Starting to get a sore ass from using the indoor trainer. Help!

Haven’t read all the postings here, may have already been mentioned. I know the issue very well, come basement season my rear gets sore. Several areas, some can be mitigated with anti-chaffing cream. Others are simply due to lack of variation in seat position. My basement hours can mount up to 15hrs/week, so this is really an issue.

Easy solution was to use a riser block. I use two from Cycleops, they allow different elevations. This gives me a slightly different contact point on the saddle (I’m a seat bone sitter) with each elevation.

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Just throwing this out there. A saddle too high can wreak hell down there.

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I would:

Get a bike fit

Make sure you have decent cycling shorts, you should not need cream if your shorts fit correctly

Wash your shorts after every use/wear

Make sure you are cleaning and drying the effected area

After the above I would look into rocker plates, if all else fails…

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A coupe months ago I did traditional base 1 HV and it starts with 2.25 hour workouts and goes up to 2.75 hour workouts. Legs and lungs didn’t have a problem turning the cranks that long, the weak link in the chain was my rear end.

Emailing definitely possible on TR’s 60-70% jobbers, however my goal with a “bike desk” is to get a lactate test and dial down power even further, say to 40-50% ftp (LT1 power from lab test).

I purchased a block of Green Foam that is used for flower displays. You can get it at craft store

I sat my ass on the green foam that left an impression of my sit bones.

I measured the distance between my sit bones and got a general idea of the anatomy/physiology and what areas a saddle is supposed to be supporting and what areas it is not supposed to be crushing…that is a saddle should suspend you on your sit bones and disappear under your center parts

I tested out several saddles based on the measurement of my sit bones and the saddles all had cut outs/channels

I despise Specialized as a company for what they did to small bike shop(Café Roubaix) but I find their saddles an excellent fit. My sit bones and the angle I lean forward just fit with Romin. I tried really hard to find a different saddle(going to look into ism) but the Specialized design worked for me and it makes sense based on my personal sit bone measurements. Hate to admit but their design principles seem solid for saddles.

I had bad saddle issues that led to painful medical issues until I actually measured my sit bones, analyzed the results, and then tried saddles based on those measurements as well as looking for designs that supported sit bones NOT the center channel area … so that the body is suspended by sit bone rather than the saddle jamming itself between sit bones and taking all the weight in that channel between sit bones. If you do some searching on saddle and sit bone relationships there are excellent theories out there to experiment with. For me the cut out just makes sense and relieves so much pressure…find a saddle that supports your sit bones … and then disappears under your other parts … a firm saddle rather than really soft saddle can be much better for support… depending on the softness of the saddle it will just shove itself into the center and carry weight it shouldn’t be carrying … short nose the more slammed down you are seems to help me too since as I rotate further forward more pressure naturally shifts off of sit bones and onto frontal soft parts …

Bike fit is the key b/c it will determine if you are able to actually sit properly on your sit bones and still reach your pedals and the hand positions … otherwise you shift onto soft parts to compensate for bad fit …

hope this helps good luck …

Chamois becomes an issue on trainer when the chamois does not actually reach the sit bones in the right way (does it actually cover your entire sit bones comfortably … I have an italian pair with small chamois that stops in middle of sit bone when I’m in TT position) and also for me a thicker chamois for longer rides on the trainer 1.5+ hours is more comfortable. Chamois cream always … ASSOS as a baseline to compare to others

anyway i hope this helps … i had to figure stuff out on my own and this is what i came up with … i have zero contact with experienced roadies so this was my own DIY mess of experiments …

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When I say stand up every 5-10 minutes for 15-30 seconds, I mean keep pedaling and don’t disrupt your target power. I always do this and you can never see it on my power graph - only cadence. If I would sit all the time, I wouldn’t last 30 minutes even. Now I train 6-7 hours a week with TR with no issues at all.

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I seem to sit more to the left of the saddle than the right, which results in my right sit bone moving more than the left, and it’s given me reoccuring saddle sores for example on the right side.

When i got a bike fit, my fitter put a wedge under one of my cleats (Can’t remember which one), and also put a washer on my left pedal to pull my hips over more.

I still get the occasional sore every now and again, but i think it’s a time in the saddle kind of thing. It’s much worse in Summer when it’s hotter and i’m on the trainer. I don’t get them when i’m outside on the bike, so maybe i need to look into a rocker plate.

To me, it sounds like you haven’t found the right saddle. I’ve gone through numerous saddles, and I use two different ones. The one on my trainer bike at first felt stupidly uncomfortable, but i’ve grown to really like it actually. Some of the ones i tried numbed my bits really quickly, where as this one will over time numb them, but if i stand for a few seconds all is resolved :slight_smile:

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Even the right saddle at the wrong angle makes a difference… took me many weeks to dial that in, altering it a quarter of a turn per session… Agree with the getting out of the saddle, every 10-20 minutes for me… you’ve got to think about what you do outside, putting all your weight on the pedals, all the movement you do when riding outdoors… etc

My next project is a home-made rocker plate, one that not only rocks side to side, but also rocks and slides front to back, it’s been in the design phase for months, but think I’ve finalised it now…

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Please share in the rocker thread. I’d love to see your design and finished product. :smiley:

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All of the above but also…

Get quality shorts with a decent chamois. Its extremely worth the investment. Bib shorts too as if you use non bib versions I found they tend to slip.

