafing, then saddle sores as a ride goes on.

It'd be easy to suggest standing to pedal more often, but I struggle to climb out of the saddle for 30 seconds at a stretch -- 15 unless I want dead legs and an awkward jolting gear shift to accommodate spinning again. Not many of us are Alberto Contadors.

My concession to reality was to stick with Lycra fabric covered saddles. The road bike has moderately firm foam; the upright hybrid has somewhat thicker, more relaxed foam. These breathe well and air-dry quickly as I ride. No more swamp butt. I don't even need padded shorts on most rides, although occasionally I'll wear the tight padded shorts on windy days to cut down on wind resistance. Usually I wear Champion wicking fabric boxer/briefs under baggies, and even wear them as liners under padded shorts. More comfortable to me, although it defies conventional wisdom about chamois or microfiber padding being directly against the skin.

But we don't have many long climbs in my part of Texas. Mostly roller coasters with a few minutes of climbing 2%-5%, and many shorter, steeper climbs. No idea whether what works for me would translate to 1,000 feet or more of continuous climbing.

Yeah, where I live in Michigan is relatively flat farmland too, tis why I never noticed this issue before. Any hill is quickly over without much pain. No real chafing or sores themselves, just soreness and then numbness. I always wear some sort of athletic wicking boxer briefs under padded liners, never once ran into issues of chafing or rubbing.

Specifically, the area of concern is my right buttocks. Never my left side, had me wondering if a vein was just running a bit different on that side that was getting pinched off or something. If I let it go long enough it will gradually continue down my leg, but I generally jumped off before that. Tried standing up and pedaling, but at the low gearing and slow speeds I was already at, balance was a real issue.

Saddle is leather covered hard foam, FWIW, no real cushion to it.

Remote diagnosis is likely to be wrong, but it's fun to guess sometimes.


Guess #1: Either your cleats are set slightly differently on your left and right shoes, or you have a leg length mismatch. Long rides tend to bring out such things. Try moving your right cleat slightly toward your toe, or your left cleat slightly toward your heel.


Guess #2: Your butt is firmly anchored to your seat while climbing, and you end up pushing slightly backward against the seat, resulting in friction against your skin. Either stand every couple minutes -- more to get re-seated than to spend time off the saddle -- or consciously wiggle every couple minutes.

Yup, could be slight differences in leg length, possibly aggravated by lower back and hip stress from the longer climbs.

Use a video camera to record yourself riding from various angles. Compare flats and climbs. Replay in slow motion and look for imbalances.

I've done this a few times over the past couple of years as my conditioning gradually improved. I was recovering from a neck injury so at first anything but an upright comfort hybrid was painfully uncomfortable. Over two years I gradually lowered the handlebar stem, then moved to an older rigid mountain bike with riser bars, then last month to my first road bike in more than 30 years.

Along the way I'd periodically video myself passing, approaching, riding away, with the handlebar-mounted camera aimed toward my torso, etc., on flat terrain and during climbs. Whenever I felt anything odd or amiss -- neck pain, knee pain, etc. -- I'd video myself and check again in slo-mo. Most of the time my posture was fine and I just needed to keep working on stretching, flexibility, core strength, all the usual boring stuff.

But a couple of times I noticed my hips were rocking too much or some other problem, mostly related to seat post height and saddle position. I don't use clipless or toe clips (yet), and tend to wear whatever shoes I like with platforms. Occasionally a thicker or thinner sole will affect my knees, hips, lower back, etc., over a long ride. So while I've got my bikes dialed in for the Merrell shoes I usually ride with, occasionally I might need to make a minor adjustment in the seat post height or saddle position for a long ride with my Montrail hiking shoes (thicker soles), or Herman Survivor leather hiking boots for long rides in winter, or the very thin soles on my deck shoes or mocs. Not a big deal for short casual rides, but I can feel the difference on rides of 10 miles or longer.

The other day I noticed a knee twinge on the mountain bike. Usually that's my most comfortable and efficient bike (the new-to-me road bike is still uncomfortable, mostly due to my own mediocre core conditioning). I noticed my knee extension was longer than on the road bike. The mountain bike has a 58cm frame and 175mm cranks; the road bike has a 57cm frame and 172.5mm cranks. Slight differences in the saddle padding too. Because I'd been riding the road bike most often the past four weeks for hill climb intervals I was accustomed to the slight difference. Now my quads are stronger with very slightly less leg extension. I could feel the difference on the taller frame mountain bike with longer cranks. So I probably need to lower the saddle just a hair.

I just caught a youtube video about this on one of the channels I subscribe to. :)

That's easy enough to test, just drop the saddle 5mm and go climb some hills. You can always put the saddle back up again.

Thanks, the saddle height reminds me I need to get rid of the dang quick release on the seatpost, I had knocked that loose a few times as my cable lock winds up behind it. Killed my attempt to make it as far up the 14% grade as I could when my saddle started wiggling...

Interesting video [MENTION=389794]DonBjr[/MENTION]. Sounds like my problem exactly! Unfortunately I don't have any hills around me of the magnitudes that was giving me issues, I guess I need to find some and play around.