As of today, I have ridden over 500 miles on my new saddle. I was feeling real good about it until today’s 57 mile ride. My butt hurt like hell during the last 15 miles, and now I have a brand new, painful, saddle sore. F***!

The first time I put the new saddle on my bike and gave it a spin on the trainer, it felt hard and uncomfortable. Then I followed the instructions to a ‘T’ on proper adjustment of the saddle and rode outside for 20 miles. It still felt harder than my old gel-padded saddle, but overall it felt pretty good. A few people told me to give it time, and that the memory foam will mold to my butt. I put in a few more bike rides & things still felt pretty good. I was smart and ramped up my mileage slowly, to let my body adapt. I had some sit bone pain, but no chaffing and no saddle sores. I was very hopeful that my sit bones would harden up and I’d adapt. I’ve done a couple of 1 hour trainer rides on it with no problem. That was really good news, because trainer rides usually bothered me alot.

However, the sit bone pain persisted on my longer rides. Last weekend I re-read the saddle adjustment instructions trying to figure out how to adjust the saddle to relieve pressure in that area. I took my tools with me on a 59 mile ride, and stopped alot during the first hour adjusting the saddle. I got the saddle to a good place, and had a great ride with minimal pain. I felt powerful. I felt comfortable. I was happy that I finally solved my saddle woes.

I don’t get why today’s ride ended in such pain. I am beginning to wonder if perhaps I just have sensitive skin, and that my butt can only take so much saddle time. One thing for sure: I cannot get to the B2B finish line unless I figure out how I can put in the miles on the saddle without all this butt pain.

PS: I was wearing my bike shorts last week. This week I wore tri shorts, because I was doing a brick workout. Two thoughts…1) the bike shorts put my pelvis in a slightly different angle, due to the padding. 2) they have more padding!

PSS: maybe I need to wash my bike shorts in HOT water? I wash them in warm water after every ride, and then air dry. Maybe there are nasty germs building up in the fabric??

PSSS: I have tried different lubes. I don’t like any of the petroleum based products. They leave an icky buildup in the bike shorts. I like Mission Anti Friction creme the best. It has some cornstarch in it. I wonder if that encourages germs? My 2nd choice for lube is Chamois Butr, which has lanolin in it. I think lanolin discourages germs. Maybe I should use that…?

I am desperate now. Anybody have any ideas? Be sure to read the comments – lots of good stuff added in there!

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