Riding shouldn’t be a pain in the butt!

(Note:  I originally wrote this over 18 months ago, as one of my columns for FLATS, but never sent it out.  I have updated it several times, as there have been several different tries (tris?) at finding the best saddle.  Read on...)  Or numbness for that matter.  A very good friend of my once said that sitting on a bicycle seat is not comfortable… sitting in a La-z-boy recliner is comfortable.  But I definitely spend more time on my bicycle seat than I do in my recliner.  So, what do you do to find a (relatively) comfortable bicycle seat? 

You could get lucky.  My first bike had a Selle Italia Flite saddle.  During the 1990’s, that was THE lightweight saddle to have.  Fortunately for me, it fit me very well.  I didn’t have to try a bunch of different saddles to get comfortable.  In fact, it fit me so well that, until 2005, that was all that I rode.  Yes, even for triathlons.  Yes, even for Ironman distance.  And yes, even with just a swimsuit on.  I was told that, once you found a saddle that worked, you should use it on all of your bikes.  So, with the exception of my current triathlon bike, all of my bikes still have Flite saddles on them.  Sadly, Selle Italia, just like most running shoe manufacturers, decided to “upgrade” their Flite saddles a couple of years ago, and they appear to be nothing like the original Flites.  If I ever need a new Flite, I may have to do a lot of shopping.

Well, then, why does my tri bike have a different saddle on it?  Okay, I’ll be honest:  riding a long-course triathlon on the Flite was not the most comfortable I’ve ever been.  So, I decided to change my saddle when I changed my bike.  After trying a bunch out, I ended up with a Fi`zi:k Arione Tri.  That seemed to work pretty well for me.  Even with that, though, I kept wondering if there was a Holy Grail of saddles.  So, I am now on a Cobb V-Flow Plus.  I’m tweaking it, but it seems to be working out.  I’m not sure that it is the Holy Grail, and we’ll see how it pans out.

Where am I going with this?  Riding a bike should not be painful.  Nor should it be numbing.  And you should be able to get back on your bike on back-to-back days without dreading it.  Some of that is saddle time.  You just gotta get your butt in the saddle for awhile to toughen it up.  I know that after I’ve taken time off, it takes a while to get back into shape where my behind doesn’t hurt during/after a ride.  That’s not what I’m talking about.  If you are not comfortable on your saddle, you are going to be moving around a lot.  In a triathlon, staying in a clean aero position will save you precious time; however, the best aero position is worthless if you cannot stay in it.  So, if you are finding yourself constantly squirming or standing up, or if there are certain parts of your anatomy that are numb after you finish your ride, you may want to look at a change in your saddle. 

UPDATE:  After trying out the V-Flow Plus for an extended period of time, I’m sending it back.  I found myself squirming around continuously trying to find the right spot.  While it has been very good for some people, it wasn’t right for me.  For me, the answer seems to be the Fi`zi:k saddle that I have been riding.  To paraphrase Regis Philbin:  Final answer?  Maybe it’s not the Fi`zi:k, but the Fi`zi:k is the best one so far. 

What have I learned from this latest experience?  Other than that my butt may not be like the majority of triathletes out there.  I think I’ve finally drilled into my mind that the cut-out type saddle just doesn’t work for me.  I have no idea why not, but each one that I tried, bothered me more than those that didn’t have a cut-out.  When I look at the saddles that have seemed to work out best, they all appear to be more of the minimalist saddles as well.  While the Arione Tri does have more padding on the nose than the regular Arione, it is still a bit spare in terms of size and overall padding.  I think I’m done looking for now.

ADDITIONAL UPDATE:  I first penned this approximately 6 months ago when my behind was unhappy with sitting on a trainer.  Since then, I spent the majority of my time on my triathlon bike outside, and I stopped having issues with the saddle (Fi`zi:k).  BUT THEN… I went back to my regular road bike after the season ended.  And I’m now complaining about my aforementioned Flite saddle.  When I rode a different Flite saddle 1 month, I wasn’t as uncomfortable as I am on this one.  It makes me wonder if I need a new one.  Interestingly enough, as I started to write this, my first comment was that it seemed odd that it would become uncomfortably hard after 15 years of use.  As soon as I wrote that, it started to make sense.  Perhaps the support has gone out in it, and I am now getting pressure points in the wrong spots.  Or, maybe  I just need to spend more time adjusting to the road vs. tri postion (this was my original thought, but didn’t quite make sense as I had just ridden the same saddle without any problem). So, my first plan is to change to a different Flite saddle.  And my second thought is that my saddle needs have changed in the last 15 years, and that I need a different shaped saddle.  I always heard that things started heading south as you got older, but maybe it’s actually true! 

Update May 2011:  I’m back on the Cobb V-Flow Plus.  After making the rounds on most of the Cobb saddles, I went back to the Arione Tri. (yes, after the first update, I decided to give the Cobb SHC-170 a try.  I KNEW this was not the right saddle immediately) And then I realized that the Arione Tri wasn’t feeling right for me.  Even though the Cobb saddles didn’t work out very well, I did notice that there wasn’t any numbness with them that I did experience with the Arione Tri.  That got me thinking that maybe I needed to look at another saddle.  I even briefly thought of one of the ISM saddles, but I decided to call Cobb Cycling and talk about my experience with their saddles.  After speaking with Warren, I ordered the V-Flow Plus (again), and put it on my bike.  This time, though, I made sure the measurements were exactly where I put my Arione Tri, and I used tri shorts.  After the first ride, I did notice that the most comfortable riding location for me is just back of the nose, so I moved the saddle forward just a bit.  Overall, though, the saddle seemed more comfortable than previously.

