When I ride on the road, no numbness shows up, but when I’m on the trainer (currently doing SSB-I LV), numbness start to show at around 20 min mark.
My bike fitter adviced me to give my current saddle (Fizik antares R7) a solid go, but if need be, get an SMP F30C. So I’m wondering whether numbness is acceptable when riding on trainers given the demand on the body the trainer places? Or the R7 is no good for me, period?
Thanks in advance 
In general you are not moving around nearly as much indoors as outdoors. I do find that I get more discomfort on the trainer than outdoors, however you should not be getting numbness or pain. A couple things that I found to help was to stand up during the recoveries of the workout for 30 seconds to a minute or so.
Another thing you could try is some rocker plates so the bike has a bit of movement while your on the trainer.
Rocker plates are no go for me, I’m having enough trouble with space to situate my bike at the moment lol. During recoveries I do sit right up to recover that area as well, so that’ll be sufficient? I do 90% of my riding indoors.
I’d say, try a saddle with a cut out or at least a deeper bought dip in the middle.
Then it’s just a matter of slowly building time on the trainer.
I would try standing for ~30 seconds during the rest periods, see if that helps.
No, not acceptable. I am in Eclipse now, and will reply with suggestions later.
*Following
No numbness is acceptable because it means there is trauma to the nerves. I went thru over 25 different saddles over 2 years to find the right one. Finally found that the SMP Well saddle works for me on the road and the SMP Well M1 Gel works well on the trainer. But I still have to remind myself to stand and pedal ever 10 minutes or so just to keep that circulation going, otherwise some numbness may occur.
My experience was the same after a few months through the mid-volume plan progression. I had been riding on a Retul fit leading up to and did not experience any pain until I was on the trainer 5 days a week.
My solution was pretty simple: I wasn’t properly seated on my saddle. I was seated too far forward putting pressure in my nether region and did not realize it until I scheduled a follow up with my fitter. I don’t know your riding history/experience but it may be something for you to consider.
Once you address you position/fit issue, consider the age of your bibs. Depending on how much time you’ve already put in your bibs, it may be time to replace.
Lastly, standing is also a means to change your position depending on your workout.
Good luck as you narrow your search and ride on!
Thanks for the detailed reply! The bibs are reasonably new, just had a Retul fit done over xmas, and the fitter suggested the new F30C saddle from SMP if I was to get a new one. I feel I am also seated a little too far forward, and when text prompt comes up reminding me about anchoring sit bones, I then move back. That may have something to do with it as well. I’ll keep my mind on it next time I’m on the trainer.
Get on your sit bones and off your perineum!
Lift your front wheel too. One the road you have a little wind resistance pushing you backwards (and up) which you lack on the trainer. I set my front wheel about 1.5 inches above the rear. Helps soften the load on the arms too.
Before you go buying a new saddle, try adjusting the tilt. The fore/aft position would have been set up during the fit but sometimes they don’t factor in the tilt. Adjust it ever so slightly and then try again. It’s a trial and error process so you could use the rest intervals in a workout to make the fine adjustments. I found with mine the front end needed to come up a little bit.
I think this may be my problem as well. I think i remember hearing it mentioned that the angle of your seat can play a roll in slowly edging forward on the saddle. What’s interesting is i think in the same episode it was mentioned that triathletes tend to have a more forward position on the saddle. The long course guys are clearly not having an issue with long periods of time in that position.
I personally stop to stand about every 15 minutes, since I’m on rollers without a rocker plate I’m not very keen to stand and pedal. I also don’t have issues outside, and on a mountain bike climbing up on the nose of the saddle is not uncommon. I’m on a relatively cheap saddle too so will take suggestions.
I forgot to add that I also have the Antares, so raising the front up little by little may also work for you. If I go too far I get slight soreness in my lower back. So there’s a trade off.
Working on posture and keeping hips positioned to put weight on hip bones helps. I have also found that the easier the workout the more prone to numbness I get. I suspect more load on the pedals reduces the load on the seat.
I hav noticed this as well, I paid special attention to relaxing upper body when I’m riding SS outside, there are less pressure on the upper body experienced than when I was on the trainer.
I experimented with tilt and found it improved things a lot, also the fit of your bib shorts can make a difference.
But… this is what worked for me, be very wary of copying someone else’s advice as you could be creating different issues. For example, moving the seat fore/aft could create new knee issues where none previously existed.
Whatever you change make sure it is incremental and record your previous position and change.
Same here, I lowered the front of my saddle 2 degrees (tilt) and find I have less pressure/numbness. That being said I also find that some bibs bother me more than others on the trainer, even though I have no issues outdoors. Lastly, over time my body got used to the consistent indoor training that has increased over the winter.
Awesome stuff. I plan to summarize the different suggestions into a new thread and a single list. We can update it over time. But if like a single post to refer to for future questions when this and general saddle comfort comes up.
Great work everyone. 