So, I love the feel of wind of in my face and I love to ride my bike down the trail especially a place where there are no cars to worry about. I had always ridden a mountain bike most of my life. I loved practicing riding with no hands speeding down the long dirt drive way or standing on my seat when my bike had a large saddle seat. But as I grew up more my bike use changed, I used to practice for track by placing it on a high gear to practice the resistance of my muscles. It was used to rehab my knee after I tore my patellar tendon. In college, I didn’t have a bike since there were not great places on my campus except some pretty extreme mountain bike trails so I fell out of bike use.
When I began chiropractic medical school and my school was in the middle of Silicon Valley with all that lovely asphalt (I prefer the country by the way), I decided “hey, what better time to start trying to do road biking?” So, a classmate whose husband was an avid biker helped me pick my first bike a Specialized Allez in white and I got matching white clip shoes, a helmet, shorts and my first jersey and away I went. It was such a good stress reliever and soon my boyfriend, now husband got a bike and we started going together.
This past weekend, a family member in our virus circle was able to watch the kids while we took what felt like a date ride, and it was wonderful! But when you haven’t ridden your road bike for a while, that saddle on your sit-bones can be murder. So here are my best ways to treat saddle soreness, and yes, I used them - trust me.
Post ride creams – I chose Inflammyar (we sell this at our clinic) since I had no open sores which would require an antibiotic type ointment or calendula-based ointment. Avoid bursting any sores if possible, they will heal faster.
Use a precursors massage tool such as a Hypervolt on the gluteus maximus muscle and the adductor muscle to help improve the circulation to the area and relieve the soreness.
Massage the sit-bone itself to help relieve the discomfort.
Shower immediately after the ride to reduce the muscle tension and soreness.
Take some Calcium and magnesium 750 calcium/ 375 magnesium mg to help with muscle soreness.
Get your saddle adjusted, if you are not sure how- have a local bike shop help you since the angle or type of saddle you are on can be part of the problem.