The Cyclists Tight Spot
Thread started by
brassknuckle at 04.9.07 - 12:59 pm
This is an article in today's LA Times Health section that I thought some of the men on this board might find interesting.
The cyclist's tight spot
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just saw that.... I'm seriously thinking about getting the Selle SMP. does anyone on here know about this seat or if there are local stores that carry it?
Roadblock04.9.07 - 2:09 pm
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t'ain't ever been a problem for me...
knock on wood...
hehe
adrian04.9.07 - 2:38 pm
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Male Member Numbness (MMN), we all experienced it but no one talks about it. I have the WTB saddles with the love channel on all my mountain bikes, and it helps. The problem is finding a saddle for my road bike, luckily my local bike shop (LBS) let's me try a saddle for a few days until I find one that works. I've tried 3 in so many weeks.
Saddles and your shoes are probably the two most personal components when you ride. Try as many as you can since one's experience will vary from person to person. Find an LBS that has a stock of loaners, this is not an uncommon practice. Most will let you try saddles for a couple of days. Unfortunately some saddles will take a few hundred miles to break in but sometimes a brief ride will help you decide.
sc_nomad04.9.07 - 3:28 pm
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If you havn't heard yet, (you must not of been around me, cuz I have to tell everybody). I got a pro fitting on Friday and it's been incredible. I will talk more about it on the bicycle fitting thread in a few days.
The overall positioning of my body on the bike is now balanced to where, there is no part of my body taking the brunt of pressure. I will see if my ass heals up as a result, one thing for sure, it is not hurting as it did before. I had the bleeding thing like that guy from ojai talked about in the past. I thought it was rigidness of the frame, but that fitter said that the way the bike was set up, that I was working againist myself. It glides when I ride now.
This may have something in correlation as to what this thread is talking about.
That selle seat looks like it would give you great sit bone support, but like anything it all individual to the person. One thing I suggest that everybody who is comfortable with this idea, is to try each other seats and bikes, to see how they feel. After riding on a couple of brooks, I just got one and it really nice(haven't even broken it in or treated it yet.)
sexy04.9.07 - 3:49 pm
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Different seats for different riders indeed; I bought a Brooks B.17 and it still hurt after 400 miles. I put my old seat on (a grooved model) and it has helped a bunch. Thanks for the info on the fitting, I was wondering if a fitting would help with seat comfort. Where did you get your fitting at? I've looked into Cynergy but having no experience I don't know where to start. I'm picking up a bike that will be sized for me.
Thanks again.
Samhain04.9.07 - 4:04 pm
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Look at the thread "bicycle fitting" there is some info on there. I will update my whole experince on it in a couple of days, on that thread. I have had two bicycle fittings and they where really worth the money. I think Tony Z. one of our own does fitting, not sure on that. If he does, it would be nice to keep the business in the famly
sexy04.9.07 - 4:17 pm
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I noticed how in the pictures that went with the article they used what looks like a Brooks saddle to contrast with the newer high tech saddles, I'm sure for the sake of appearance as much as anything. Yet I see a lot of people using Brooks saddles and I'm sure it's not just because they look vintage and cool. See what Sheldon Brown has to say about 'em here: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/leather.html
I just got a Brooks B17 a few weeks ago, so I probably have around 200 miles on it now. I'm sure it's not fully broken in, but it already feels very comfortable.
But like they say, your individual mileage may vary.
mr rollers04.9.07 - 5:28 pm
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i find that a weekly "taint massage" does the job at getting proper circulation to the important areas... ha ha ... for reals though,
While informative, I felt like that article sucks.
It was kind of alarmist and did not offer any specific solutions.
Clearly there are long term cyclists that still get boners/ hard clits. It's simply bad journalisim to put those claims out there in a fuzzy way with no specific suggestions as to how cyclists can ride safely with out messing up thier package.
Why have a picture of two seats with out offering solid information on what seat is better and why in the caption. Also ... how about some information on specific brands.
This article is just to make lazy ass drivers feel better about not being abole to fuck because their big fat belly gets in the way.
trickmilla04.9.07 - 6:20 pm
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Well put, Trick'! The positive benefits of cycling on your cardio-vascular system, muscle tone, energy level, and social life have a much greater chance of improving your sex life, as opposed to the slim chance that you might get ED.
mr rollers04.9.07 - 6:38 pm
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Havent had a sore ass or numbness at all ever since I switched to my recumbent.
I think that the sitting position is really the problem.
Seriously, try a recumbent out, develop the muscles to use it(they are different from a standard bike), and you'll be going just as fast as you were on your other bike. Maybe faster!
I had a road bike that I had tried all kinds of seats on. Every one of them would have one annoyance of some kind, numb nuts or numb ass (or pain). My recumbent saddle has none problems, and I hear the mesh ones are just as comfortable.
