Pain when cycling

[illmonkey]

This is coming from this topic: http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f... Not too happy with the size but I've come around to the idea, but I cant help but think the next problem is because of the size.

My usual ride is a fairly flat 10 mile round trip, on tarmac then fine gravel. But after riding at a good pace for a few minutes I get the horrible pain at the upper of my thighs/crotch. Just where the side of the saddle is.

I changed my saddle height several times yesterday on the ride, it got less painful, but then my knees were sore as I wasn't extending my leg enough.

It feels like I'm stretching the muscles too much, if this is the case, it maybe something I need to persevere with so my body adjusts.

[Wildfire]

I've just started riding again, and am on SPDs. I was also worried about the size thing as this was the smallest bike I have ever bought. But I checked here and I'm spot on frame size wise:

http://www.coloradocyclist.com/bikefit/

I've been out last night playing with sadddle settings (fore and aft), height and cleat position. May be wort checking all of these?? not just the height.

I found that yesterday my right foot felt too far forward compared to the left, which may have been causing it to over extend when pedaling.

[illmonkey]

Sorry to drag this backup!

I'm using a turbo trainer at night and this problem is as bad as ever.

I can go for longer with the saddle higher, but this pain will stay with me for a long time. Saddle lower and I can't keep up power as my knees just ache very quickly.

[b2hbm]

illmonkey said:

Sorry to drag this backup!

I'm using a turbo trainer at night and this problem is as bad as ever.

I can go for longer with the saddle higher, but this pain will stay with me for a long time. Saddle lower and I can't keep up power as my knees just ache very quickly.

I'm not sure this is simply down to the saddle height, but it could be, and of course if your saddle height is wrong then a different saddle isn't going to solve that one. There are as many different ways to determine your correct saddle height as there are pages on the internet, but I can tell you what I do.

1. Before adjusting the height, set the saddle so that it's horizontal when the bike's on level ground. If the front nose of the saddle is down slightly that will ease the load on your goolies (a medical term, old chap) but increase the load on your wrists as your body weight slides forward. Tip it with nose up and as far as I'm concerned that just causes pain everywhere. My ideal set up on a road bike is for a very slight downward nose tilt, but remember that's with drop handlebars and I usually set it horizontal to start with.

2. Personally I find that I need to set the saddle as far back as it will go on the rails, and given your height and the frame size, you might find the same. Pushing the saddle backwards means your hips are further behind the bottom bracket and the angle of your legs to the cranks is slightly different - it slightly increases the effective saddle height. I find moving the saddle forwards means I can pedal faster but need to have it around 6-8mm higher to compensate.

3. I set the saddle height so that with a flat shoe on, my heel will just float above the pedal at the bottom of it's travel. I can vary this by up to +6mm depending on how hard I'm riding and the gears I'm using. The saddle is too high if when you are pedaling as fast as you can you find you are rocking from side to side. Too low and as you've found, it hurts your knees.

Turbo training is different from road riding because there's no free-wheeling and you keep a constant position. I find that getting out of the saddle for 15-30seconds every 5 minutes is essential on a turbo. You tend to do that so naturally on the road with stop/start, hills, etc, that you tend to forget about it.

Finally, it might be that the saddle simply doesn't suit your bum y'know, everyone has a different view on what makes a saddle comfortable. I have no problems with Flite saddles for instance but the cheap one I bought for my winter bike just doesn't get on with me and has been relegated to the turbo trainer.