Inertianinja

I'm asking this question for my fiancée. She just completed her first 42mi ride, on a new specialized BG saddle, after getting professionally fit.

She's got some bruising in the front, if you get me. Have any of you experienced anything like this? Any suggestions?

I am guessing that she needs to rotate her pelvis back/arch her lower back more, but I'm sure that the women here are better to judge.

Please keep it adult, dudes.

GirlAnachronism

Is she wearing bike shorts? How long has she been riding? Does she have actual visible bruising, or is she just a little sore?

If she's not wearing shorts with some padding, get on that ASAP (and they do make women's bibs, and yes you should look into that). If she's completely new to riding and just hopped on for 42mi her first time out, it may just be a matter of acclimation.

Tsuru

I had to look up some stuff for my wife who had some saddle issues as well. I think this forum was helpful for her --> https://forums.teamestrogen.com/

Inertianinja

apparently, visible bruising.
She was wearing shorts with a chamois.
This is her first season, but longest ride

NickDavid

fine...

GirlAnachronism

Hm, in that case I might re-visit the fit, and explain to them what she's experiencing, especially if it continues to happen as she rides more. If her position is the problem the fitter should be able to help on that front as well.

Definitely not something she should just deal with long-term!

skol

agree fit must off or nose of saddle tilted up perhaps? my wife doesn't have any issues on centuries etc has a slight down tilt to her saddle

Machka 

First of all, I have a Specialized saddle which causes me quite a bit of pain in various locations. I think it's actually too soft.

Second, she has to make sure that the saddle she chooses is wide enough for her. My father gave me an older saddle of his long ago, telling me it was a great saddle and he felt very comfortable on it, and maybe it would work for me. I couldn't manage more than about 5 km on that saddle. It was so narrow that I could only get one sitbone at a time onto the saddle and thus I was supporting my weight on the soft middle bits ... VERY uncomfortable. It sounds like that might be the issue with your fiancee. She probably doesn't need a tractor seat, but perhaps something a bit wider than the current saddle. She can try to measure the distance between her sitbones.

Third ... bicycle posture. Speaking as a female who has logged a lot of km on a lot of different saddles, this is something I've found that works. When you stand with good posture, you tuck your pelvis under a little bit and suck in your lower abs. Now take that posture and put it on the bicycle. When you are on the bicycle, and you suck in your lower abs, the front part of the soft bits lift up off the saddle. This is hard to maintain for any distance if you've got a weak core. So along with generally practicing that posture, I recommend core exercises.

I also recommend having the idea of "perching" on the saddle rather than "sitting" on the saddle. Rather than putting all your weight on the saddle, divide the weight between the hands, feet, and butt. Sit lightly on the sitbones in the posture mentioned above. This helps lift the soft bits up so that there isn't much pressure on them at all.

And finally ... some shorts designers think that women need all sorts of padding in the front of the shorts. We don't. I look for shorts with padding wide enough to cover my sitbones, but very little up front.

I hope some of this helps.

Inertianinja

I relayed all that to her. She acknowledged that she was probably sagging on the saddle because she was tired

bobthib

I seems to me that when I was reading about fit, I recall seeing something about women preferring level to slightly nose down. It' seemed counter intuitive to me since there is less there to worry about. But then, that's what helped me remember that little factoid.

Good luck. I'm sure we can all agree that discomfort in the saddle areas are the worst.

shelleyspins

+1 to all of this, especially the advice on bike posture. IMHO a decent climb is a great place to get the feel for good pelvis/hip positioning because in addition to being more comfortable, it's more powerful. Since the performance effect is noticeable she may find it easier to adjust her form (don't take her to the Alps, I've found that a moderate or even easy grade works best provided it's long and steady) and it will help reinforce another reason why good form is her friend.

FWIW I'm not on the WSD band wagon but my saddle is definitely a WSD saddle. Seemed to be the one of the few things that legitimately needed separate consideration, although as Machka's post points out, the principals are the same

I wouldn't recommend this at all, btw. But I guess everyone's different? I'm definitely not a fitting expert but I am a woman and not only do I not pitch my nose down, none of my girlfriends do it either. None of us are time trialists but I'm guessing your fiancee isn't either.

I do have a girlfriend who has completed several Iron Man events and spends a lot of time in her saddle. I remember talking with her a few months ago about turning the nose slightly to the left or right - advice she'd received when buying a new saddle - I also remember they recommended she get a level to better note the current pitch of her saddle.

Machka 

Mine is actually tipped slightly nose UP. Brooks saddles work better if the nose is up a bit to force you back onto your sitbones. Other saddles I've had work better completely level.

Riding with the nose tilted down causes me to put too much weight on my arms and hands, and I end up with very sore shoulders, triceps, and hands. Been there, done that.



