Female discomfort from cycling

sheriff2

Hi All;

Wife recently got her bike, its just for casual use.
After only 15 mins use, she experienced discomfort down below and does every times she uses it!

Looking into this, its a very common issue that's not really discussed.

Anyone with any recommendations that worked for them - saddle, shorts etc

codie

What kind of saddle is on the bike .
Is she just starting or is it first bike and had she a bike fit

iwillhtfu

I think there was a whole thread on smushed lady bits not to long ago and there were some good pointers.

Typically it's saddle and chamois, if she's not using a chamois it would be a good place to start and don't skimp to much on budget.

sheriff2

codie wrote: »

What kind of saddle is on the bike .
Is she just starting or is it first bike and had she a bike fit

The bike is a discovery ignite, not sure type of saddle.

Got the bike on BTW so guy in shop quickly measured

sheriff2

iwillhtfu wrote: »

I think there was a whole thread on smushed lady bits not to long ago and there were some good pointers.

Typically it's saddle and chamois, if she's not using a chamois it would be a good place to start and don't skimp to much on budget.

Thanks, I will try find it.

nilhg

Probably far more info than most of us need but Jasmijn Muller did a long blog post on saddle issues, mainly as they affect her but worth a look.

https://duracellbunnyonabike.com/2018/12/28/flipping-flapmash/

OP, my better half changed from a Giant lady specific saddle to a Specalised power and found it much better in the second half of her spins, going out she'd say there's no difference but afterwards she'd have far less complaints.

Saddles are a very personal thing though, the search for the perfect saddle is like the search for the Holy Grail, a long and expensive enterprise.

eeeee

I'm a female cyclist, and I do a lot of cycling.
The only saddle I can sit on is an adamo. They look weird, but they are super comfy.
Most of the women on my team ride the same saddle, and at the Dublin International track meet, almost all the women were on Adamo's too.
They're the biz. They're a bit wider than a normal saddle, but they have no lump where your sensitive parts go.
The women specific design on bikes is largely marketing bull in all but few exceptions (if you're really small).

I also never ride a bike without chamois cream. It's the bees knees. I use the Chamois Butt'r Her chamois cream, it was developed by a female cycling doctor.

And lastly good shorts. I like a smooth, uncountoured pad, nothing to bunch up and pinch. To each their own.

Try an adamo, get chamois cream and see how she gets on. I feel her pain, I used to be in absolute bits before I discovered them!

andy69

eeeee wrote: »

I'm a female cyclist, and I do a lot of cycling.
The only saddle I can sit on is an adamo. They look weird, but they are super comfy.
Most of the women on my team ride the same saddle, and at the Dublin International track meet, almost all the women were on Adamo's too.
They're the biz. They're a bit wider than a normal saddle, but they have no lump where your sensitive parts go.
The women specific design on bikes is largely marketing bull in all but few exceptions (if you're really small).

I also never ride a bike without chamois cream. It's the bees knees. I use the Chamois Butt'r Her chamois cream, it was developed by a female cycling doctor.

And lastly good shorts. I like a smooth, uncountoured pad, nothing to bunch up and pinch. To each their own.

Try an adamo, get chamois cream and see how she gets on. I feel her pain, I used to be in absolute bits before I discovered them!

Nice one! I'm checking out those saddles now. Wife has Selle SMP Avant which was the best one we had found but still she's suffering. We were only talking about this yesterday, as I got her a pair of Assos S7 shorts for her birthday.
So the combo of those (crazy expensive but very comfortable) shorts, plus the Buttr Her cream and the SMP saddle was as good as we could make it but a long way from perfect. We blamed her bike as it's like a feckin razor blade (Kuota Kharma), but I think we'll try one of those saddles. I don't think they were known a few years ago when we were trying the various options. Specialized and selle italia slr saddles were also tried but didn't help. Did the sit-bones measurement for specialized. did the selle italia measuring device thingy in the shop as well.
Had just given up basically, but now a ray of hope! yay!

ednwireland

previous thread

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=103776286


this sort of bike ? just so people know the bike type !

andy69

eeeee wrote: »

I'm a female cyclist, and I do a lot of cycling.
The only saddle I can sit on is an adamo. They look weird, but they are super comfy.
Most of the women on my team ride the same saddle, and at the Dublin International track meet, almost all the women were on Adamo's too...

