UKC

saddle sores - what does it say about my saddle?

Ive just come back from doing some cycle touring in NZ, covered about 1100km in all on mixed surfaces. After about 300km i developed saddle sores - more pressure sores than chafing, directly on my sit bones. This kind of spoiled the trip a bit, tried various creams and stuff with padded shorts but to no avail. Im quite sure Ive got my saddle position and height correct as Ive been riding for many years and love to tweak things.
My usual road saddle is a charge spoon which ive used for up to 100 miles, my MTB saddle is a WTB rocket, and for this I opted for a different one as the Spoon isnt comfortable for me on rough surfaces and the Rocket is a bit old. So I got an OnOne Bignose saddle which is reputedly a good all rounder, albeit narrower than the Spoon at 133mm. I did some shorter rides on it (few 20 milers) with no problems before the trip.
Now what im wondering is - would too narrow a saddle cause these kind of pressure sores, or is it simply the wrong shape or type of saddle for me?
Ive tried measuring my sit bone width which comes out at about 85mm so going from online guides a 130mm saddle should be fine.

Please share any suggestions you may have even if they are purely anecdotal

In reply to Pesda potato:

I had a brooks one when I rode ~ 2500 miles down oz and there were a few days where I was left with a red saddle shaped mark on my arse just from being sat grinding into a headwind for 100 miles. We had rest days, short days etc even the best saddle won't cope with long days sat down.

Cheers

Toby

In reply to Pesda potato:

Essentially you just need a harder arse. get it used to it by doing long rides (4hours plus). It may be that you have a fit issue, but if you are happy doing your usual rides then it should be a decent fit (a poor fit generally shows this with in a few mile)

Whena mate, Jon, and I did lands end to John O'Groats, we started getting sores around 300 miles in (the torrential rain didn't help) so one of us had the genius idea of getting some compeed and wacking them on our sit bones - oh the relief! it was amazing, no soreness, extra cushioning from bumps etc- pure bliss.

Unfortunately we discovered the error of our ways when we tried to take them off. It's as bad as Veet on your knackers. an hour of whimpering in the shower and I managed to get one off....it took me 2 days to face taking the other one off! (I think Jon still has one on - but he doesn't talk about any more)

In reply to balmybaldwin:

Your mistake was to try and take off compeed plasters, they say you should leave them on until they start coming off on their own.

In reply to balmybaldwin:

Priceless.

I will never stick compeed on my hairy arse.

Toby

In reply to Toby_W:

The trick is not to spend the whole day sat down else the chamois can't dry out and it gets damp down below. On my long endurance events I'll typically cover 300 miles per day without any trouble in the saddle department.

So yes, the best saddles can deal with long days in the saddle, but you have to help them a bit.

In reply to Pesda potato:

Test other saddles, some just fit better than others.

Make sure you have a really good pad in your bib shorts. Personally I find cycling for 7 hour days easier in 2 brands, the other 2 brands I own are miserable upon the 3 hour mark or so. Remember to wash them too especially on a hard sweaty day.

20 miles doesn't really allow you to test a saddle you do need to put in a few long days over time to test something.

I have found that when I am doing high milage weeks (5 days in a saddle 50 miles a pop) that I do want chamois cream, though this is a just in case as I've never suffered from chafing luckily.

On another note, grab a steak and sit on it, eat it for dinner

In reply to Pesda potato:

The guy in my local cycle shop always says forget about the saddle get a really good top of the range fitted bib/shorts, he reckons they make a huge difference.

I have yet to purchase as I winced at the price.

In reply to Pesda potato:
Wow Orgsm 300miles in a day, that's immense, I don't think I've done more than 130. Can I ask which saddle / shorts combination you wear?

I agree with the other comments regarding keeping the pad clean and as dry as possible, however I don't get chafing just these pressure sores, could must be my ass needs to toughen up.

I was wearing a pretty good bib short (Hope which I believe its made by endura) but as someone said the top of the range shorts are ridiculously priced.

In reply to Pesda potato:

I have ridden for near on 25 years now covering a couple of thousand every year on average and started to have issues with saddles right out of the blue, just sore basically, i could hardly sit on the saddle 2 days in a row, so on recommendation i swapped to one of these:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/selle-smp-dynamic-saddle/?lang=en&curr=GBP&...

They look very weird and take a bit of getting used too but they are a revelation, last big ride i did in summer was 120 flattich miles so lots of time in the saddle and was comfortable all the way round

In reply to Dark-Cloud:


Like a stealth Concorde

In reply to Pesda potato:

Saddles have to fit you properly.

You need to measure the distance between your sit bones, then make sure your saddle is a wee bit wider.

Articles and youtube vids will explain how.

In reply to Gav M:
Had you read my original post you'd see I've already done this

Richlan - the design isn't as scary as the price!

In reply to Pesda potato:


This is certainly one area I am happy to spend money. My last saddle purchase was £120ish, but the great thing about that was the shop I eventually bought it from let me ride test saddles for three weeks before I actually made the purchase.

In reply to The New NickB:

Yep, agreed, always amazes me the amount of money people will spend on a GPS but you have three very important contact points on a bike and they skimp on saddles, bar tape and shoes....

In reply to Pesda potato:

Gilles Berthoud Aravis. Shorts are just standard DHB fare from wiggle. I don't use chamois cream.