Recently finished a big charity event, the Bike MS 150 otherwise known as the Ride to the River, where Whitney and I finished 106 miles over two days, and Yvonne (pictured above) finished 104 in the first day. Long hours in the saddle don't come without a significant cost. In my case, hopefully a benign, cyclist's lump located at the point of contact between the saddle and my posterior.
Mostly, it is due to long hours in the saddle where friction is taken beyond comfort in a place you don't want friction.
At this point I have done all the basic stuff: take a week off in order to heal, changed saddles on all my bikes to saddles that are more arse friendly (preferably split or medicinal - brands Serfas and ISM). Allow time for the blemish, if there is one, to heal. Allow time for lump to disappear or become smaller.
Once back to riding modify style of riding to focus on out of seat efforts. Thanks to Goodness my knees are currently feeling strong! (Be ready for an extreme shock to your gams - it's like focussing on sprints without the speed).
Speed is a natural response, but that is not the focus!
Do this too:
Rides are less than one hour.
No intervals.
No aero riding.
Wear embrocation (slight layer where it counts).
No massive hills.
No long efforts without changing position.
No competitions or events (duh)!
Of course this will happen to you when you are comcerned about reaching your exptremely official / unofficial goal of 5 thousand miles for the year. BTW I'm currently 300 miles away from achieving that or two weeks of regular mileage of 150 miles so no biggie! My big goal for the year of surpassing my altitude or vert (vertical) from last year is already done and smashed by 16 thousand feet of vert!
If this turns out to be malignant, a mystery yet to be solved when economics reach governent assistance, will be figured out ASAP through a sonogram and a biopsy.
I am following a prescribed plan that allows me to train through the efforts to minimize damage to my hiny.
I am an everyday rider (of course not now).
I ride year around, see parentheses above.
I see a recurring theme! This is my third blemish on my tush! A special ISM seat with two noses was employed on both previous times. Both times before involved open sores and special care had to be facilitated with over the counter medications. The very first time was when I reached over 7 thousand miles by the beginning of November and once the dual nosed seat by ISM was utilized it went away without me even noticing it in a week's time. The secong time took more coaxing to get rid of it, but it eventually went away in close to a month. This is the first time a lump was found and also the first time an open sore was not associated.
What I have read is that this is often misdiagnosed, or never found, or it comes as a surprise. Most are benign and go away on their own. Also, one should change their seat often, but an erroneous figure was given for amateur cyclists that of 12,000 miles and I would guess that 1,200 miles is much more likely. Perhaps 12,000 miles is for professionals. Heck, I only know a couple of guys who even achieve 12K miles per year.
The adventure has started...no idea if and when...ignoring may be something that is done due to economic constraints and insurance coverage...the suggestion from octogenarians and nonagenarians will continue to be adhered to as much as my ability allows...it is what it is...6 ≈ 7.
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