A serious issue facing female cyclists, another example of male anatomy being the default!

Radio 5 are discussing this right now.

Leather always beats synthetic material and too many model saddles are made simply to reduce weight.

This is the way to go

www.bicyclecomfort.co.uk/wms/fm/userfiles/catalogus/110065-1.jpg

Heat, friction, pressure - all things which makes a cyclist uncomfortable.
Modern materials have made life better, but also create new problems. Synthetic fabrics are comfortable but can result in heat build up, so shorts have to have an extremely good insert (made of chamois leather in the old days, which resembled sandpaper after a few washes). Always use chamois cream or vaseline which is a lot cheaper.
Always make sure the saddle is set level, not point up or point down.
Make sure the saddle height is set correctly - too high and you will rock from side to side and also stretch the knee ligaments.
Learn how to pedal correctly - "ankling"

Buy a good saddle - do not economise on this piece of equipment.

sellesanmarco.it/en/negozio/approach-en-2/era-lady-racing/

ABC1234DEF I agree about left turning lorries, but last week I had a van come from behind, cut across a bus lane and turn left in front of me knocking me off my bike.

SirVixofVixHall Thanks for your reply. I'm sure you're right, although I was hoping to avoid HRT as I can manage my other symptoms it's just the wretched UTIs. (I don't want to derail the thread on the pros and cons of HRT, but thank you for your thoughts.)

it was a fascinating article. But to me the takeaway was that professional or very top flight amateur sport is basically insanity with people pushing their bodies far beyond what is reasonable. I'm quite sporty btw and I encourage my son to enjoy his sports. he's just had the best part of a year out of training due to injury. The article essentially describes a culture at British Cycling where men and women are encouraged to lose their genitals for sporting success. That is insane. I wish we'd used lottery money to build cycling infrastructure rather than deciding to buy more Olympic medals.

If bikes were optimised for the default male anatomy, you'd think they'd have designed them so they didn't sit on their bollocks, trapping nerves and causing numbness, erectile dysfunction, etc.
Seems like it's an inherent flaw in bike design.

"Cycling as a female Vs male also has its benefits, for example a lower average weight = easier on the inclines. "

Well no.

www.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/jappl.2000.89.1.81

The average 18-29 yo woman was 65kg

And the average man was 80kg.

18.5kg of lower body muscle in the men.

12.5kg in the women.

Bike weighs 9kg, say, no difference between men and women there.

Male: 80kg + 9kg = 89kg. 89kg up a say 5% hill is 9.8067 sin arctan 5% 89 = 43.6N

Female 65kg + 9kg = 74kg. 9.8067 sin arctan 5% 74 = 36.2N

Divide by muscle mass:

43.6N / 18.5 = 2.36 m/s^2 male
36.2N / 12.5 = 2.89 m/s^2 female

So it's about 23% harder for a woman.

By age 40, both sexes have typically put on 10kg without gaining muscle mass. This is then 2.64 m/s2 male versus 3.31 m/s2 female.

So a fat middle-aged bloke (BMI 29) can still climb hills easier than a young woman of healthy weight (BMI 24).

He'd have to be in the obese range (BMI 34.8), and bordering on extremely obese (BMI 35+) for him to be doing as much work as a woman of healthy BMI (BMI 24).

Have you done any long bike rides?

Frequently.

Along with decent shorts, liberal chamois cream, a saddle that suits me, and a good bike fit.

Cycling as a female Vs male also has its benefits, for example a lower average weight = easier on the inclines.

As for getting killed under left turning lorries, anyone with any common sense (and/or capable of reading the warnings on the back of said lorries) will know that sitting in a lorry's blind spot is unlikely to have a positive outcome.

@FeministCat can you recommend a saddle please? Mine is well padded but wide. Too wide I think. It was marketed as a big bottom saddle. I don't have a big bum but my then Bf bought it me as he thought it would be the most comfortable.

"This isn't a female problem, it's a cyclist problem. "

Dear Lord, the OP is about a woman having to have surgery on her vulva because of her bike, and you think it's not a female problem??!

Have you done any long bike rides?