Update March 2012:  I bought a new saddle.  After a long trainer ride on the V-Flow Plus saddle, there was a problem.  While I do have the ability to give you a pretty graphic description, I’ll just say that the issue was “down there.”  I wasn’t sure if it was due to the saddle/short combination on that day, but it was a problem I didn’t want to repeat.  Since I haven’t been ecstatic about the V-Flow Plus anyway, I decided to try an Adamo.  Now, I have resisted trying one of these, because they are… well, frankly, they’re hideous-looking.  But I decided that I’m not looking at it, I’m riding on it.  So, after looking at the website and being thoroughly confused by the fact that all of their saddles look similar and there’s no good explanation about the differences, I decided on a Breakaway.  This saddle wasn’t supposedly designed initially for triathletes, but, when you look at it, it’s hard to understand why it wasn’t.  It certainly seems like it should have been.  While it’s not a La-Z-Boy recliner, it’s definitely better than any other saddle I’ve ridden on a tri bike.  And it gets me wondering:  have I really been uncomfortable for 16 years?  And do I need to see if an Adamo will work better for me on my road bike?  What is different?  Well, there seems to be a definite position where I’m comfortable and nothing seems squished, constricted, or otherwise out of place.  And after riding on it for around two hours, I felt fine.  The acid test is extended time on a trainer, and I’m going to try it this weekend. 

Update April 2012:  And now we’re back to the V-Flow Plus.  After a weekend of riding on the Adamo, I came to the conclusion that it is too wide.  The recommendation is that if you think it is too wide, you need to move it further back and sit farther forward.  The problem is, if I sit any farther forward on the saddle, I’ll be on the very, very tippy tip of it.  And I actually found a sweet spot on the saddle that I kind of just settled into while riding.  Better?  Certainly than the Fi`zi:k or the Adamo.  Maybe I’ve found “the one.”  I’m more convinced that the previous problems that I had with the V-Flow were due to the confluence of overly padded shorts and sitting in the wrong position for too long.

I think it’s finally over.  By “it,” I mean the quest for a saddle.  After getting fitted at BikeFit and trying out a variety of saddles, I ended up staying on the V-Flow Plus.  I retried the V-Flow Max, SHC-170,

ISM Adamo Road

and Breakaway, and the Plus was the best.  And after getting my position changed and riding on it for a little awhile, I might have finally found the sweet spot of the Plus.   Interestingly enough, for a career “nose rider,” the best spot on the Plus is much farther (or is it further?  It’s farther) back than I’m accustomed, but, hey, if it works, I’ll take it.   A long ride is in order to find out if it will really work.

Post-Wildflower thoughts or The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

It has now been nearly 2 weeks since Wildflower, and I'm still not fully recovered, I don't think.  I swam this morning, and felt really good in the water (read that last phrase again, and realize how bizarre that is coming from me), but my run yesterday felt very sluggish.  Both of those were the first time I had done either activity since the race.  I'm scheduled to have a bike fit next weekend at Bikefit.com.  So, some broad assumptions can be made from this paragraph:

1.  I think a combination of a very hard race, and not being in great shape is why I am taking so long to recover
2.  Something is not quite right with my bike position

Wildflower is a definite race to do for any triathlete.  I find it hard to believe that you can pack 7500 triathletes in a weekend of races and still make it seem like a small race, but Wildflower manages to do that.  Maybe it's the fact that it is not really corporate (read: WTC).  Or maybe it has to do with the mentality that pervades Wildflower.  But having unofficial aid stations along the route that are offering hot dogs and beer or a beer bong, and having them remain rather than have some corporate no-fun rules enforcer telling them that they need to leave?  Yup, I want to go back to Wildflower, but maybe when I'm better trained.

The Good:  my swim was good.  While I do think the course was short, I'll take the fact that I didn't get beat up and had fairly clean water.  Taking Dave's friend's advice about riding the flume was key.  I basically felt like I body-surfed out to the first buoy.  33:19 is by no means fast, but I'll take it.  I like the fact that my swim exit picture has me coming out of the water in front of a few people who were in the previous wave.  When I passed people who started 10 minutes in front of me, I realized that, no matter how bad I think I swim, there are others that are hurting worse than me.

The Bad:  I rode the bike course very conservatively.  My time was slower than I expected, but I was worried about burning too many matches while climbing.  And I now descend like an old lady.  I guess a bad crash one year ago can make anyone a bit skittish; I'm hoping that I'll get more confidence as long as I stay upright.  Of course, seeing a guy lying on the road at the bottom of the steepest downhill on the course with his bike in a ditch and pieces/parts littering the road can also make one a bit nervous.  Flashback to IM California 2001 when I passed the first fatality in an IM on the road.  It does make you realize your own mortality.

Even though I went easy, I still started to feel my quads tighen up at mile 36.  Hence, the bike fit plans.

The Ugly:  Getting off the bike and having both quads and my left hamstring cramp was no fun.  And I couldn't run uphill because I would cramp whenever I tried.  So, I walked uphill.  And there's a lot of uphill. The back half (miles 3-6) is a killer with its hills.

The Funny:  I can never do a race without having something comical happen.  Almost crashing into the fencing as I pass the grandstand just out of transition because I'm looking down at my watch qualifies.  I abraded my right shoulder on the netting, locked up both brakes, hit a sandbag with front wheel, coming to an abrupt stop with my rear wheel leaving the ground.  Yup, that was me.  Of course, I had to do that in front of the grandstand where everyone was watching.

Final thoughts:  There was carnage on Beach Hill, the first steep uphill which occurs within the first 2 miles.  I saw broken derailleur hangers and broken chains.  I'm not sure how you this is possible if you are taking care of your equipment, but it was kind of crazy to see at least a half dozen people whose race was over within the first 2 miles due to equipment failure.

And my sunburn is nearly gone now.