I used to do long endurance rides outside, but I’m discovering my routes are no longer long enough as my fitness increases, and I’m not particularly good at holding my power steady outside (mostly mtn routes that change in pitch regularly).
I’d like to start doing some of them indoor, but I’m having a hard time sitting on my bike. My butt gets sore after an hour and a half. I find my self squirming, sitting on the nose, shifting around, just to relieve some aches. I don’t have this issue with higher intensity workouts.
I’ve gotten a bike fit before. My saddle is a Selle Italia SLR superboost which I think works for higher power or shorter rides, but my sit bones just start to ache after long rides and lower power. I did a gran fondo a few months back and my butt started to ache in the same way around the 5 hr mark.
Any ideas on how I can improve my situation?
Also, for the survey response, these rides feel “very hard” but mostly because I can’t sit any longer. It’s no where near very hard for my legs or heart. I’m a little confused how I should be responding to these surveys. I’ve been saying “easy” or “moderate” because I think it’s the right level for my legs.
I have the same issue. I’ve successfully done 4+ hour rides indoors, but those were not TR sessions and I was able to get off the bike at the downhill sections and just take a couple minutes to let my behind “rest”.
Since the intensity is a lot lower, how about standing for a minute or two every ten or fifteen minutes and letting your cadence drop a bit? I find just a short period off the seat does wonders.
Definitely stand up out of the saddle more frequently than you would on an outdoor ride. And change your hand position frequently, also. The fact that the trainer creates a much more fixed/rigid position than riding outdoors is likely to always be an issue, but moving around will mitigate it a bit.
Another option might be to do part of your ride outdoors, and then pop the bike onto the trainer to finish it out. You might also look into a rocker plate.
I did a 4 hr trainer ride Saturday and have similar issues. I alternate between the hoods and drops and always stand for 2-3 minutes, every 30 minutes. Between all of that, I find it manageable.
I’m particularly sensitive to the seat angle and my Enve post likes to slowly flatten over time, so I find myself checking it around once a month with a digital level.
I have done frequent 5-6hr indoor rides when it’s too cold to go outside.
Recommend standing every 10m or so and fueling better than normal, I find any little issues with nutrition/hydration feel worse indoors than out.
Otherwise it’s just mentally numbing but you do get used to it eventually.
Consider floating rollers or trainer. I can’t ride a fixed trainer for more than an hour (and even that is uncomfortable for me), but I do 4+ hour group rides frequently on zwift on my floating rollers. I’ve been riding inside ride rollers for about 15 years, highly recommended. I think there are some floating trainers now also if you don’t like the rollers idea, but just get something that allows the bike to move front/back and side/side naturally like when you are riding outside. And I know some folks are intimidated by rollers, but I’m not a particularly athletic or coordinated person and the learning curve was very quick and easy. Yes, it’s a little challenging starting out. And then you don’t ever think about it again.
Stand for 30s every 5 minutes or 60s every 10 minutes
Have great movies, TV shows or YouTube videos lines up. I have a “Watch while training” YouTube playlist I throw things. No point sitting and watching them when I can watch them while pedaling.
I have considered actually getting off the bike for a few minutes a few times but have forgotten to do that.
Interesting you saddle gives you curry indoors but not out. It is the same saddle and bike?
I was having the same problem until I started standing up every 15 minutes or so for a minute or 2. Wish I’d started doing it sooner. Same as you id get sore after 1:15-1:30 and by 2:30 is be in agony and hating life. Really made me detest long indoor rides. Standing up often changed everything. I feel stupid for not trying it earlier
I’ve heard rocker plates (or DIY variants) are particularly useful as these allow a break from the rigidity of the trainer, though I’ve not tried these personally.
Standing at regularly intervals never goes a miss, nor getting off the bike for short periods. Transitioning from the drops, hoods, etc. too.
