[lonefrontranger]

iliveonnitro: the butt pain may or may not be just 'beginner's break-in'.

lemme explain.

those muscles you use to sit on the sit bones? they're not used to supporting your weight. i mean unless you're given to sitting on fence rails, you don't use those muscles to support your weight, ever, unless you ride a bike or a horse - and they won't be adequately 'conditioned' to support your weight unless you do it on a regular basis, and each time you increase your 'volume', your muscles have to adapt... like, almost everyone feels some butt fatigue after a century, unless they do them regularly. capice?

you ever gone on a horseback ride and been practically unable to walk the next day? same thing.

i'm talking about the muscles that surround and support the 'pubic arch' and sit bones. and googling 'gray's anatomy' these days only brings up idiotic fansites about that stupid tv show, so i cant explain myself better than that, sorry.

anyhow. for what it's worth: i ride a vanilla arione on my high-mileage roadie, an old school Flite Ti on my fixte and my MTB, and SLRs on my TT/crit bike and cross bike.

something the guys will never tell you: women who have had kids, may have to switch their saddles during and after pregnancy. those sit bones spread to accomodate childbirth, and often times they don't go back. i ride men's saddles because i have never, and will never, have kids. therefore, i have the sit bone width of a twelve year old boy and need a narrow saddle.

also, regardless of how wide/narrow your hips are, or what saddle you ride, you absolutely need to get your bike fit and your upper body balanced on it properly so that your saddle is LEVEL, ladies. Tilted = Very Bad. i'm a woman, and i fought with this stuff for years until someone straightened my fit problems out and got me onto a correctly sized bike. it was like magic and i've not had a day's saddle pain or hand numbness or stiff neck or any other such issues since.

i recently straightened my SO out on this one, too. his bike fit was ghastly and he had all kinds of upper back problems from it.

bike fit is the MOST important thing to saddle comfort. most people ride with their saddles too high, and too far back, often as a result of what i call the 'racing prejudiced' shop-style fits that get pushed on the unprepared beginner. competitive racers have years of muscle memory and core strength from riding hundreds of miles a month which allows them to support the 'bridge' for these long, stretched-out positions. beginner riders, and most recreational cyclists, on the other hand, do not, and the pain of the 'bridge position' of this forward lean without the muscle strength to support it, causes them to feel like they have to tilt their saddle to compensate. if you have to tip your saddle nose significantly down, then either your saddle is too high, or your top tube is too long, or probably both.

you should be able to just rest the heel of your stocking foot on your pedal, when it's at the very bottom of the crank revolution. on BOTH sides, without dropping your hip. have someone watch to make sure you're not 'cheating' by rolling your hip when you do this.

i cant emphasise this enough: in order to feel comfortable on your bike, you need to be BALANCED properly so that you feel centred IN the bike, not 'perched' on top of it. a proper road bike fit means that your weight is almost equally distributed in a tripod, or triangle, between the pedals, the saddle and your bars. if you tip your saddle forward or back, then it upsets this 'triangle of balance' and your weight is not properly balanced or centred over the BB. the most common issue i see with riders who are improperly fit, is someone who got put on an overly-large bike that the shop sold them as a 'great deal'.

if you tip the saddle down, you end up with too much weight over the front hub and in your hands. this causes a host of issues including shaky control, squirrelly handling, numb hands, cramped wrists, and a sore back and neck. there's no way you can keep your elbows loose, and upper body relaxed when you're constantly pushing backwards. your hands, wrists, shoulders, neck, all suffer.

a properly fit and balanced rider should, from the forward 'hoods' riding position, be able to lift both hands from the handlebars and support their weight in a balanced, natural position without wobbling or correcting. if you can do this, and hold your hands out to the side 'airplane wing' style while riding a (levelled) trainer or coasting on a flat to slight decline, then you're properly fit. if not, you need to go back to the drawing board and do some more analysis.

i'm a cycling coach who specialises in starting beginner racers, for what it's worth.