[rimugu]

Recently I noticed I had two bruises in my buttock. The bruises match the place my bones meet the saddle, but I noticed the bruises because of a discomfort about 2 inches above the bruises. The discomfort is like the one you get after an injection.

I changed bike and saddle in May, the saddle is a Specialized narrower that the previous one (not much) and with less padding than the previous one. But I had no problems in May, June or most July. It was until late July that the injection-like feeling started.

Last Saturday did a light ride and Monday and Tuesday off training and today I resumed training. I have no problems except when my cadence goes above 85rpm more less. Not counting training, the annoyance is not very noticeable, except when I sit in hard surfaces
.
I am using arnica to reduce discomfort, but I am worried about the possibilities of the problem affecting my performance in the occasional races I participate.

Besides doing more stand riding to rest buttock in long rides, what would you suggest?

 

[cbchess]

a new saddle

Recently I noticed I had two bruises in my buttock. The bruises match the place my bones meet the saddle, but I noticed the bruises because of a discomfort about 2 inches above the bruises. The discomfort is like the one you get after an injection.

I changed bike and saddle in May, the saddle is a Specialized narrower that the previous one (not much) and with less padding than the previous one. But I had no problems in May, June or most July. It was until late July that the injection-like feeling started.

Last Saturday did a light ride and Monday and Tuesday off training and today I resumed training. I have no problems except when my cadence goes above 85rpm more less. Not counting training, the annoyance is not very noticeable, except when I sit in hard surfaces
.
I am using arnica to reduce discomfort, but I am worried about the possibilities of the problem affecting my performance in the occasional races I participate.

Besides doing more stand riding to rest buttock in long rides, what would you suggest?

I had the same thing happen to me a few years back.
I had ridden all summer on a saddle I thought was perfectly fine. I noticed some discomfort so I "toughed" my way through the pain . Then it started getting worse. but I wanted to ride so I would tough it out. It seemed to feel like two sore spots right at my sit bones.
Then it got really bad and I could hadly walk. I felt terrible like I had messed up both my legs. I was literally limping with both legs - you have to see it to believe it. I finally broke down and got a new saddle but the damage was done and I hurt so bad it took about two months to fully recover.
It was a specialized BG narrow race type saddle.
I have a brooks now and all my saddle worries are long gone. I never even think about my saddle while I am riding except to marvel at how comfortable I am from start to finish.
Good luck

 

[bulC]

kinda ironic that specialized saddles are the worst

specialized jumped first and farthest onto the junk saver saddle bandwagon after that bogus article in bicycling ragazine by an editor who rode like 22k a year on saddles adjusted nose-up whose peepee went numb. then he linked up with a bogus noncycling doctor who basically said sitting on bike seats is a terrible thing, but here's as a solution, a saddle with a big freaking hole in the middle. Yeah, huh? Tell it to the men of the Tour who ride like 25k miles a year on timetested Turbos and Concors and similar "oldschool" saddles. I can directly blame bicycling ragazine for the sorry state we're in today saddle-wise because I know well the editor in question, have seen his bikes up close and personal, and commented more than once to him about how his saddles were adjusted pretty nose-up compared to most folks. He felt he was reducing pressure on his hands that way. then his peepee went numb and stayed that way, yeah no kidding Hoss.
I've ridden a couple of specialized saddles with junk saver designs, one I bought, one someone gave me, I have both to this day in a box in the garage. I couldn't even stand them on my road fixed gear for a leisurely 16 mile valley loop. They were awful. Just awful. The guy that gave me the one had tried it for MTBing and couldn't stand it so he gave it to me, figuring it would be ok for a fixer or towner or something. Nope.
Score yourself an old, pre-junksaver Bontrager and be happy.

 

[rimugu]

Thanks

Thank you for the suggestions. The strange thing is that before this week I had not had any discomfort while riding, the discomfort appeared a day after riding.

The saddle is not one of the "top saddles" the center hole is not to big or deep and even with less padding than the last saddle it still has some.

I'll start saving and researching other saddles to find one that fits.

Regards,