....actually, could I just ask you - is there one model that seems to be more popular among your team mates? Like are they typically all using Performance Long, or Performance Narrow maybe?

eeeee

andy69 wrote: »

....actually, could I just ask you - is there one model that seems to be more popular among your team mates? Like are they typically all using Performance Long, or Performance Narrow maybe?

We all rode different ones, I ride the Road one, it's personal preference. An other few rider the TT one.
The narrow one is for people who find it difficult to adjust to having such a wide saddle where normal saddles are narrow - I now wear out shorts on my inner thighs now rather than where one would normally at sit bones /front.
I am not a fan of the narrow on cos I like the bigger gap but your partner might be different.
They are shorter than a normal saddle so that's why people would go for the long one, but there's much more of it between your legs (!) so handling your bike with a shorter nose isn't an issue in my experience.
Again it's up to what your partner finds comfortable.
They come up narrow sit-bone wise, the road is the widest at the back I think, I got the loan of one for track and got used to it so stuck with that.

I don't think you can rent them out anywhere which is a pity as they're pricey but they resell well as there's such a demand for them.

I feel your partners pain, I did the Specalized thing, and the Selle Italia. Murderous! I'm still not 100% comfy on a saddle, but the Adamo is the best I've found by far. I even have on on my mtb and a really beat old one on my commuter!

sheriff2

ednwireland wrote: »

previous thread

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=103776286


this sort of bike ? just so people know the bike type !

Thanks, although hers doesnt have the dipped frame

sheriff2

eeeee wrote: »

I'm a female cyclist, and I do a lot of cycling.
The only saddle I can sit on is an adamo. They look weird, but they are super comfy.
Most of the women on my team ride the same saddle, and at the Dublin International track meet, almost all the women were on Adamo's too.
They're the biz. They're a bit wider than a normal saddle, but they have no lump where your sensitive parts go.
The women specific design on bikes is largely marketing bull in all but few exceptions (if you're really small).

I also never ride a bike without chamois cream. It's the bees knees. I use the Chamois Butt'r Her chamois cream, it was developed by a female cycling doctor.

And lastly good shorts. I like a smooth, uncountoured pad, nothing to bunch up and pinch. To each their own.

Try an adamo, get chamois cream and see how she gets on. I feel her pain, I used to be in absolute bits before I discovered them!

Thanks a million, we are checking out Adamos now

Comma

That sort of saddle soreness would certainly put you off getting up on the bike again. After a bit of trial and error a few years back, I have ended up with the Selle SMP Drakon. Selle SMP saddles are for the most part expensive but there are some less expensive options if you are not fussy about the weight of the saddle.
Every saddle takes a little bit of getting used to in the sit bones area but the type of soreness that your wife has will not go away without getting a saddle to suit her. Best of luck.

KaneToad

Your post reminded me of an article I read a while back. Not being a frequent cyclist, it was something I'd never heard of. It was an education of a read.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/mar/26/hannah-dines-saddle-research-pain-swelling-female-cyclists

saccades

Not 100% sure if he has the Adamo, but Aiden Hammond does bike fitting and has a bazillion saddles to try.

I went through this with the missus (who is a casual cyclist on a mtb/hybrid) and she found that a Bioflex ladies comfort saddle was ace.

I suspect it wouldn't be as good on a road bike.

Rechuchote

How much cycling is the OP other half doing?

A friend with a fair amount of weight on recently got her first bike since childhood, and was sore after the first couple of rides. She went back to the bike shop and asked them to look at the angle, height and placement of the saddle, and after this was adjusted she had no more problems. (This is a regular piece of advice here for male cyclists with sorebottomitis, by the way.)

sheriff2

saccades wrote: »

Not 100% sure if he has the Adamo, but Aiden Hammond does bike fitting and has a bazillion saddles to try.
.

Thanks for the suggestion this is a good option, at least she can try a few saddles first

How much cycling is the OP other half doing?
Its just to bring the little fella on a spin, or drop him to creche. I think the next stop is back to the bike shop to see what they can do. At the moment she is cycling - standing up ha!

Sorry if I missed it and you already mentioned but what kind of discomfort is she experiencing ?

Is it friction and she's experiencing chaffing maybe from clothing rubbing or does it just get uncomfortable to sit on the saddle after a short time?

myclist

Not sure if its been mentioned, but it is standard practice when cycling to go ''commando''.

