# Saddle pain, on only one side (sitbone). whats going on?



## element324h (Oct 19, 2005)

I just got a new Scott speedster, and after riding it all weekend, I took it for a pretty good ride today, and OW I got some serious saddle pain. The thing is, it's only on one side . I think it's on a sit bone. 

It doesn't feel like it's sore, it's not sore right now or it doesn't hurt if i sit down. But when I get on the bike and if I get into the wrong position the one side starts to kill. This has happened to me before, but on the other side. I've looked up on what to do but all I could find is generic bad saddle/bad positioning/ entire butt hurts, not just one side. 

Is this still a saddle problem? I've tried to align my seat perfectly straight and ride perfectly balanced but it still occurs every once in a while. Could this still be caused by too narrow a saddle? Thanks


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## John Nelson (Mar 10, 2006)

Do you have another bike with a comfortable seat? If so, you might try swapping seats. Otherwise, maybe you just did too much too soon.


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## element324h (Oct 19, 2005)

John Nelson said:


> Do you have another bike with a comfortable seat? If so, you might try swapping seats. Otherwise, maybe you just did too much too soon.


My other road bike has a more pricey seat, which is also hard as a rock. I used to ride only on it and it was rather painful, and the same thing would happen, one side would start to hurt like this.

Should I let it rest a couple of days or just keep going and let it toughen up? Or will that make it worse? I'm pretty anxious to take the new bike out some more


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## Cycler64 (Jul 7, 2006)

If your seat is that bad you should get another one. Although it's a huge pain to find one that you like, (everbody's different), it'll be worth it once you do.


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## Slim Chance (Feb 8, 2005)

If your seat is too high, it could be causing you to lean to one side and therefore put additional pressure on your sit bone.


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

Too high a seat wont in itself cause you to sit off center. A leg length discrepancy will. With your legs being different length, your seat is too high for the short leg, so you unconciously sit a little off center to compensate. Get your legs measured (you can have a friend or SO do it, look on line for a description of how, it's not hard). You can get shims to go under the cleat of the short leg, or move the cleat on the long leg back a bit to compensate.

Check the fitness section of cyclingnews.com, there's a lot of info there.


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## element324h (Oct 19, 2005)

ericm979 said:


> Too high a seat wont in itself cause you to sit off center. A leg length discrepancy will. With your legs being different length, your seat is too high for the short leg, so you unconciously sit a little off center to compensate. Get your legs measured (you can have a friend or SO do it, look on line for a description of how, it's not hard). You can get shims to go under the cleat of the short leg, or move the cleat on the long leg back a bit to compensate.
> 
> Check the fitness section of cyclingnews.com, there's a lot of info there.


Huh, that makes sense. It's happened on the other side though too, it's pretty weird. 

How long should I wait to ride again?


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

My bad, I missed that you got it on both sides. Presumeably on different rides.

And it's not a sore. Which I assume means that the skin is not abraded? That's caused by rubbing.

Then it may be bruising of the flesh under the sit bones. Which I think would mean that either your shorts' pad, or your saddle, is the wrong shape for you. Or you have upped your mileage a lot and your butt is going through the normal stages of pain, denial, bargaining, acceptance.

If it's a sharp pain that you only get sometimes while riding, and not when you are off the bike, I get that too. I think it's from getting a fold of skin or bit of flesh pinched between a sitbone and the saddle. I just move a bit and it goes away. Having shorts that are tight enough helps- I've been riding in mediums for years but I have lost weight and sizes have gotten a little larger, so smalls fit me better now.


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## element324h (Oct 19, 2005)

Hmm. I think both the seats I've used are far too narrow. The one I used before was hard as a rock, and very tiny (my dad got it from a friend, supposedly a pretty nice seat but it did'nt work out for him), I would get one side or the other hurting randomly for a few days with that. 

The one that came with my bike is still pretty small, and very soft. The rides I've taken where it hurts is around 20 miles. I've gone around 50 with no pain before too, I just don't get it. I'm going to the LBS in a bit to check out saddles. 

Thanks for the help :thumbsup:


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## element324h (Oct 19, 2005)

Well, a little update:

The shorts I have been wearing were some off brand super saver deal that my dad ordered online a while ago (we kept getting ebay boxes with shorts, cheap! but from what I gathered pretty low quality). I went to the LBS and played with some saddles, and got some Sugoi shorts. Much nice feeling chamois and a lot more panels, they fit like a glove perfectly. 

I also switched my soft red/black seat that came with my new Scott, and replaced it with the super hard one I had on my other road bike, spun around the block a couple times getting it fine tuned (I ended up moving it a lot more forward so my sit-bones were actually on the wide part), and I took off for a good ride.

Needless to say, 30 miles later and my buttocks feels great haha! I good still feel a bit of soreness if I leaned to the side where I was tender, but if I kept good positioning, I was pretty comfortable. I hope this lasts. 

Thanks for the help everyone


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