One of the first complaints that new mountain bikers have is that their butt hurts.
As active as mountain biking is it still puts you sitting square on your butt for some pretty long periods of time. Texas mountain biking covers a lot of rough terrain that intensifies the soreness when you hop over a rock or a root and feel your seat jab into your rear.
Today’s quick tip is how to deal with that discomfort and overcome the pain you feel.
There are basically 4 solutions for dealing with your achey hindquarters.
- Adjust your seat for proper positioning
- Wear shorts made specifically for cycling
- Use a seat that relieves pressure on sensitive areas
- Lubricate
Lets start with positioning. This is perhaps the hardest to achieve but will be the most beneficial, to achieve proper positioning visit your local bike shop and have them help you get seated properly. You will want to be positioned so that you are resting squarely on your seat bones. Being out of position can put additional pressure on your sensitive areas and cut off circulation to vital organs. Thanks to Ruben Macias from Amp Cyclist for this tip.
A good pair of cycling shorts is the simplest way to give you relief from your seat. Cycling specific shorts have padding on the seat of the pants that helps cushion and protect you from friction and rubbing against the seat. This padding is usually referred to as a chamois. A quality pair will cost anywhere from $65 – $200.
Cycling shorts come in 2 basic styles. There are the spandex shorts
Choosing a seat that is comfortable can be a more daunting task because each person is different. I highly recommend the seat that I use which is an ISM Adamo Road Saddle. As you can see from the picture to the right, it has a cutout in the center so that you aren’t sitting directly on top of your sacred bits. When you are looking to perform at a high level you definitely want to get something small and light. If comfort is key to you, then you may want to look into a seat with a little extra padding.
When trying to choose a seat you may have to experiment a little bit. Go to your local shop, most will have several demo seats that you can try out for a ride or two before laying down the money for them.
Lubrication. You thought it was just for your chain. HA!
Using a chamois & anti-chafing creams
So if mountain biking in Texas is giving you a pain in the butt, try one or all of these solutions. Your hiney will thank you for them. If you found this helpful, be sure to subscribe using the box below. Ride safely!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
All good tips, but one of the first things I would recommend is checking your saddle position. A rider want to make sure they are sitting on their seat bones. If you’re not sitting on your seat bones correctly, you could be cutting off circulation and hitting sensitive tissue. That’s assuming that the saddle is the proper width for the rider. Some may have to go wider or narrower. But anyway, all good tips, but a lot of times changing your saddle position is the fastest and cheapest way to reduce/elminate saddle pain. If the pain continues, then you may have to look into different saddle widths.
Great advice Ruben, getting the proper positioning on any seat is a huge step forward for comfort. I will be sure to add that in to the article.