I'll also ask if she (the fiancee) did any riding in the drops, and how low her handlebars are. Riding on low handlebars, or riding in the drops a lot, can also cause some pain because that posture pushes the soft bits onto the nose of the saddle. I ride with my handlebars at least equal with the saddle height (or slightly higher), and rarely ride in the drops. When I do ride in the drops, I have to really focus on my posture and position on the saddle to be somewhat comfortable ... and I can't stay in the drops for more than a few minutes at a time.

Inertianinja

this is interesting. she definitely puts too much weight on her hands (she had bruises yesterday) but she fully admits its because her posture is lazy. i'll have her give it a shot with the thing tilted down, then try it back too. the saddle is very supportive, and the cutout is pretty big.

Machka 

She had bruises on her hands after a 42 mile ride? That is not normal. Where are her handlebars in relation to the saddle? Can you post a picture of her on the bicycle? I'm thinking that her handlebars are too low, the saddle has the nose tipped down too far already, or there is something wrong in the fit.


I haven't done much riding with a cutout, but it seems to me that there are too many edges with a cutout ... I wasn't impressed.

Inertianinja

i'll see if i can get that done.
one thing that makes it hard is that she's totally new to road cycling, so her posture and flexibility need to improve too. if i was slouching and putting all my weight forward, i would have pain problems too.

merlinextraligh

My wife likes her saddle nose tilted down. (perhaps because its a Fizik Vitesse triathlon saddle, which puts more padding in the nose)

But realize when people are suggesting tilting the nose down, its a very subtle thing, virtually flat, perhaps a degree nose down. Too much and you will get a lot of pressure on your hands.

live311

Now that your questions have been answered, can we get more juvenile?

But seriously, there are some good tips here that my wife may find interesting.

Homebrew01

Perhaps you could bring tools with you and try minor adjustment to the saddle position during the ride.

Inertianinja

i do that every ride! i'm like "if something feels wrong, tell me, i'll adjust it"
but i think that she's at a level of cardio endurance where, like, everything feels wrong, so she's not quite ready to identify subtle fit issues as she's gasping for air

i'm kidding, obvs, but yea. i'm keeping an eye on the situation, it's just good to hear from women about their fit issues. as a dude, i have learned how to keep the Balzarano family out of harm's way, it just doesn't translate so easily to girl stuff

edbikebabe

Since you mentioned that her posture/flexibility could use some work, I'd suggest doing some core work. Having a strong midsection (abs & back) will make it much easier for her to keep the pressure where it should be.

In the meantime - good luck, bruising is definitely NOT what you want as a side effect from riding.

colleen c

Is her seat slide all the way forward or back? Where is her knee position relative to the pedal and BB?

I would have her level out the seat first, then slide her seat such that each push of the pedal will also push help the pelvic back and not just vertical. After that is set, then adjust the tilt downward if needed but not to the point where she is constantly sliding forward. Now check her reach of the handlebar. If the seat was slid back, she might be over reaching and putting more pressure in the sensitive area of the seat. If that is the case, then change to a shorter stem.

Note: If her seat us already adjusted properly, then she maybe over reaching and leaning foward which might put more pressure up front in the tender area.

deep_sky

I'd be concerned about why she is bruising. Even if I deliberately de-tuned my fit to make the ride as uncomfortable as I could, I would not bruise, I would just be sore and chafed. Is she on any medication which thins the blood (many medications you wouldn't think of do that) to make the surface blood vessels that sensitive to pressure? Perhaps she is calling soreness and the skin irritation caused by chafing bruising? It seems odd that she would actually bruise from too much weight on an inappropriate spot unless she is extremely prone to heavy bruising via medication or genetics...

island rider

+1 The idea of bruising from constant pressure is odd. This is particularly w/r/t her hands. While I am no expert on any of this and certainly not on bruising of the sort that might be cause by a saddle for a woman... It is unlikely that the amount of pressure on her hands is any more than she would get from various other activities. If she did push-ups, or had to support her weight for some reason (think lifting up to sit on a wall or something) would she get bruises? Were you riding over significant bumps?

echappist

regarding posture this goes for male & female riders who are starting out

the ideal posture should be one for which you are placing minimal weight on the bars, and this will make the bike stable. to achieve this, tighten your abs, bend your back (make sure it's flat), and squeeze your shoulderblades. the majority of the support should be coming from middle to lower back in this set up.

and +1 to all who mentioned strengthening of the core muscles (abs, obliques, lats, etc). make sure you don't skimp on strengthening the side muscles either (achieved by doing side planks)

Tsuru

Is that why people always have their brooks saddles yanked up so high (male or female)?