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Saddle Feels Funny – But In A Good Way!

01.29.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

I’ve been bugged lately by soreness in my butt during rides. This is a problem I’ve wrestled with pretty much since I started biking. A pro bike fit a couple of years ago helped, but not entirely. And in recent months, I find myself standing on the pedals at regular and more frequent intervals to take the pressure off from down under.

I finally decided to do something about it, and last weekend I dug out the Allen wrench and went to work on the seat. Well, nothing drastic. I just thought it made sense to scooch it back about an eighth of an inch. Using the time-honored method of gauging seat fore-and-aft, I realized that when riding normally on the hoods, the front hub stuck out from under my handlebars — just a little bit.

My first ride after the adjustment Friday afternoon was inconclusive. I thought maybe it felt better, but the ride was only for 20 miles — about an hour and 20 minutes. It wasn’t enough time to get a good feel for the new placement.

On Sunday’s ride though, I did spend enough time in the saddle. My ride was almost three full hours, and we traveled 43 miles. Sure, I stood on the pedals. But on a ride of that length, who doesn’t? What I did notice was that the seat felt more comfortable. I was sitting a slight bit back, and it seemed to make a difference.

When we got to the convenience store we use for a turnaround, I propped the bike up against a wall and went in to refill my bottles. When I came out, I took a look at the bike — then looked again. That saddle seemed to have a marked tilt down! I have no idea how it got that way, except that when I loosened the bolts to move the saddle back, I must have knocked it off level.

Even a quick snapshot in my cluttered garage shows the forward tilt to the saddle.
Even a quick snapshot in my cluttered garage shows the forward tilt to the saddle.

I’ve always set my saddles so they’re level. Well, maybe I fudge a little bit, and tilt it half a bubble down, according to my carpenters level. But this was lots different. The tilt forward was noticeable just by eyeballing it. My initial reaction was to reach for my multi-tool and set things right, but then I remembered — on the ride out here, my butt wasn’t bothering me. The soreness and pressure I usually experience just wasn’t there. I decided to leave well enough alone, and ride back.

I’ve already talked about that ride in the previous post. It was an easy ride for my companions, and a challenge for me. But even during the final mile, when I was pedaling hard to keep up with one of the club’s faster women, the saddle wasn’t bothering me. In fact, I seemed to be able to apply more power to the pedals in the new position.

Last summer, I rode with an older gentleman who tilts his saddle forward at a drastic angle. I told him I was surprised that he didn’t slide off during his rides — the tilt was that severe. He pointed out that he spends most of his riding time on his aero bars, and he needs a tilted saddle to fit the bars well with a well bent-over riding position. It must work — he’s a faster rider than I am.

So even though I’m riding with a greater forward tilt than I think I should, I’m coming to the conclusion that maybe I should have been doing it this way all along. My saddle tilt isn’t as great as that fellow’s, but as I said, it’s obvious even to the casual cyclist. I’ll let you know if I decide to keep it this way.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // bike fitting, saddle

Sitting on the Sit Bones? Maybe Not

09.16.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

Long-time readers of this blog are aware that I have had an ongoing battle with various saddles. It seems that after about an hour’s riding, my butt starts to hurt. I’ve tried several different saddles, and thought I had finally hit upon one that was acceptable — not perfect by any means, but one that seemed to work better for me than most others I’ve tried.

Even with this one though, I have to resort to some tricks to stay comfortable. I stand and pedal every so often. Whenever I coast, I take the weight off my butt. I vary my hand positions on the bars constantly. But when riding Friday, I accidentally scooched into a position that was mahvelous.

The admonition when riding is to sit on the sit bones — the “ischial tuberosities” — that protrude from the pelvis. I’ve always been aware of this saying, and I thought I had always been abiding by it. But this shift of position moved me to the real sit bones. I could tell the difference. Suddenly, my bottom felt at ease — as though it should have been in this spot all along, and should continue there from now on.

Funny thing is, I’m not really on my sit bones. At least, not the sit bones we all think of. It was all cleared up for me when I stumbled onto Steve Hogg’s Bike Fitting Website. Hogg writes extensively about the arcana of a proper bike fit (Reading his articles is a great way to spend a rainy afternoon when you can’t get out for your ride) and you’ll learn a lot by visiting his site.