SwissToni

Not sure it’s the same but my wife gets irritated when I go out on my bike for more than 4 hours😀

eeeee

myclist wrote: »

Not sure if its been mentioned, but it is standard practice when cycling to go ''commando''.

Yep, absolutely no underwear, that's what the chamois is for. Underwear causes unholy chafing.

sheriff2

Deleted User wrote: »

Sorry if I missed it and you already mentioned but what kind of discomfort is she experiencing ?

Is it friction and she's experiencing chaffing maybe from clothing rubbing or does it just get uncomfortable to sit on the saddle after a short time?

No its not friction, its literal pain from sitting on the saddle

TheBlaaMan

sheriff2 wrote: »

No its not friction, its literal pain from sitting on the saddle

Ok, I'll bite..........because no-one has gone there yet. She needs to HTFU......

ie, she will get used to it, but has to adjust herself the fact that her sit bones/butt isnt used to the sort of pressure that a saddle exerts. Undoubtedly, some saddles are better than others but softer is not necessarily better because they tend to be wider, bringing chaffing back into the equation

"It doesn't get easier, you just go faster/stronger/accustomed..."

eeeee

It's very, very different for women than it is for men.
For a start we're sitting on something designed by men for men, completely unsuited to our biology.
Bike saddles as they traditionally are are fundamentally opposed to female anatomy!
Hence the growth of nose free saddles like the Adamo and Cobb saddles.

There is a period of adjustment where it is going to be uncomfortable until you get used to it, and bike fit is a big part of it too. Once they are taken care of problems can still persist.
I spent my first year on the bike sitting on ice packs and frozen peas afterwards every single time I got off the until I got to know better (that Adamo's existed!). Your position is key too, I have a naturally very aggressive position for a variety of reasons, so everything has to work around that.

Ye don't know the half of it

iwillhtfu

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Ok, I'll bite..........because no-one has gone there yet. She needs to HTFU......

ie, she will get used to it, but has to adjust herself the fact that her sit bones/butt isnt used to the sort of pressure that a saddle exerts. Undoubtedly, some saddles are better than others but softer is not necessarily better because they tend to be wider, bringing chaffing back into the equation

"It doesn't get easier, you just go faster/stronger/accustomed..."

I'd agree if the pain was on her butt but sounds more like soft tissue issues which won't really go away. Sounds like it'll be a case of trying out several saddles.

nak

I am well into double figures with the number of saddles I've tried over the years. Got a Specialized Power saddle a few years back and haven't had any issues since. Took a bit of getting used to as I had to change my bike setup due to the short nose on it.

Switched to the Mimic version when it came out and find that even better, have done 9 hour rides on the bike with no soft tissue damage. Have that saddle on my road and mountain bikes.

Good shorts help too, make sure they are tight fitting as the chamois can bunch up causing more discomfort.

rxchxy

From someone who has had a multitude of saddle related issues it's not a case of just ''getting used to it''. Yes, there may be a period of discomfort when taking up cycling at first but soft tissue doesn't 'get used to it'. I used to be in agony after 2hrs on the bike but after lots of trial and error I have found what works for me and am (somewhat) comfortably doing 4-5hrs + on the bike now.

I would reiterate what has been said previously OP - shorts, fit and saddle are key. It is very much down to the individual in terms of what works for them but I'll include what worked for me below just in case.

I found that going with a shorter stem really helped relieve some pressure. I got a bike fit when I bought my bike and that was great in all aspects other than saddle issue (which I didn't realise until later). I went for a re-fit and explained my predicament and where I felt the most pain and tried out a shorter stem and changing the angle of my handlebars. It left me sitting a little more upright in a less aggressive position with less pressure on my soft tissue. This definitely helped for more leisure rides.

For longer rides where I would be on the bike for a couple of hours I really found that the shorts and saddle made the biggest difference. Personal experience but different shorts suit different saddles. Shorts that have a lot of padding at the front seemed to 'bunch' when I wore them (even if they were tight fitting) and used the ISM/Adamo saddle in a more aggressive or TT position.

I can't suggest a quick fix here OP, but I know it's a v common issue - lots of women who I train with experience this problem but it is worth sticking with. It makes cycling a million times more enjoyable when you're not left in agony for days after. Good luck!

magicbastarder

published today by GCN - though i haven't had a chance to watch it yet!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vrmYuXwMJU