I have this. It shows up as either pain just above the waistline (right side facet joint) and on the interior of the thigh. It got worse with squats but is better with cycling. Rolling with a lacrosse ball helps keep it loose. It took a while because it was thought to be two different problems.
In my experience (n=1), if you irritate the sciatic nerve, it produces a terrible pain in your leg. Iāve inflamed the piriformis enough to get this before. 
If you havenāt been using your hip stabilizers and fix thatā¦ they get tired and sore pretty quickly.
Which saddle did you switch to?
If Mr Allen had a barbell on his back and was squatting the way he says we should pedal heāll suffer from ābutt winkā and thatās a no-no ā¦ at least in the lifting world.
If rounding your back during a squat or deadlift doesnāt help you increase weight Iām not sure how itād help with your pedal power (since pedaling a bike is like 10,000 half-squats/hour).
I also donāt see how rotating your hips backward so that your lower back becomes a crescent is helpful either. It sounds like a great way to try to incorporate muscles that you just donāt need to use or, worse, are antagonistic to the movement.
People who do olympic lifts seriously donāt rotate their pelvis forward or backward, they keep it neutral. Thatās the important part, I think. And thatās harder than you think especially since we sit and stand like slobs most of the time.
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The movement being described to tilt pelvis, move pelvis back is intended to be subtle, not done in the extreme.
Once you know the kind of movement, itās pretty easy to dial it in to what feels and works best. And inevitably youāll settle on something subtle.
Specialized Romin Evo Pro. Early days yet, but indications on first couple of rides are that itās doing the trick.
Great to hear! I have had similar issues with the Arione, so may give the Ronin a try!
It strikes me that just doing glute exercises such as squats will not help if you are not actually using your glutes when pedalling. Does that make sense or does having stronger glutes automatically add power.
How do you have your Arione adjusted? Perfectly level or 1-2 degrees nose down? (How To Set Up Your fi'zi:k Saddle - YouTube)
I have both saddles, the Romin Evo on my CX bike and the Arione on my road bike. I run the Arione about 1* nose down (or itās easier for me to level the front half of the saddle which allow the rear to kick up slightly) and then the Romin is run more on the flat side w/o a huge kick up in the rear. They both provide just enough āguidanceā so I sit with hips just slightly rotated forward. I always know if Iāve gone too far on the adjustment because sitting up no-handed becomes difficult as your pelvis is rotated too far.
As an aside, I had the Romin first and fine tuned itās adjustment over the course of a few years. I found, for me, the Arione to be very comfortable the first time on it and I havenāt deviated from itās position since I set it up. I do have a good level, take notes and make reference marks so I can replicate if it ever needs to be removed/replaced.
I think I finally got the whole āpedal with your glutesā thing figured out, which is good, because as a physical therapist, it was really irritating me that I couldnāt āget itā. Last week I had a Retul fit, which was really helpful, especially with the cleats. He added a Specialized Body Geometry foot bed, and I could really tell the difference, as I had been putting most of my force through the balls of my feet. The foot bed has a firm arch, and it kind of keys me in to push through my mid foot. But the entire 4 hours I rode Sunday, I couldnāt figure out if I was activating my glutes or not. This morning on the spin bike, doing TR Galena, I finally got it. So for anybody still struggling, try this and give me some feedback.
Try these four exercises prior to riding:
(1) Squats (no weight). When I ask most people I treat to do a squat (whether itās a 65 y/o post knee replacement or a 15 y/o soccer player), they predominately squat with their knees - ie, their knees go way out over the toes, so all the stress is carried by the knee joint (also drives the patella into the femoral condyle). I teach them proper technique by lowering the treatment table to a little higher than chair height and have them sit on the edge, then come up to a standing position. Then I tell them to pretend like theyāre sitting down in the dark, donāt know where the chair is, and canāt use their hands, so they have to use their butt to find it Braille style. So basically, āstick your butt way backā and find the table (remember this cue). Usually they get half way down, their toes go up in the air and they lose it and plop down, b/c their quads and glutes are too weak to control the lowering down. Try this from a chair. Keep your feet flat. Then try hovering over it, w/ your butt a few inches from the chair. Note where you feel it.
