First bike ride in 17 years

[Racing roadkill]

Gel saddles are good, on certain types of bike, for certain types of riding. The problem is, that using a gel saddle will hinder the process of toughening up your arse cheeks, in the long term, and if you end up doing any sort of distance, on a road bike, your glutes ( arse cheek muscles) will actually relax, which results in more discomfort. For a short commute / bimble type ride, on a bike with a more upright position, they are good.

 

[mjr]

Padded shorts are good, on certain types of bike, for certain types of riding. The problem is, that using padded shorts will hinder the process of toughening up your arse cheeks, in the long term, and if you end up doing any sort of distance, on a road bike, your glutes ( arse cheek muscles) will actually relax, which results in more discomfort. For a short commute / bimble type ride, on a bike with a more upright position, they are good.

Fixed That For You. If you disagree, feel free to try to explain why it matters whether the padding is inside or outside your clothing.

 

[Low Gear Guy]

Well done!

No one has ever designed an easy chair along the lines of a bicycle saddle. It's not a naturally comfortable thing.

Have you tried a recumbent bike?

 

[Racing roadkill]

Have you tried a recumbent bike?

'Bents have seats rather than saddles.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Fixed That For You. If you disagree, feel free to try to explain why it matters whether the padding is inside or outside your clothing.

For once, I agree with you (to an extent). Padded shorts do help, in addition to a padded saddle, in some circumstances.

 

[steveindenmark]

Gel saddles and covers are a waste of money. Dont bother asking which saddle you should get because we all have totally different preferences. Its a very personal choice. But in my opinion, the less padding on a seat the better. But a good pair of padded shorts really help. You did well for a first time out in 17 years. I would expect some discomfort.

 

[Racing roadkill]

A couple of years ago I found that the saddle was limiting the distance I could ride by making it painful after a certain period of time, so I decided to experiment to see if I could find something to suit me better than my Brooks B17. After various experiments I eventually settled on a Selle SMP Trk. After completing a 400k Audax on it I'm happy to declare it a success. Finally something that isn't sawing me in two after 150km.

Now, here's the interesting thing. The Selle Trk is a well padded saddle. Conventional wisdom would have you believe that this would lead to chafing and all kinds of misery, when compared with harder saddles. Not something I experience at all.

I'm sceptical whether the padding and weird design of the Trk are at all important. I suspect that it just happens to be the right size. I could test this theory by trying other similarly sized saddles - but why would I want to do that?

This is where conventional wisdom falls down. People find something that does or doesn't suit them and form a theory putting the success or otherwise of that item down to something (padding or lack of it, funny shape, colour, chakra) and evangelically declare that theory to be true. When actually it may be utterly irrelevant.

Exactly right. Horses for courses, never truer than with saddles.

 

[Racing roadkill]

There's also the little matter of how you support your weight ( and how much weight you are supporting ) whilst riding. I personally tend to support the weight by the pedals and bars, more than the saddle, it's a rest, not something I use to support much at all. Different strokes for different folks. I could get on with almost any saddle, The issue comes after smashing out a massive one, and I'm starting to tire out, more weight is taken by the saddle, and the size / shape / softness, starts to become more important.

 

[Alan O]

...smashing out a massive one...

Ooh, err, missus!

 

[mjr]

There's also the little matter of how you support your weight ( and how much weight you are supporting ) whilst riding. I personally tend to support the weight by the pedals and bars, more than the saddle, it's a rest, not something I use to support much at all.

...whereas I believe that supporting your weight on the bars is a quick way to damaging your wrists and shoulders amongst other things. Only the minimum weight needed to steer should go on the bars - hands resting lightly on them - and the bulk of the weight gets split between pedals and saddle. It's important that it is split and not all on saddle (saddle too high or low) or all on pedals (saddle too low), though.

 

[Shaun]

Ok yesterday was my first bike ride for years.. I did 28 miles but towards the end I found my saddle a bit uncomfortable...like a bit bony if that makes sense...is this normal for a newbie or do I need a more comfortable saddle?

Congrats!! That's a cracking first ride. Well done! ... and you can expect your bum to be a bit sore if you haven't ridden in years. As others have said, leave the bike as-is for now and just get some more rides in. Your bum will toughen up the more regularly you ride, and once you've ridden regularly enough to know if the saddle is generally uncomfortable over longer distances, then is the time to look at a change of saddle (which can sometimes be more art than science).

Cheers,
Shaun