Hello! I’m new to the TrainerRoad community and am really excited to get things going. I’m currently going into week 2 of my Base Phase for the Rolling Road Race Plan (Low Volume).
My question today relates to my butt’s relationship with my saddle. As I’m going through these beginning workouts, I find that the soreness in my tush is my main source of discomfort as opposed to my base fitness or the soreness in my legs.
Does anyone else deal with this? Do you just push through the feeling of bruising/pressure? Could it be my saddle? I’m doing what the app is telling me and putting my sit bones directly on top of the saddle “wings.” Maybe it’s something that you get used to as your butt develops a callous of sorts. I have no idea. Any info on this topic would be appreciated.
How long have you been riding? Have you used that saddle long before TR? What saddle is it?
If you are new to riding, then yes, there is a bit of a “toughening” process…saddle time usually resolves it, but it can take some time. But you’ll get there.
Did you just start riding? Had you been riding outside or inside without TR?
If you just started, then yes, it’s going to take 5-10 rides to get used to your saddle assuming you have good padded shorts and a saddle that agrees with you.
I’ve been with TR for four months and this has been the first time I’ve done indoor training on my bike. There’s some great advice above, from much more experienced TR members than I am. So, I’ll only add my personal experience.
The first couple of weeks after I started TR it was struggle to decide which was harder, dealing with the tough workouts or the uncomfortable relationship between my saddle and butt on my trainer. I read the forum and while there are issues with making sure you have the right saddle and padded shorts/bibs, etc. A lot of the answers were just that new trainer riders have to suck it up for a bit and things should start to improve with more time on the trainer.
And well slowly that happened. When I first started I could maybe go 20-30 minutes without any discomfort, now I can go 60-90 minutes without any discomfort. I’ve even done a couple of 120 minute rides and they weren’t too bad, and I’m pretty sure I could go longer (granted at this stage that would be with some discomfort). So ultimately, the pain in my rear did get much better, but it took time to build up to it.
I get off the bike every 30 minutes for 45 seconds when riding indoors and that keeps things manageable. Outdoors I generally have no problems with time in the saddle.
Training/riding indoors has been an adjustment for me, too. I got my first saddle sores indoors. I’ve felt saddle discomfort in 45 minutes that didn’t come until hour 3 of an outdoor ride. It’s different. Just spending time on the trainer helps a bunch, for sure. I built a rocker plate a few weeks ago and this has helped quite a bit. Now I don’t feel like I need to get out of the saddle until about an hour in. Without the rocker, I’d usually need to stand a few times in a 60 minute workout.
Yup, motion (or lack there of when inside) is a HUGE difference compared to outside. For people comfortable outside, but miserable inside on the same bike, I think this is a key difference & issue to consider. Even slight movement can help reduce peak saddle pressure.
It’s tough to sit up when you have a TR workout to complete. I’m pretty sure they recommend staying seated in the saddle and not stand and ride, right?
The only exception I know is that they say NOT to stand during the Ramp Test, but only there for sure.
It might be mentioned in other FTP tests, but I don’t think so other than not “sprinting” at the end of a 1x20 or 2x8 test… and just because that shows you held back too much.
But they have lots of workouts with actual standing drills mixed in. So I think standing in most workouts is totally fine and can be done to suit a rider’s preference or needs.
I know I stand at least every 5 mins and apply lots of different drills of my own, in addition to following many of the TR ones.