I do all my indoor rides in Zwift and one thing I’ve found useful recently is disabling ERG mode during endurance rides. I find this keeps me more engaged and the variation in gearing and cadence helps move around a little more. Of course, sometimes I will just put ERG mode on and watch a movie/YouTube, depends how I’m feeling.
As for rating the workouts, I’d base this on how your legs feel. TR only cares about your performance, not your comfort!
I did a slew of 3-5 hour rides on my trainer back in my training days, so some suggestions.
Stand periodically, move around, shake it out. Easy.
Get a thick trainer mat. The one from Kurt Kinetic is pretty good. Coupled with rubber trainer feet, you’ll get enough movement out of the trainer that it’ll help things feel more natural and will help. I trained this way for years doing long trainer sessions.
Thick rubber trainer feet. Wahoo used to make some, but I don’t see them on their website any longer. This looks kinda cool though: Trainer rocker feet or something like this from JetBlack.
Rocker plate. I had one for my last two racing seasons, as I managed to get the Saris NFinity on a super steep discount when they were selling the company. This made it near to riding outside, and does make a massive difference. There are kits you can buy that are cheaper than a ready-made one. They do take up a lot of space. The footprint is big and you need to allow for a lot of movement. I really liked that the Saris rocked and moved fore-aft as well. KOM cycling has a ready made one that’s much cheaper (only rocks side to side but that’s OK).
Saddle. Maybe time for a change? I ran the Specialized 3D printed saddle (Power Mirror) and while it was pricey, it was absolutely, without question, the best saddle I ever owned. All of my saddle pains stopped, inside and out, when I started running it. Saddles are extremely personal so YMMV.
Make sure your front wheel is elevated on your trainer. You want your bike sitting up a couple of degrees by the nose to help take some pressure off your hands. When your arms start to fatigue, you’ll compensate by loading your back more and that ain’t gonna last long. (this does shift more of your weight to the saddle, but will help with overall trainer comfort)
Take care of your hips. Make sure you’re doing your mobility work for hip flexors, psoas, illiacus, and glute meds. When those are tight, they push and pull on your SI joint and that can cause a lof of pain and discomfort.
Last would be just get comfortable being uncomfortable. Long times spent in position are never going to feel great, so you just gotta roll with it. As someone else said, Zwift is a great distraction on long rides, movies, sporting events, good music… whatever gets you thinking about something else.
If you’re going to do a lot of your training indoors, a rocker plate is a good investment, but it is a bit of a luxury. A thick trainer mat and the rubberized trainer feet can give you just enough wiggle to stay mostly comfortable at a fraction of the cost.
Lot of excellent suggestions here. For my 2 cents, for long trainer sessions I keep a second pair of bibs close, when the sweat level gets high and the pad gets drenched I change bibs (make it part of a bathroom break to cut down on time off the bike). The first time your standing there naked except for bike shoes will feel a a little weird but once you feel the refreshing comfort of a dry bib, it will be worth it.
I find the most challenging period to usually be the rest periods at super low power. It’s hard to find any cadence that offers enough resistance to make standing practical. I’m scared of the workout seeing my power go to zero and judging me accordingly
Yep. I’m not good at long rides indoors, both physically and mentally. Like others have mentioned, something with motion is better than being rigidly fixed, so I do use a full motion platform which helps the physical aspect. With seated pedaling it only moves fore/aft and tilts left/right a few cm, but that makes a big diff. Mentally, on the other hand, I find it tedious and boring. I’ve tried TV/movies etc, but nope. 2 hrs indoors is my limit.
For me, long rides outdoors are the way to go. For endurance, they don’t need to be structured sessions. The main thing is to avoid going too hard, which can be difficult if the terrain is hilly. I do have some flatter or gently sloped routes and extend or loop as needed for longer durations.
Can you elaborate more? Do you mean during intervals, the really low rest periods (maybe 40% FTP), or are you referring to the lower power (55% Z2) during some endurance rides?
