Sceadu498

For me it lasted a couple days, not a pleasant experience.

chasxy

No, it certainly isn't.

Glad it cleared up on it's own.

JanMM

What you're describing is not typical for the discomfort sometimes experienced by cyclists. Good that you have sought medical attention.
50 miles is a long way for a new rider - working yourself up to that distance could be a useful strategy when you are able to resume riding.

Sangetsu

Everything is a trade off. I have been riding regularly for some 35 years, raced in three continents over 5 years. I simply don't think of recumbents as safe for my kind of riding. In the last 15 years I have been hit by cars 4 times. Three times I ended up on the hood, one time in the windshield. I was able to walk away from all 4 accidents. Had I been riding a recumbent, I would have likely ended up on the underside of at least one of these cars, and not on top. I am not an aggressive or crazy rider, but when commuting and training some 300 miles per week in an urban environment, the odds of getting tangled up with a car, bus, or truck are rather strong.

chasxy

Yes, I did the 50 miles without proper training beforehand. I was also carrying a backpack.

Sangetsu

Now you know to be more careful next time. 50 miles is a pretty long ride without any long-term preparation. Were I starting again after the off season, I would train for at least 4 weeks before riding that far.

The numbness will go away. You can see a doctor if you are very concerned, but more than likely you are only going to be told to apply ice, or heat, and to stay off your bike until the numbness disappears. As I said before, it can take weeks. As for my case, I saw two different doctors who gave contrary advice, and I figured out that both doctors were clueless about my condition, but were quite efficient at billing me for my "treatment". Unless you know a cute doctor whom you could use this condition as a good excuse to handle your junk, don't waste your time (and money). So long as the numbness continues to diminish, it will eventually go away.

rydabent

OTOH I have been riding bents for 12 years, and I have been knocked over once. A car was pulling out of a parking lot, and he didnt look both ways. A very slow speed accident.

friday1970

Possibly not. Had you been riding a recumbent, you might have had the chance to see the cars more clearly in your handlebar mirrors, long before the drivers see you.
You see, even though I ride a lowracer recumbent, I feel far safer since I can see the cars with my mirrors, rather than hearing them and quickly glancing over my shoulder when on my upright. I've even swerved off the road when needed if I felt drivers getting too close to me. I was hit when riding my upright, and I feel now that might have been avoided had I been on a recumbent with my larger mirrors.
But, that an assumption. You circumstances may have just been dumb drivers.

Back to the original post

Yep, a week is far too long. I've had numbness, but only lasting for about 5 minutes after I got off the bike. I changed seats, and angled it down a tad. No more.
Go see a doc if you haven't already.

Wheever

+1 For SMPs, and also +1 one trying lots of saddles.

Milton Keynes

This made me LOL. It's funny, but that's exactly what's going on here when a doctor's visit is urgently needed.

Sangetsu

you might have had the chance to see the cars more clearly in your handlebar mirrors,

I have never been hit from behind (knocks on wood). All accidents were frontal collisions, cars turning in or out in front of me. For every collision, there have been numerous close calls.

rydabent

Any kind of pain is your body telling you quit what you are doing.

chasxy

LOl...I can use a bit of humor at a time like this. Yes, it was foolish of me to attempt such an endeavor without the proper training and experience. I took it for granted that because I am a runner that I could handle it. Of course, biking is a different wheelhouse entirely.




I did contact an old college friend who is now a urologist. Without examining me personally, he did suggest that the numbness would go away provided I stay away from an activity that would further the irritation (i.e. biking). But, he did say to see a doc if the symptoms persist.


I am also experiencing sciatica pain for the first time in my life. I am pretty certain this was also caused by the biking while carrying a backpack. I am scheduled for an MRI of my lower back soon. Does anyone experience with this as well? Can this thing last for months?


Thanks.

Sangetsu

The sciatica problem was probably another side effect of the ride. I've suffered from it only one time, after a three day horseback ride to the top of Mt Palomar (ten hours a day in the saddle). If you think getting used to riding a bicycle is tough, try horses. The discomfort lasted a couple of weeks, and thankfully has never returned.

chasxy

Thanks. I will be seeing my chiropractor tonight. The timing couldn't be worse as I am registered to run for the NYC marathon in November.


