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Fs & Butts

 


I remember a time when I felt sympathy with a tinge of condescension toward those who experienced saddle soreness on the bike.  Biking even twenty-six or so kms to work as I did on 2019, and usually in work trousers, never seemed to cause me problems “there”.   Bring on 2022/3 and the long distances for the TA 🙀.  

Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve had to resort to nappy rash cream.  Yep.  And there is hardly a soul on the TA who doesn’t talk about saddle soreness at some stage.  For the first week, it seems like it could be the biggest issue for most, even over the fatigue of long consecutive daily rides.  Getting on the bike each morning is a delicate affair and both morning and evening include time dedicated to butt-taming.  

Legion are the reasons and remedies put forward.   Bike fit, a [insert brand here] saddle, vaseline, butt butter, stand up while riding, are a few.  A few do manage to avoid it somehow, but they don’t really seem to have universal reasons why.  Some, on the other hand, have to pause or even quit due to infection.  Ouch!

My process of using anti-acne soap to wash and applying Sudocrem plus chamois cream to my nether regions in the morning seems to have helped, but it’s not gone away completely, even after two weeks.  It’s not as much of a problem and I don’t give it much thought when riding these days, but I continue to apply TLC to ensure problems don’t develop. 

UPDATE  As I near the end of the ride, the saddle problems have never totally disappeared.  They are manageable and mostly just an irritation though.    Interestingly only a real problem with my newest chamois.  My old ones are fine.  Maybe the new ones just need longer to break in.   Just like saddles. 

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