- Your fitter (or whoever told you to get the 143mm) is the best to ask, but here is one consideration when a rider is on a saddle that is wider than ideal for them.
- Wider wings can lead a rider to be more forward on the saddle than one the proper width. This can mean you are not placing your sit bones on the proper section of the saddle wings. This means it’s more likely that you are sitting on the soft tissue under you than your skeletal structure. This soft tissue compression can restrict the blood flow in the region, which is what usually causes numbness.
- Essentially, you may be causing the numbness from sitting on the wrong part of the saddle (center to nose) by compression your blood flow vs sitting on the bones and allowing proper blood flow.
- One way to start review of this issue is to get a picture of you sitting on the bike. If there is a notable amount of saddle extending beyond your bottom, that is usually not a good thing. Not entirely conclusive, as some riders ride a very forward position on a saddle, but I have seen problems like yours when people were on too wide of a saddle.
- You don’t need a smart trainer in order to stand on the bike while using the trainer.
- Standing is fine as long as you keep your head and don’t get crazy with body movements.
- Do the same thing we do outside, shift up 2-4 gears on the rear cassette to lower your cadence.
- Stand and maintain a centered position over the bike and trainer. Take as few as 10 pedal strokes or up to longer periods if you want.
- Doing this type of standing break every 3-10 minutes gives useful relief to the support structure on the saddle. People often do this outside without thinking, but we tend to sit longer inside and is a common source of the problem.
- Really, there is no major concern with standing on the trainer if you keep to basic movement and don’t spring like a monkey.