-Spark
sparkypinball04.9.07 - 7:07 pm
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the oddest thing about the article is the numbers. 4.2% of cyclist vs. 2.1% of runners, the numbers are so low, and how do runners get the numbness. 2% of cyclist vs. 1% swimmers? Swimers with numbness???
sexy04.9.07 - 9:15 pm
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60% of adult entertainers.
kyber04.9.07 - 9:46 pm
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Roadblock,
Cynergy carries a couple of Selle seats (I called) I'm seriously considering getting one.
Samhain04.9.07 - 10:16 pm
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heh, I was thinking that too, sexy. The first statement is all "all cyclists will become impotent!!" then its like 'well actually its 4%'.
What about gym goers? A lot of those machines have saddles,..I wonder what the percentage is there.
Buiser04.9.07 - 10:27 pm
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"Riding should be banned and outlawed." Yeah, man, because a couple of people may not be able to get hard we should ban riding? Is this dude getting subsidized by the auto and oil industry? How many people have been killed by cars or for oil and this quack wants to ban riding because a few people can't get a boner? Talk about misdirected.
toweliesbong04.9.07 - 11:02 pm
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Selle Italia SLR. I've got identical ones on both of my track bikes, which collectively constitute my primary means of transportation, and my ass does not bleed nor do I find it difficult to get a boner. Why, just today I was...ah, but I digress.
Now, I'm no fancy-pants "doctor" of "medicine" or anything, but I strongly suspect that it's not the shape of the saddle, nor the presence or absence of grooves and channels, that primarily affect the rider's taint, but rather the presence or relative absence of
padding. When you put your sit bones on a padded saddle, the padding is displaced from the sit bones (where most of the weight of your ass contacts the saddle) to the area immediately surrounding said sit bones. Right to the taint, in other words.
Would a noseless saddle prevent this? Probably, but at the not-insignificant cost of making the bike hard to handle and looking really fucking stupid to boot. A far better idea IMHO for those ridazz suffering from malfunctioning penes or clitorides would be to try a saddle such as the SLR with minimal padding and a narrow profile.
P.S. Contra Dr. Minkow, I have never found myself "riding on [my] penis" while holding myself aerodynamically in the drops. Admittedly, I may be unusually flexible (and single, ladies!!!!!!!111!!!!!!!).
PC04.10.07 - 3:50 am
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More cushion for the pushin' I always say...
No seriously, most of my saddles are pretty thinly padded yet comfortable for longer rides. I have never owned a saddle that was comfortable at mile #100. Fortunately? I usually experience numbness in my hands and feet before the taint. The biggest factors seem to be position on a bike and shape of the saddle. Wider/stiffer shoes and pedals have helped the feet, moving my seat forward and my handle bars up has helped my hands and a wider saddle that lets the 'sitbones' support your weight helps the ass. Cycling shorts or boxer briefs help stop any friction related discomfort. Spending more time out of the saddle helps also. Of course standing and mashing all day long could do more damage than good to your knees.
These comments are general in nature of course. Sexy, I wonder if riding around all night with no hands might have something to do with it.
420LaHaRR04.10.07 - 10:01 am
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This is all very interesting. But could it be possible that this "problem" could be because people are improperly using their seats by not sitting in the correct position (on ur sit bones) or their bikes are not fitted to the rider properly causing the rider to sit/pedel in an awkward position? I changed my sitting position last night by moving more towards the rear of the saddle putting my ass cheeks on the sit bone pads. this also altered my pedal stroke which takes some getting used to also. But the end result is that my ass and junk feel more comfy now. Some of u should try this if u are feeling discomfort.
t.bone04.10.07 - 10:41 am
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also, checking the angle of your saddle periodically helps too... if it tilts upward, this could be part of the problem, placing undue pressure. tilting downward will cause your feet to go numb VERY quickly (found this out last night) as you are putting too much wight on them, due to sliding off the saddle and having to hold yourself up with the small of your foot, something i think would happen even more with a nose-less saddle.
But I agree with the earlier post, anyone who is worried should go with a recumbent, not only are they comfy as hell (like riding a lawn chair) but once your legs get used to them, they're faster than an upright bike (the reason they were given a separate class in racing)
FuzzBeast04.10.07 - 11:46 am
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quote: [male triathletes, who pedal in an extreme forward aerodynamic lean. In that position, "you're riding on your penis," ]
this gives a whole new meaning to riding my bike and a new pick up line :) thanks
want to ride on my penis?
j3r3my04.10.07 - 11:27 pm
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i don't wanna know what you were googling to find that image...
FuzzBeast04.11.07 - 3:05 am
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