Thank you all so much for your replies. It really is a difficult choice. Sam - you are correct that the discomfort is in .......ahem....more sensitive areas
. Oh I hope the boys aren't reading this but their problem if they do. Chafing / Skin soreness more than anything else...i.e. I don't have any discomfort on sitbone areas. I move around as much as possible on the bike but nothing seems to be helping. I guess as I am doing more miles more frequently it's going to happen but it's spoiling my riding so think I will up my budget and consider some other options. The difficulty is that I live in the wilds of Norfolk and finding a dealer that has the areseometer is impossible. I only have five weeks until my 50 mile event and after that we want to keep upping the mileage and try a couple of Sportives this year - so guess I'll have to bite the bullet and give something a go. The Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow seems to crop up alot in peoples recommendations and I met a lady out yesterday on her spanking new Boardman (yes...you can detect a hint of jealousy!) who had put the Selle on hers and loved it. Guess if I don't get on with it then someone else might so can hopefully sell it.
Thanks again for advice. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
If the chaps around here are gentlemen, they will behave themselves and refrain from comment.
If the sensitive areas are to blame then I would recommend looking for something that takes the pressure off them. I recently bought a Selle Italia Diva, about which I've heard nothing but good things, although it is terribly expensive. I haven't had a chance to try it yet because I've had bronchitis for 5 weeks
.
Anyway. There is also the Terry range, which many people rate. As this has been something of an obsession of mine for the past gods know how long, I can report that ladies who have a less flexible back (or relaxed riding style) and more robust "bits" report success with more minimal pressure relief (including Brooks saddles, the very idea of which fills me with horror). A more flexible back tends to encourage a more aggressive riding position, and then the cut-out becomes more useful unless the sensitive area is considerably less sensitive. Sensitivity tends to be correlated with certain specifics of anatomy, and I'll be buggered if I'm going to discuss those in public because I am not in the mood for another thread derailed by inappropriate commentary. Do feel free to contact me by PM.
If you have a flexible lower back and a sensitive frontal area, the trick seems to be to find a saddle that allows you to have the sitbone area reasonably level while the front is either out of the way/neutral (upright riding style) or configured to give pressure relief with support (Terry Ti Race, Selle SMP). Because there will inevitably be some weight on the front, no matter how flexible your back, unless you're a contortionist with insanely strong abs, you need to make sure that any such weight is as minimal as possible and on the bone either side of... well. I'm sure you get the idea. The bit where it hurts. Make sure you distinguish between pressure and chafing, too. You might find that a saddle that has pressure-relief in the form of a channel or a softer gel area may still cause chafing, or else it might give you just the small amount of pressure relief you need without causing any other problems.
Be careful about how wide any cut-out is. If it's
too wide, you run the risk of putting too much pressure on the creases either side of the groin. The goal is to get most of the weight on the sit bones and the rest distributed across the bone cradle surrounding the softer areas. If you've got a stiff lower back and want an aggressive, head-down position then you're really going to struggle, I'm afraid.
I've ditched or passed on most of my unsuccessful saddles already, otherwise I'd offer to post you a couple to try them. All I've got left just now are a Planet X TT saddle, which is torture, and a men's Selle Italia SLR which I sat on for about two minutes before declaring it utterly unsuitable (in other words, both are practically new). The only other saddle I've got is due to be returned to its original owner.
Specialized may well be worth a go. You can measure your own sit bones thusly:
Get an A3 sheet of paper and a pencil. Put the former on the floor and sit on it so you are near to and parallel to one of the long edges. Bring your knees up to your chest and feel for your sit bones then mark where they are with the pencil. Now you can measure between the marks and you know what the effective width of saddle is that you need. Note that effective width isn't always what is quoted by manufacturers and you might want to look for something about 10mm wider if there is just one width measurement.
Sam
but decided that the shop was nearby to do it properly) that using playdoh you can sort of make your own cushion to try to measure you sit bones. From what I remember of the process in the shop it was best to wear leggings/cycle shorts (as opposed to the jeans I wore the first time) and that when you sat on the memory cushion thing, that my feet were slightly raised off the floor.
