 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I've been pootling around on my road bike for a couple of years and at present am not doing as much as I did a year or two ago, but I've developed an uncomfortable area under my left sitbone.
I took 3 weeks off and since have just done a couple of shorter easy rides, 10 & 15 miles, with breaks, but I can still feel it lurking ominously.
It's not chafing, it's some internal thing. Not sure what on earth triggered it.
Could be bursitis?
Anyone else dealt with similar?
I have the same - I have a malformed asymetric pelvis/hip joint from birth that means one sitbone's a little lower than the other. Over the years it has led to some sort of internal inflammation /cyst, according to the MRI they did of my arse. But they didn't recommend surgical removal as it mainly doesn't cause problems day to day whereas opening up my arse for no reason could create all sorts of issues (infection / scarring) and it would probably come back anyway.
I've tried loads of different saddles, shorts, 2 pairs of shorts, you name it, and then one day saw an article about a GT rider that had a saddle sore and had taken a scalpel to his....... saddle (you were worried for a moment) and cut away a load of the padding to create a divot for it. I did the same on an old saddle at home and it has resolved it almost completely. I can do a photo later, it's not pretty but it means I can ride much longer and/or on consecutive days. The weight is now more evenly distributed and although the cyst never really goes away it doesn't get into the vicious cycle of getting inflamed that then means the balance is even worse so it gets more inflamed.
Only real issue I have now is that because I can't be bothered to try to do a neat job on the saddle, the edges of the covering are not smoothed and so I tend to abrade and wear through my shorts faster than if the surface was smooth. I can cope with that.
I have similar symptoms (at times on both sides) which sort of feel like chafing but I think is due to a slightly tight piriformis entrapping a nerve which goes down the back of the hamstring, causing referred pain in effect.
My instinct is always to slather extra chamois cream in that particular area, but then I realise that it's so far up the side of the chamois that it can't possible be a friction or chafing thing as I would never sit that far back!
So yeah, might be worth checking in with a physio or masseuse just to see what state your glutes and piriformis are in.
could be a cyst but I'm sure you'd know if you have one 'cause it hurts like hell when it's under pressure. I've had to have two removed before and that's not a pleasant experience either! The cause was incorrect shorts with padding seams running across sensitive skin areas, plus saddles not suited my anatomy. Took a long time to find the correct combination. Antibiotics will clear it up but it'll only return if the root cause isn't addressed correctly, usually when the temperatures increase, like now. I always used to get issues in the middle of summer.
Francis Cade posted an interesting bike fit video on YouTube yesterday. Had some stuff about saddle issues which might be useful.
I got a lump from riding in some boxers with an unfortunately placed seam. Ended up with a little lipoma which is no issue but occasionally annoying. Moral of the story no seams in sensitive areas (particularly saxx boxers)
Hmm that's interesting 13thfloormonk - on the basis that sports massage has extricated me from a whole bunch of problems in the past, I have bought a massage gun off Amazon and have been applying it to my arse while thinking grateful thoughts about the planner who ensured you'd have to stand in the middle of the road to get a good sightline into our living room.
Certainly the piriformis on the affected side was tight so maybe it isn't bursitis but everything being a bit snarled up.
We shall see...
13thfloormonk and the arse hammer FTW - 29 pootling miles this morning and the problem seems to be 99% gone.
Thanks to all, as I could compare your experiences with my own and see what did and didn't match - very helpful!!