Dear KimCould you help please? After cycling 20 - 40 miles I suffer from soreness in the area of the lips of my vagina. I have tried various creams (e.g. Vaseline, Ozone Cream), additional padding in that area and a new saddle all without success. On a personal note I am 54, weigh approx 9 stone, and have had two children when I was in my late twenties. However, when I have been examined by a consultant (in relation to a hysterectomy) he did comment that the tissue in that area was "very delicate". I should also mention this is my first season (April - Sept) where I have regularly undertaken rides of this distance on a weekly basis.My concern is I am undertaking a cycling tour in Cuba this November (2007) cycling approx 45km per day for 14 days and the tropical conditions may well make matters worse. What would you advise?Kind Regards,De Hall
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Hiya
Not sure if you would like my advice too - but here it is anyway!
Keep at the chamois cream (drapolene is pretty good as it's for nappy rash - also fairly inexpensive)
Second suggestion is re. saddles. I suggest you keep all possible pressure off this area. Most saddles with holes don't do a great job (although I find better than saddles without holes!) The one which keeps most pressure off is a brand called a Selle SMP - there's a bottom end model which is cheap (but a bit large & squishy) - but most likely the top end ones work better. they look a little wierd, but I have seen them used successfully by plenty of elite riders as well as people with your problems.
Best of luck. If you are careful with the saddle you can probably try it out on a turbo trainer (which is the hardest test for a saddle I find) - and return it if you don't think it will work.
A final thought - you might think that a soft saddle would be best - but in my experience firmer is better. then your sit bones sit high on the saddle. On a soft saddle your sit bones tend to sink in - and this just compresses any soft bits of yours . . .
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 ouch - i know the feeling - i used to use canesten cream as a precautionary measure when on mtb holidays - it seemed to do the trick.
good luck
:0)
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 I used to get that, caused by a badly fitting saddle. It was too wide to support my sitbones therefore I used to slide forward onto the nose of the saddle and the soft tissue. A fair bit of trial and error later I've found a saddle that works for me (a men's flite), in fact I'd like to try an even narrower saddle. I agree with Limey Slime about firm saddle being better, particularly if your doing long miles and I've had a quick look at the SMP saddle and it is the kind of thing I actually would go for (thanks Limey Slime, will have a good look at the,) and it comes in several widths. Saddles are very personal though and what works for me may be hell for you, if you don't have many female friends who ride and who's saddles you can try then it can end up an expensive process to get one that suits you (been there). A start may be to go to a Specialized dealer and sit on their butt-ometer which will measure the gap between your sitbones, you can then look at saddles which are designed to support your sitbones properly. There is no point being on a wide saddle when you have narrow sitbones. Shorts can also make a difference, I have practically no problems with my Sugoi shorts, the chamois just seems to suit me - I now won't wear anything else on rides over 1.5 hours which means I have several pairs of expensive other brand cycling shorts that hardly get worn now. I will wear Assos chamois cream on longer rides but you have to be careful where you put it as its got menthol in it, if I've not been doing many long rides and my butt has softened up a bit then I will sometimes use Sudacreme or similar after the ride though I don't have problems like I used to with bad saddle/short combination.
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Hiya im having exactly the same problem, ive even considered giving cycling up it can be so painful, ive brought loads of saddles and to no avail, im putting all my weight onto the front of my girly bits. Also ive found with high cadence work and lower gears its worse, because of your legs going up and down you are moving more. I wish i could find an anwer to it as well. Oh yeah i had a selle smp and it was the closest to comfort i got, but because it is so wide on the rear it took away alot of the movement up and down on the saddle for climbing etc. If anyone has tried any of the other models, id appreciate any comments
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| Edited: 13/12/07 23:27 |
Oh well, at least I'm not alone......as I'm suffering with exactly the same thing. I am fairly new to cycling and have a fairly soft/squishy saddle, so will change that for starters, and keep on with the sudocreme. (I rode for three hours yesterday and am VERY sore today!)
What exactly ARE the Sitbones and what and where will I find Specialized's buttometer????? I might give it a go. Thanks!
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Same here - to be honest I've been riding for years with the same saddle and bike set up, and never had a problem. But I've been riding slightly more and definately harder this year and have had a few problems - but I have put it down mostly to being of an age when things start to change! I have started to use Assos chamios creme and Sudo cream on the sore areas help healing but the best thing I have found is making sure the area is clean fully dry after showers (lesson learnt from an epesiotomy I've foregone the salt baths this time  ) and get the hairdryer on it.
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 I tend to get more of a bruising around the pubic bone and my bum cheeks , i currently ride with a mens saddle but i think in time i will look for a womena specific saddle , may buy some chamois cream too .
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Anonymous the sitbones are your ischial tuberosities and quite literally are the bits of the pelvis that you sit on cushioned by your bum cheeks. Specialised measuring is available at all specialised concept stores, they will have list of all on the web sites. Also some LBS's have this facility, guess it depends where you live, but bigger stores such as Evans have them.
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 i would agree that thinner more expensive saddles suit better and finding the right shorts that suit you, womens saddles are tailored for us better, although to be fair I use charge spoons on two of my bikes, can anyone recommend a nice road saddle, for me unsure what to try, also use a wtb thinline on my full suss so do prefer a thin sadlle.
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I have found the Terry Butterfly to be the comfiest road saddle I've tried (didn't like the specialized women's ones), combined with Sugoi RS shorts and CrotchGuard, I'm pretty comfy on the long rides. Depends on you're anatomy I guess, but some women might still experience problems with soft tissue damage even with the best saddle etc. on the longer rides.
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| Edited: 18/09/08 11:55 |
