i keep get this one annoying saddle sore on my left but cheek when using the trainer....if I go out on the road for a few days it goes away....once I hit the trainer boom its back again!! any advice?/

Bike at a tilt?
On the road the bike moves. On a trainer - assuming not rollers, or you would have said rollers - it does less.
Have you tried rollers?

Also sometimes you may run lower power / higher cadence / more butt pressure on a trainer.

I'm Scrupulous in My Crotch washing and clean shorts wearing.. saddle sores are the Surface Bacteria Moving into pores like hair follicles ..

you may be hot seating It ,

try a Fan blowing air past you and then like on the road stand and cool your loins off the saddle occasionally..

I'm giving this thread a bump.

Lisa and I have been Zwifting this winter (dueling set up, so much dorky). We are both having sore "issues", I'm using a saddle and bibs I've use for century rides... so an hours on the trainer shouldn't be ... butt is painful.

The "spinning" idea is a good one, I haven't thought about. I like to ride at 90-100 rpm; however, when outside, cadence changes frequently with the terrain. Therefore, staying with a high-frequency spin and all your weight on the saddle may be part of the issue.

I have made sure the front wheel blocks are level.

Rollers are fine, but we've invested in CycleOps and I'm not likely to switch them out soon.

I changed Lisa's saddle to see if a different (tried & true) saddle would bring comfort, nope.

In case you're interest, this is the Zwift room (not in photo: second laptop)

IMG_20170105_074335719.jpg

I notice that on training nights with little or no recovery intervals that my group does that start with calisthenics that hit parts of my body that are a bit weak at the moment that it becomes more difficult to stay comfortable in the saddle. Upper body plus glute fatigue makes my areas of contact with the saddle wider, but not in a way that would cause chafing wounds. I do end up with some soft tissue soreness occasionally. I have a decent amount of saddle to bar drop, so core and shoulder strength is tested more than if you don't have a lot of drop.

The bike doesn't move with you on a trainer (aside from the KK Rock and Roll), so that might be an issue if you rock at all. Your back should be almost completely still. Maybe you're tensing up your shoulders and core?

If you don't include fast pedal drills in your warmup, maybe add some in and pay close attention to your body. I think early on in the programs we do something like 5 minutes easy pedaling, then 85/90/95/100/105 for 1 minute each, then a 2 minute rest interval, followed by 95/100/105/110/115. Small gear requiring just enough force to keep your pedal stroke smooth. You might notice something. Focus on being your upper body being calm and loose so that your back doesn't move and you'll be able to feel problems.

If your natural cadence is higher you might need to tweak the numbers a bit.

IME trainer time really amplifies the consequences of small technique issues.

I expect this is the core issue.

Another view of this: trainer time is THE time to get saddles right, both for position and the saddle itself. Trainer time is the ultimate test of saddle fit.

Left cheek? Many men prefer to have their saddles set with the noses a hair to the left. This would move the back to the right and that might help that cheek. All my saddles are rotated to the left.

This winter might be the time to hook up with a local shop with a good seat policy, ie one where you can put real time on the seat and return it for another if it doesn't pan out. (A shop in Portland takes it a step further. They have a "library" of 25 saddles. $25 buys you a library card. Take out a seat, try it, bring it back and take out another. Find one you like and that $25 goes toward a new boxed one.)

Ben

Easy fix: Don't ride a trainer! Outside is better. Inclement weather builds character.

You mean like going for a long ride when it's -12F?

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Or riding 7 miles on a frozen lake?


Sorry, kinda needed to brag a little... I do love winter riding. But I hate my winter schedule, work keeps me tied to my desk for long hours, combined with short days, riding outside isn't as easy. When I moved to a home office, winter riding suffered the most, I used to bike-commute 20 miles a day, 4 days a week, straight through the winter. Now, I get out to ride most every day, but no where near the miles. The trainer helps me keep the fitness from falling off too bad. Plus it keeps Lisa riding too, she like having company while she's on the trainer (& she doesn't have cold tolerance I do)

Nice! I'm (mostly) just teasing anyhow. I refuse to use a trainer. I'd rather spend 45 minutes running. At least it's outside, even though it sucks at least as much as a trainer does.

I figured that was good-nature ribbing, I hope my reply was taken in kind.

Outside is where the fun happens.

How thick is that ice?

When I am on a trainer, which is more often that I ever would have thought before I became a parent, I find I need to shift into a bigger gear and pedal standing for about 1 minutes out of 5 just to give the rear a break while I can go for hours seated on the road. Years ago, I tried swapping to fat beach cruiser type saddle with too much padding and that only seemed to make things worse.

Lake ice was 12-18 inches on this day. We had unusual weather this year, starting with deep freezes early (-20F) without snow. Then we got some snow, but at the end of December we got a day of 35F and rain. This melted all the snow on the lake ice, leaving these amazing clear ice conditions.

Funny enough, I did the same ride a few days later, after we got a couple inches of snow. The lake was alive with cars, trucks, snowmobiles, dog walkers, and one person kite-skiing. The only difference, a thin layer of snow to give people footing.

I did a century ride on Zwift last month, and I found I needed to stand on the peddles... and a lot more at the end of the ride (over 5 hour).

With the 10-week FTP builder course I'm working on in Zwift, it's a little more challenging to get out of the saddle and keep in the target power range. I'll have to play around to see if I can figure it out getting out of the saddle on the recovery blocks.

Where did this info come from?

Just what I have heard from men when the subject comes up. Most of those who have tried going off center have settled with the nose to the left. I recall one to the right and quite a few to the left. The vast majority I am guessing have never tried rotating their seats but a lot of those who do do not go back to straight.

Ben

Every time I mess with my seat and don't get it put back straight, it doesn't take long at all for me to notice and want it back straight.

Here's my normal routine when I'm forced to ride the trainer. I stand every 5 min for 30 seconds. Performs two functions: gives my butt a break and it breaks up the ride. In a 20 min interval I'll stand at 2:30, 7:30, 12:30... Gives me something to look forward to.

edit: I ride a KK trainer with zwift, hence the fluctuations in speed.

I agree. Standing helps a lot. But if you're following a specific trainer program, it can be difficult or impossible to stand with such frequency (for example try standing while spinning at high cadence or while doing one legged drills).

I get one on my right cheek sometimes, both on my rollers and on the road. Finally figured it out: my right leg is maybe 1cm shorter than my left. I shimmed the right 3mm which helped a lot. I also moved the saddle nose to the left when the sore has been active, just a few degrees.

This saddle sore thing only started in my mid-60's. Never had a problem before. Not the saddle or position, other than the shorter leg, just slower skin healing with age. That said, they've healed a lot quicker, enough that I can ride every day, after I started putting Tolnaftate cream on my problem saddle area every morning. So maybe there's a fungal component in my case.

Presumably you're not doing high cadence or one legged drills for very long on a trainer though so there should be some opportunity to stand. I only ever do 2x20 intervals so it's easy for me to stand every 5 min.

I tend to be right of center. I don't start my saddle off that way, but it tends to get shoved over with time. I chalk it up to my right leg being slightly shorter than the left.

Yes. I had a 18 minute opportunity.
Last night's trainer session was:
18 minutes high cadence;
27 minutes ILT
18 minute stand
27 minutes ILT
5 minute cool down.

It wouldn't hurt to intersperse your high cadence and one-legged drills with a few 30-second standing sections. Are you pedaling with one leg for 27 min or alternating legs during that period?