Also, are you on ERG mode or manual? Here’s a few general tips:
For me, the lowest power I can do standing is about 180-190 watts, which is about 75% FTP. I’m about 70 kg which may also make a difference. I can crank up the resistance and do about 55-60 rpm’s, which seems to be ideal. With any less power and it’s just not comfortable, takes too much control to pedal slow with less resistance.
During my endurance workouts, I’m pretty religious about my 2-3 minute standing every 30 minutes. It doesn’t really matter whether it lands at 55% or 75% part of the workout. If it’s at the 55% part (target 161 watts), I’ll still stand for the few minutes and get up to 180-190 watts.
During my interval workouts, I need my rest periods to rest, so I will generally stand during the internal portion, again, wherever it lands near the 30 minute period. Yesterday’s interval session was (qty 9) 2-2.5 minute intervals. I stood during two of the 2 minute intervals. I don’t worry about it messing up the effort (I still hit target power) because where I live it’s so hilly anyways that practicing low cadence standing really just gets me more prepared for the rides and races in my region.
This is an example of Saturday’s 4 hr ride. You can see where I stood when it landed in the lower power portions of the Z2 workout.
I appreciate the detailed response. I meant the rest after a harder interval, typically around 40% of FTP. It’s simply too low and I spin out. But you’re right, I should consider just turning off erg mode when I need to stand and let the power go up a bit, and the cadence come down.
I’m typically not too uncomfortable during a harder interval because I think I’m being lifted a little bit by the higher power coming from my legs.
Here to echo the “stand up for a while very 15-20-30 minutes, regardless of what power you need to do it at”
and the “fuel way better than you think you should” because I slouch more and stop moving around when I’m tired, so the saddle problems get worse
and to add: many pros are uploading POV videos of their races to youtube now—I’ve gotten myself through many a long ride by watching a race I’ve previously seen in highlights, and it actually really helps. I recently used someone’s full Leadville (11hrs!) to get through a couple of long tough ones: https://youtu.be/gfoXzSzVTow?si=H0amftjvfBTMI0qt
I’ve had the same problem and even with a Kickr Core on a rocker plate after 2 hours I get sharp pains in my sit bones. Never outside. My ‘solution’ so far is to just move more on the saddle. I don’t stand up outside when riding but clearly I must be moving around a lot because even 8 hours doesn’t hurt much.
I also will admit to using a Tylenol extra strength to soften the edges!
It probably isn’t a problem with your fit or your seat (although it could be I suppose)
Something else to keep in mind… the longer the ride the more frequent your butt breaks need to be. You are always supporting yourself in three ways on the bike: hands, feet, butt. Your weight doesn’t change during a ride and neither does gravity. So if you’re cranking out huge watts then your weight is primarily on your pedals and butt pain tends not to be an issue. But if you’re on the bike for several hours then chances are you’re not cranking out huge watts that entire time so guess where your body weight is: your seat. For a 2hr threshhold workout like Starlight I don’t even take butt breaks but a 2hr low endurance/recovery ride like Slatna I need to stand every 10 min or I’m in agony.
So if you take breaks every 30min during a sweet spot ride you should be standing up for 30 sec or so every 10-15 minutes for Z2 at an absolute minimum. In my experience, more is better. Stand up, move around. Keep your back rounded with that pelvis tilted back and the sternum tucked in to keep the perenium off the nose of the seat. Once you feel pain you’re done; it’s pain management from then on and there’s no turning back but if you keep changing it up - standing up to let the tissue on your butt decompress BEFORE you feel discomfort - you will last pretty much indefinitely. In my experience anyway. I am routinely on the indoor trainer 3+ hours and as long as I stick to what I’m suggesting here (sometimes my mind wanders and I screw this up) the worst I feel is “vaguely uncomfortable” no matter how long I go.
Think of it the same way that they say “eat before you’re hungry” and “drink before you’re thirsty”. Stand up before its painful. You’ll be able to ride forever.