Oh well, I hope you are right about both conditions dissipating within a few weeks.

bruce19

Haven't read all the posts but I'd start with making sure the saddle was level, the right height, right fore and aft, and your reach to the bars is appropriate. If that doesn't yield a positive result it may very well be the saddle. But, start with proper fit.

rydabent

I have always joked that the guy that invented the DF saddle had two brothers. One was a proctologist, and the other was a urologist. It keeps the family employed.

elocs

As a fellow bent rider you and I should understand that trying to get DF riders to even test ride a recumbent is like tilting at windmills--such is the intense peer pressure in most of these forums to conform with the norm and ride with the pack. There will always be excuses not to try a recumbent.

I have ridden my recumbent, the same one, for 16 years now following lower back surgery. It's a long wheel base Sun EZ Sport and I have no trouble at all seeing or being seen in traffic and I usually stand out to drivers because my bike is unusual. So for 16 years I have enjoyed a very comfortable ride with no pain in the butt or hands or wrists. How many who ride DFs can claim that as they ride people will call out to them, "cool bike!" or "I like your bike" because I heard it again just today and it never gets old.

Frankly, I don't care if DF riders switch or even try out a recumbent or not. It's their loss, not mine. But it's interesting to read the constant complaints about their saddles or how their butts hurt and how they need to stand up to try and change that or the pain in the wrists. Why would anybody want to ride any bike that causes them pain?

rydabent

I totally agree.

BTW when I ride my trike, not only am I seen, but I am given an even wider berth when passed. It has been suggested that some drives think the trike is some kind of handicap machine.

chasxy

So, I was able to wake up with an erection. The glans still feels a bit numb, but I have an appointment with my family doctor later this month.


What is really bugging now is the sciatica pain. It's awful. I have an MRI coming up and have been seeing a chiropractor. But, I think I need some serious painkillers.


Anyone experience sciatica? If so, how did you resolve it?


Thanks.

rydabent

Peer pressure may have a lot to do with the fact that some that would switch to a recumbent wont. There are so many instances where people are unwilling to change. When diesels came in the firemens union still wanted a fireman on the train. When automatic trannys came in the stick shift types hated it. When fuel injection became available the old carb mechanics hated it.

The thing is time moves forward, and many drag their feet. While there are some places that bents dont or wont work like mountain biking, the average weekend warrior would be far better served with a bent, for the comfort and the view. Cars these days are far advanced from the model T, and bents are far more advanced than the DF bike invented about 1890, because they cause almost no pain when they are ridden.

To bad about the "real cyclist" peer pressure, they are denying millions pain free cycling.

elocs

Yes, I had sever sciatica that an MRI showed to be a ruptured disc (L5-S1) that was pressing on the nerve.
All of the spinal manipulation in the world will not solve that. I was operated on by a surgeon from the Mayo Clinic who scraped all of the leaked fluid and material away from the disc and sewing it up. I was in the hospital for 1 day and within 3 days I was walking a mile. I was sent home with a bottle of Percocet and never took a single one.
After I returned to work picking orders and doing repetitive lifting at a food warehouse (this was a work injury)
I never missed a day of work in the remaining 14 years I worked before retiring because of sciatic pain (that's the way my ruptured disc gave me pain--from my butt to the heel of my right leg).
I am 65 and have had no sciatic pain now since I went in for that operation 18 years ago.

(Let me add that I had a friend who visited his chiropractor regularly for any aches and pains, so of course he went when he had back pain that kept getting worse and his chiropractor kept manipulating his spine.
I was at his house when the ambulance came to get him because he was in such agony. Turns out he had a ruptured disc that required surgery and then he had relief.)

rydabent

While many people claim at least temporary relief, IMO chiropractors are medical quackery. At one time you know they claimed they could fix what ails you by "adjusting the spine". The fact is rubbing the out side of your back or what ever does not change physical problems inside like a ruptured disc.

elocs

Can you imagine if you had a leg fracture and somebody claimed they could help your severe pain by manipulating your leg? That's what this was like for my friend and his agonizing back pain from a ruptured disc.
But he had been on the chiropractor gravy train for many years, while after my surgery I saw my neurosurgeon just once and never had to see another doctor about my back or sciatic pain in all the years since.

elocs

This makes me think of shoes. It is the rare guy who would ever wear shoes that hurt his feet. He would say, "no way, I'm not doing it". Yet when it comes to bikes so many embrace the pain like it is a badge of honor.
We both know that even if we suggest trying out a recumbent to solve some pain issue that what we write is often totally ignored with not even a, "thanks, but I've tried a recumbent and don't like it" or a simple, "thanks for the suggestion". So I've come to think that suggesting bents to DFers for whatever reason is simply tilting at windmills--it's pretty much a waste of time. Peer pressure is indeed strong.