There are lots and lots of issues relating to cycling and women, such as the fact that men are physically stronger and are more likely to take dominant positions on the road, whereas women often get run over by left-turning trucks and such like.

Specifically on this issue:

lovelybike.blogspot.com/2011/04/on-female-anatomy-and-bicycle-saddles.html

"In the lead up to London 2012 [Olympics], with the UK Institute of Sport, we developed a special saddle for Victoria Pendleton, who had been suffering from saddle issues that were having a negative impact on her performance. After the Games, we wondered how big a problem it was and whether we had only uncovered the tip of the iceberg. We put together a team and decided to interview riders as part of a qualitative study. The findings were staggering, 100% of the riders we interviewed were having problems but, with a male doctor, physio and predominately male coaching staff, didn’t feel comfortable in mentioning it."

www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/sensitive_issues.pdf

As noted in the first article, they came out with a new saddle to address the fact of 100% of Olympic female cyclists suffering genital pain, but it didn't solve the problem.

Male cyclists do not face remotely the same issues because men are not sitting on their genitals when cycling.

In the article Hannah says she didn't use chamois cream (the thought makes me wince) and didn't go to the doctors for a long time. It may also be an issue that as a paracyclist she doesn't get out of the saddle as much and might be slightly wonky in the saddle which will also not help - certainly as a cyclist with an upper limb disability I am twisted round and get more rub on one side than the other.

Positioning for road cyclists has been down for a long time, so it really isn't anything new, though old fashioned leather saddles do eventually break in to conform more to your shape

I am a former competitive amateur cyclist, just for fun now on occasion, but as others have pointed out this is definitely not a unique to women issue. Especially as you need to put in long hours to be competitive. Men I know deal with the numbness, sores, and possible risk of erectile dysfunction, etc.

I use female specific saddles (with cut outs), padded shorts for anything over 5 miles (also female specific), and chamois/anti-chafing creams and together that helps tremendously.

People who don’t cycle often think the answer is a big gel seat but that is not only heavy for competition and does not allow proper positioning/leverage when needed, but can cause even more problems - the “lack” of design is a bit of problem for causing sores, numbness etc.

Boiledeggandtoast - HRT does help with this.

Oh and dh has similar problems with his saddle so not just a womens issue

I wear padded shorts for anything over 15 miles. I have a female-specific saddle a d it's always been ok.

However a couple of weeks ago I invested in some loose cycling shorts with removable padded knickers. Not cheap but worth it I hoped...... within 10 miles i was in agony. I've got chafing inside my labia.

I've now gone back to my cheap padded shorts which are so much better. I'm off on a cycling holiday next week where I'll be averaging 50 miles every day. The expensive shorts and knickers wont be coming with me!

Men can have a problem with erectile dysfunction due to prolonged cycling. Moving your bits around isn't that easy when cycling. I very rarely get sore now, but do love my Raphe cycling shorts, best female chamois I've tried. Pricy but they have a lot of sales. I wouldn't cycle more than 5 miles unless I'm wearing padded shorts/ tights.

Oh and BC team were advised not to shave the area at all to prevent infections - read this within the last two years

You can get padded pants for inside your clothing

I cycle a lot, and do audaxes sportives and time trials. There is no need for any woman to get vulval pain. Buy a female specific cut out saddle. There are loads of them on the market, plus get decent cycling shorts with a chamoix. I have a mix of saddles for my different bikes but all have a cut away.

I feel the pain. My DP is an avid 100 miles plus a week man. I did 200 miles in my first year and only 8 last year, as I couldn't bear the pain of my foo foo hurting.
I've bought new padded ladies shorts for this year and hope it'll do the trick.
I once was in tears as I cycled in the rain, through gritted teeth, with a wad of toilet paper stuffed on my foo foo to soften the pain.....it was interesting, picking it out 😂

I recommend the Selle Italia Diva saddle to every woman I meet on a bike. Don’t get me wrong, you can still tell when you’ve had a long day on it but I used to suffer dreadfully before I found this one.

Why did my picture not post

You need one of these to save your nethers...