Hi, when saddle sore rears its ugly head am i best to train on a recumbent or standing upright? I don’t want to stop riding altogether.
Run until healed
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I’ve used Topical Benzocaine like Boil-Ease applied about 10 minutes before applying some chamois cream. It’s not going to help it heal but it does help reduce the pain when in the saddle. Be sure to get out of a damp chamois and clean up well immediately after your ride.
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I have suffered from this in the past, and will share my simple, on-bike info, and leave the pre/post ride care to a separate post.
I adopted a mix of standing and seated practices. Here is a list of the different “drills” I used to train while living with a sore. These are generic and are easy to apply to the longer steady-state intervals.
- Stand for 10 seconds at the top of every 1 minute (called 10 in 1)
- This is easy as you pick the top of every minute to stand and sit on the #.50 time.
- Stand for 20 seconds at the top of every 2 minutes (called 20 in 2)
- This is easy as you pick either the odd or even minutes as the trigger to stand.
- Stand for 1 minute and sit for 1 minute.
- You can increase this and keep a 1:1 ratio of standing to seated.
- Stand for 2 minutes and sit for 1 minute.
- You can increase this and keep a 2:1 ratio of standing to seated.
On workouts with shorter intervals (sub 5 mins), I usually alternate standing and seated onto the ups/downs to get about a 50/50 split.
Essentially, get creative with your timing and use the workout itself to help drive the stand to sit ratios.
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Best: Stop riding until healed
OK: Keep the area cleaned well. Take chamois off immediately after riding. Plenty of chamois cream. 10% benzoyl peroxide cream on area (assuming it isn’t broken open).
Worst: Ignore until it pops and keep riding anyway.
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Don’t ride on a saddle sore. Unless you know you have several days off coming up. Need to let it heal.
I pop or lance it, clean with iodine, ride the next day.
If there’s a particular reason you need to train (e.g. an important race that week or next), then keep it clean throughout the day and treat it to prevent further infection and I would cut back on volume anyway.
If there’s no events coming in the near future, don’t ride on it until it’s healed.
Kind of like riding without a helmet, it’s fine to ride with a saddle sore until it’s not.
I just ride until it pops and then apply antibiotic cream regularly until it heals
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I use preparation H ointment and it drops in a day or so. I ride through them all the time. It sucks.
Anyone out there riding with a saddle sore? I got my first one. Would like to continue riding but it seems like it’s getting worse. Any ideas how to treat?
This probably goes against all correct and medical advice, but if I ever get one and it develops a white head, the only way I can carry on riding is to pop it. And then regularly treat it with antiseptic cream.
Like I say, it’s probably not best practice, but I’m too impatient to wait for them to heal on their own.
If you’re just leaving it to sort itself out, a blister plaster over it (or for real luxury, a corn cushion with a plaster to hold it down), may help cushion the pain when on the saddle.
It’ll get worse until it stops. That’s when it pops. Saddle sores are just zits in the crotch, but since you apply pressure and the pressure varies it’ll hurt, often a lot.
I usually just ride through it though. If it gets so bad you can’t ride with it, stick a clean needle in it and pop it, the pain will be gone almost instantly since it’s the internal pressure that hurts.
I put antibacterial cream on the “zit” and a bandaid and it usually reabsorbs within a day or two. If you hit it when you first feel it, it seems to be manageable in this way.
Give it a good squeeze and get all the gunk out.
Mine go away after that for a couple of months then repeat
Day after i’ve squeezed it I can barely feel it’s there, it’s like instant relief.
I have had loads of trouble with mine. New saddle has helped and it’s quite a cheap one surprisingly. A fabric scoop I think it is.
For the saddle sore I pop them and then the magic cream I use is germaloids. Seems to zap them
Smart advice: don’t ride on a saddle sore. For me, it depends on how bad it is. If I’m on top of it quickly, I’ll ride through it with the help of a generous amount of chamois cream, a thorough cleaning in the shower immediately after the ride, and some tea tree oil applied to the affected area. I do this and it usually goes away after a couple of days. I’ve never had one that needed to be lanced or popped like some other users have stated here. Be aware, there are different kinds of saddle sores. Knowing which kind you have is important for knowing how to go forward with treatment.
I apply a band aid, or two and keep riding. It it’s real bad I might wear two pairs of bibs.
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What are the different types? I’m suffering from one now and trying to figure out what to do.
Mine doesn’t seem to have a ‘head’ it’s more of a ‘bluge’ - almost marble sized now. Trying to decide whether to take time off bike until healed or push through and keep training.
So far I’m using dz Nuts chamois cream while riding and other anti bacterial cream throughout day and night
