A Serious Question About Bikes and Butts

[Anise]

Now, this may sound silly, but I DO mean it seriously…

So there I was at the YMCA, taking a cycling class. I haven’t been on a bike in forever and normally do aerobox and step. These stationary bikes (couldn’t tell you the brand) had the exact same types of seats I remembered from regular bikes. Riding on them was sheer pain and torture!~!!! 45 minutes of this was like the Bataan Death March for the Behind!!! Now, understand, I’m in great shape and I’m actually hoping to get my ACE cert to teach group fitness next spring-- so this wasn’t a case of “well, she never gets OFF her butt, so naturally it was sore after a little exercise.” My question is, WHY would anyone design a bike seat this way? Is there actually a reason? I fled to Target and got a gel seat for later use, but why in the world is a bike seat NOT just designed so that it isn’t amazingly painful to use in the first place? Does it cause the bike to be more aerodynamic? Easier to handle? What??

[scr4]

Stationary bikes are designed to be used in a gym. I think they are uncomfortable because they are designed for maximum durability and ease of cleaning, which are the most important criteria for the buyer (= gym owner).

As for hard seats on regular bikes, Sheldon Brown’s article says:

Imagine sitting down on a coffee table. Your weight is concentrated on the two bumps of your “sit bones”, also known as the “ischial tuberosities.” These are the parts of your body designed to bear your seated weight. Most cases of saddle-related discomfort arise because the load is carried on the soft tissues between the sit bones.

Imagine placing a soft pillow on top of the coffee table. Now, as you sit down on it, the sit bones compress the pillow, which yields until the sit bones are almost on the table surface again. The difference is that now, you have pressure in between your sit bones from the middle part of the pillow. Many cyclists are unaware of this, and many saddles are made to appeal to the purchaser who chooses a saddle on the basis of how easily the thumb can sink into the squishy top. This type of saddle is only comfortable for very short rides, (though an inexperienced cyclist will often find it more comfortable than a better saddle, as long as rides don’t exceed a mile or two.)

In my experience, after the first couple of rides of the season the pain mostly goes away. I’m not sure why, it may be the skin getting desensitized, or it may just be a matter of finding the right posture/position. Or it could be that as your arms and legs get conditioned, you start supporting more of your weight on them, which means less weight on your butt. Even if you’ve been doing other excercises, the specific muscles that support your weight on a bike may not be developed.

Not that I’m an expert on this, since I only ride recumbent bikes these days. Absolutely no pain in the butt.