Thigh and buttocks pain

MadDog1999

Hello,
I have problems around my groin area recently. I am cycling on a mountain bike currently until I can afford a road bike. Also I am not wearing padded shirts which could be the problem. I am planning to get them with the road bike. I cycled a 20k two days ago on the mountain bike and since my buttocks and inner thigh is sore when pressed or sitting down on a chair. And after that cycle I could barely walk as my legs felt weak. I feel like I bonked during the cycle as I got all the classic symptoms tunnel vision, extreme tiredness etc. But now I tried cycling again and I found wincing pain in the same region. And now lower legs feels a bit numb. I am only a teen this is hardly sciatica is it? Or if not that what else could it be and how can I cure it?

Sorry that the post is a bit long but thought more details will help.

Thanks.

robyntmorton

My immediate, very much non expert thoughts, are that the fit and/or the saddle are not right, and could be putting pressure on nerves the wrong way.

Everyone is different in this regard, so it is hard to give specifics. That is where I would start looking. Of course the right padded shorts are a revelation too.

D13exile

You don't say how fit you are or how much cycling you do but if the answer is not much cycling, then it's simply that part of your anatomy not being used to sitting on a saddle and having your weight press down on a small,portion of your body. That passes in time as you get some Kms under your belt.

Next possible reason is that the saddle is too low for you? Plenty of YouTube vids explaining how to adjust your saddle to,the correct height.

Padded shorts definitely help. Get some in Lidl or Aldi to get you going and then move onto the "brands" as you progress.

Eat a banana at least before or during a ride to keep,your energy levels up. Drink water (with electrolytes) every 20 minutes.

When you get round to buying a road bike, make sure it's the right frame size for you. Get a proper bike fit done or you'll get more injuries.

Get In There

Cycle bib shorts on a budget: https://goo.gl/zQPGvR

Chuchote

Aldi will have bib shorts next Thursday (6 July 2017) for €35 and Lidl has some cycling stuff the same day - I think Aldi's quality tends to be higher for clothes and non-edible goods; for my money, Lidl's question is higher for food.

The other thing - and competition and long-distance people will know the answer to this better than a functional cyclist like me - is that your muscles can come under strain if you push too hard on a long ride and deplete yourself of… is it calcium? something to do with lactose?

You shouldn't be getting cramps this bad from a 20k ride, but maybe if you're new to it, your cycling style may use your muscles badly. A lot of people new to bikes will instead think they should be streaming with sweat and making a huge effort. Wrongggg! Good cycling style means coming up to speed at a gentle pace, using an easy gear and keeping your legs going around at an easy, steady pace.