If needed use cream, I did for a while but don’t need it anymore.

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UPDATE:

I had the McAdie workout to do today and I wasn’t looking forward to it.

However, after reading the comments here and watching various Rocker Plate videos (thanks Chad and others), I decided to try a short term fix.

I put an inch of heavy duty foam about an inch thick and under each leg of the trainer. This allowed a small but noticeable amount of sideways motion if I needed it. I also got out of the saddle every 10 or 15 minutes or so.

By doing this I was able to complete McAdie which is 90 minutes long without too much pain. Much better than a few days ago.

I am definitely going to build a proper Rocker Plate system during the Christmas break. I think this will help with the sore ass caused by being in a totally static position etc.

I have to figure out which would be the best balanced with simplest/easiest design. I am looking forward to it :slight_smile:
So thanks everyone. I will update and hopefully this will help me stick at it over the coming months etc.

Cheers,
Colin

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Awesome! It’s small tests like these that can be the window to a more comfortable ride.

Feel free to post questions in the rocker thread, and we will help get you setup with something more functional, but still easy, if that’s what you want.

@bbarrera is headed down a similar (simple) approach, and may be able to report his findings when he gets it in place.

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I did McAdie +1 yesterday and almost fell over with a rigid trainer. No rocking for me, please. Ass/perineum/whatever was the least of my problems while “recovering” at 290 W and stomping the final intervals out of the saddle.

(Just giving some counterweight to the fancy gadget talking - not saying that rocker plates are useless.)

Not sure what you mean almost fell over with a rigid trainer.

Are you saying you think it would be worse on a Rocker Plate?

I haven’t tried a proper rocker plate yet, but having a bit of sideways motion because of the temporary foam pads underneath meant I didn’t get quite so sore and I felt the little bit of motion helped with the power.

Have you experienced a rocker plate? If yes, what did you think?

Thanks.

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I’m using a rigid Tacx wheel on trainer. Pedalling seated, it sways just a bit - it’s not perfectly still and rigid. While standing up and trying to keep the bike still, it still sways some. When I’m really tired and use my body more, pushing over FTP, the trainer feet sometimes move slightly off the ground, side to side. I would actually want an even more rigid trainer, not less. But no, I haven’t tried a rocker plate and probably never will (simply don’t see the need for one).

Watch this, where Shane Miller explains and shows why rocker plates are not simulating real world riding: Indoor Cycling Trainer Rocker Plates - Round 2 // Rockit Launcher - YouTube

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And you can read my comments countering that video (which I feel makes incorrect conclusions for the masses based on an extremely rare use case).

He’s not wrong, but he’s not entirely right either. That single point about rocking direction does not negate all the advantages we gain in 95% of our riding, which is in the saddle.

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Hi,

Yes I’ve seen that video.

My main reason for wanting to build and try a rocker plate is to eliminate saddle soreness on longer rides from using a very fixed trainer, like I currently do.

In the same way Miller suggests using a rocker plate doesn’t simulate real world riding, you could just as easily say that using a rigid trainer is even less realistic.

If by using a rocker plate it allows me to complete longer workouts with less discomfort caused by a static trainer, then that is mission accomplished for me. I can work on bike skills outside.

I did a mini test yesterday by putting some heavy duty foam padding under each ground point of my trainer and it made the ride much more comfortable, as there was an increase in side to side motion. So I am going to build one and test it out.

Cheers.

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Sure, try it out for a couple of months, switch back to rigid for a couple of sessions - and give us a review! I would sure read/watch it and appreciate it, even though I don’t have any discomfort at all on a normal trainer.

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Yesterday while riding Beech, I chanced upon two things which may or may not be of any contribution. I don’t know if it was by conscious decision or not, but even with my budget pod rocker I haven’t allowed my upper body to move relative to the bike. Today for whatever reason I found myself allowing a little rock in the upper body and two things came out of it. First was I was able to match the power virtually the entire time where normally I seem to run 1-2W below target and the second was I spent the entire 90 minutes seated and the minimal discomfort was alleviated by either sitting up or simply tilting my pelvis back for 30-45s at a time.

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I’ve been using TR for a few weeks now and have also noticed numbness creeping in where it’s least wanted. I’m putting it down to a) resistance indoors being generally lower than with the gearing I use out on the road and b) less variety in slope etc → less shifting your weight around on the saddle. In terms of solutions, this is what’s working for me:

+1 on getting out of the saddle regularly

heeding Chad’s frequent tips to “anchor your sitbones” - having my weight on bone rather than soft tissue makes a huge difference, and within a minute of refocusing on hip position, the numbness is generally gone.

I’m also going to look into rocker plates, but that’s partly just because I’m into tricking out my pain cave!

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