According to Steve Hogg, we really sit on the pelvic bones just forward of the ischial tuberosities.

He points out that the pelvis is not constructed for us to sit on the ischial tuberosities. Instead, the bones on each side of the base of pelvis curve a little bit lower than the tuberosities protrude. They angle from wide at the rear to narrow at the front, and if the saddle is the right design, they’ll rest right on top of it.

I must have rocked back just enough that these bones rested on the saddle, instead of my perineum. I’ve been crushing my taint all along, and apparently thought that was what we had to put up with when riding a bike.

It seems a lot of cyclists have trouble with finding the right spot. As our frequent guest poster Jeff Hemmel pointed out in a review of the Bontrager Affinity saddle, Bontrager designed its perch to facilitate finding the right spot on the pubic arch.

I spent the rest of Friday’s ride, and Saturday’s, changing my position on the saddle so I could practice getting back to the exact spot I needed to get to. I think I have it down. At any rate, my rides seemed more comfortable to me than they usually are after I’ve put in 15 miles or so.

Now, you might think that if I’m putting my weight a bit forward of where we have always thought it should be that I’d be crushing my softy bits. In my case, the Forte Classic saddle I ride has a cutout, so there’s no pressure there anyway. I’d be interested in trying one of my other saddles that don’t have a cutout to see just what the results would be — but I’m in no hurry to do so. For the time being, I’ll just enjoy my rides.

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Categories // Bike fit, Equipment Tags // bike fitting, saddle

Minor Adjustments

01.08.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 1 Comment

Over the past week, I’ve had occasion to make adjustments to the saddles on both my and Pat’s bike. Her bike, of course, needed a replacement saddle after hers fell apart on New Year’s Day. In my case, I got new crank arms, and thought their longer length would require some changes in my saddle position.

Once again I was intrigued by the difference a few millimeters makes. First, my saddle. My crank arms are now 175mm, as opposed to the 172.5mm ones they replaced. So a 2.5mm drop in the seat height was called for, no? I decided not to go quite that far, but did lower the seat by roughly two millimeters.

The first ride after the change left me feeling no real difference. But later that evening, I felt a soreness just above my right knee. Nothing serious, but it was there. I decided I’d have to keep experimenting to get just the right setting.

Pat’s bike had its own issues. I put on the saddle that came as original equipment, and measured the distance from the saddle nose to the center of the headset to make sure they were the same. Then, I made sure the saddle was level. It was ready for her to ride it.

Right off the bat, there were problems. I had not tightened the saddle enough, and Pat worked it loose in just a few pedal strokes. We returned to the house, and I did some more wrenching. We did the nine-mile neighborhood ride she likes to do during the week.

“It feels like my butt is hanging off the back,” she complained.

I checked the level of the saddle. It was off again, the nose pointing slightly up. More tweaking.

On the same ride Saturday, things seemed better for her. She didn’t have the “hanging” sensation, but said she still felt like the nose was pointing up a little. I got out the wrench and the level, and with any luck, it should meet her expectations now.

In my case, I had neglected to move the saddle back to compensate for its lower height. But after two or three rides, I decided it never needed to be lowered in the first place. I raised it to its previous height, and this time, I moved it back two millimeters.

My next ride had some interesting results. I felt most comfortable when I scooted my butt way back on the saddle. It looked like I would have to move it back a lot farther.

But I was leery of doing that. Moving the saddle too far back would affect my reach to the bars, and my arms had a nice bend to them. I remembered how I rode for the first year after buying the bike, with my elbows locked and my arms straight. I didn’t want to experience that again.

On my Saturday ride, I was in a different pair of bibs than I wore the day before. The Friday bibs were by Castelli, with their distinctive thin but dense chamois pad. The Saturday bibs were Sugois, which have a thicker, softer, and larger pad. On the Saturday ride, I was perfectly comfortable riding in a normal position on the saddle. On Sunday, I wore a pair of tights by Performance. No problems.

So, I think I have the adjustment correct now. I’d noted the difference shorts make in the past, and kicked myself for not paying attention to that this time around. I’ve heard Lance Armstrong referred to as “Mr. Millimeter,” because of his ultra-awareness to changes in his bike’s setup. Any more changes in my setup will be in tiny increments, too.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // chamois, cranksets, saddle

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