(2) Now you need to know how to contract your glutes properly. Lay on your back, head all the way down on the floor or on a pillow (just donāt raise your head up, more on that in a minute). Legs straight, put your hands palm down under each butt cheek. Now squeeze your glutes tight. You should feel the muscles contract under each hand. Are they equal? Did you raise up an inch or two? Do ten of those. Now just contract the right. Then just the left. Now do a dance: left ,right, left, right, both, both, both.
(3) Now we need to get your abs involved. There are 3 big sets of abs - rectus abdominus (your 6 pack) - this flexes your trunk, but doesnāt help much w/ core stability. Your obliques run down at an angle; again, not so helpful w/ the core. Your transverse abdominus runs like a belt across your lower mid section. That is what you need to target. Make sure you donāt lift your head up on this one, as that will kick in the rectus and over power the transverse. Knees bent, put your fingers on either side of your belly button. Think of gently pulling your belly button in/down toward your spine and slightly up toward your ribs. Feel it contract under your fingers? No? Ok, imagine youāre in the middle of taking a leak and you want to stop. Feel it now? Thatās your transverse abdominus. Do 10 of those, 5 second hold.
(4) Now you need to learn to do a pelvic tilt. Guys usually suck at this. We donāt move our hips well. Itās why most of us canāt dance. On your back still, knees bent. Imagine your pelvic girdle is a big salad bowl, not quite vertical (salad fixings facing you), but more parallel to your quads. Now rotate your hips so you dump the salad on your lap. Thatās a posterior pelvic tilt. Didnāt get it? Have someone slide their hand palm down into the small of your back. Rotate your hips so the curve in the small of your back flattens and squishes their hand. Do 10 of those. Nowā¦do the pelvic tilt, hold it there and then tighten your transverse abdominus. Hold 5 seconds, and repeat 10 times. Now youāre ready to get on the bike.
I found this easier to do in the drops. Rotate your hips forward a bitā¦so an ANTERIOR pelvic tilt (opposite of what you did on the floor; or the āreturnā motion after you did the posterior tilt). You may roll off your āsit bonesā and onto your perenium a bit, so thereās going to be a balance btw Chadās āanchor your sit bonesā and this position (or as mentioned above, different saddle position or different saddle). Now, tighten the transverse abs, and ever so slightly stick your butt back like youāre doing that squat (Iām not saying slide back in the saddle, but really stick your butt back a cm or two). add some decent wattage (like 70-80% FTP) and pedal. Where do you feel it? I did this about 6 hours ago and my glutes still feel like I just did heavy squats. If youāre still having trouble, put the pedals at 3 and 9, and hover over the saddle a bit; now stick your butt back and lower down and try pedaling.
Some body brave enough to try this, see if it works and give me some feedback.
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Thanks for the recommendation on exercises. I may incorporate some into what I already do and see how they work. This is my current warm up before I get on the bike. Although, while I do it 100% of the time before an outdoor ride, Iām not as consistent with it on an indoor workout.
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good video. will have to try those. thanks for posting
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I think this is a great pre-ride WU inc glute activation
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Iāve got mine level, but Iāll give the 1-2 degree nose-down approach a shotā¦thanks so much for the suggestion and link!
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Being used to low bar squats and deadlifts, pedaling with quads only would feel unnatural, wrong and hard. Iām actually glute dominant when pedaling, without even thinking about it.
Sitting up, opening up the hip angle, tilting posteriorly, ruins my power output totally.
Interesting; thanks for the link. I wasnāt aware of that issue but I donāt think itās a nerve issue as the pain is localized and doesnāt continue down the leg. I think Iāll find a new physiotherapist to get a new angle/treatment on it.
My symptoms sound a lot like yours as the pain is fairly localized in the glute with no referral down the leg.
However, soft tissue work that is targeting the release of the sciatic nerve seems to be providing relief. it is really difficult to find a good soft tissue/active release practitioner thought. Good luck with your second opinion
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Thanks @mewanchuk. I started trigger point injections (non-steroid based of course) through a Physician that specializes in muscle pain as an attempt to release the muscles. The last treatment focused on the upper hamstring which is also really tight. I got a rest week coming up and will try to get some stretching, self-massage and ball-rolling in.