How best to avoid, erm, numb scrotum when cycling?

Thirith

Well, I guess the thread title expresses it well enough: whenever I'm on my exercise bike for more than, say, 30-40 minutes, my more sensitive bits get all numb, even though I'm wearing lightly padded bicycle pants. How much of a problem is this? (I'm not too worried about reduced fertility, mind you, since we're not going to have kids anyway, for medical reasons.) And are there tricks to avoid it from happening?

schuss

Thirith wrote: »

Well, I guess the thread title expresses it well enough: whenever I'm on my exercise bike for more than, say, 30-40 minutes, my more sensitive bits get all numb, even though I'm wearing lightly padded bicycle pants. How much of a problem is this? (I'm not too worried about reduced fertility, mind you, since we're not going to have kids anyway, for medical reasons.) And are there tricks to avoid it from happening?

Get a fitting and potentially a new saddle. If you're going numb, it's not setup correctly or you need a different saddle.

bowen

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-A-R-S-Anatomic-Bicycle/dp/B000U7NU1Y

You want something like that.

Continue to wear padded bike shorts, but you need a seat that's designed to take pressure off your grundle bundle.

schuss

bowen wrote: »

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-A-R-S-Anatomic-Bicycle/dp/B000U7NU1Y

You want something like that.

Continue to wear padded bike shorts, but you need a seat that's designed to take pressure off your grundle bundle.

Eh, not necessarily. You need a saddle that's properly fit to your sit bones, as those are all that should be contacting. I'm a big fan of Specialized saddles for road and WTB for mountain. Lots of gel = bad, as it will ensure your jumblies get compressed.

This is a good read to get an idea of how it works -
http://www.specialized.com/media/whatsnew/SaddleFinder-2013_E_121015_screen.pdf

VanityPants

In my experience, this happens no matter what kind of shorts you're wearing/seat you're sitting in, if you're cycling for any decent period of time.

The solution is just to stand up in your pedals ever now and then. When you've built up some speed and you're at a point where you can stop pedaling for a few seconds, get up out of the seat and it'll get the bloodflow back into the area. Quick, easy solution!

bowen

schuss wrote: »

bowen wrote: »

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-A-R-S-Anatomic-Bicycle/dp/B000U7NU1Y

You want something like that.

Continue to wear padded bike shorts, but you need a seat that's designed to take pressure off your grundle bundle.

Eh, not necessarily. You need a saddle that's properly fit to your sit bones, as those are all that should be contacting. I'm a big fan of Specialized saddles for road and WTB for mountain. Lots of gel = bad, as it will ensure your jumblies get compressed.

This is a good read to get an idea of how it works -
http://www.specialized.com/media/whatsnew/SaddleFinder-2013_E_121015_screen.pdf

All those seats in that pdf are designed for less grundle bundle trouble. Gel only exists on the sitbone part, not the dangly bangly pieces.

But yes, sizing will get the best feel and comfort.

Thirith

Thanks for the tips so far. I'll definitely check out the different options; my first step will be to try different angles for the saddle.

Also, it's definitely been worth posting this question for the linguistic creativity in the thread - though "grundle bundle" reminds me too much of Cronenberg's The Fly for comfort, especially in this context.

Darkewolfe

My fleshy saddlebag doesn't go numb, and I ride a good bit.

You should absolutely get a fitting if you're going to be spending several hours a week riding. There's also injuries to your knees and other things if you're not properly fitted.

BlindZenDriver

VanityPants wrote: »

In my experience, this happens no matter what kind of shorts you're wearing/seat you're sitting in, if you're cycling for any decent period of time.

The solution is just to stand up in your pedals ever now and then. When you've built up some speed and you're at a point where you can stop pedaling for a few seconds, get up out of the seat and it'll get the bloodflow back into the area. Quick, easy solution!

It only happens if you saddle is wrong or if it's angle/position is wrong. Like for example if the saddle is pointing slightly to much up in the air or it is placed to far back. Once you sit right you can ride for hours.

If a good riding position can be reached by adjusting then it is time to change parts like saddle/seatpost or maybe even consider a different frame size. An important thing to remember is that a big wide saddle might seem like it would be a comfy way to go, but those are only good for a ride around the block - one you go a little further the ones to go for are narrow and come with little padding.

djmitchella

As everyone else has said, chances are pretty good that you either have the saddle pointed too far back (nose too far up), or the saddle is too big/soft so you're sinking into it and squashing things. You want to be sitting on your sit bones, not your private parts -- theoretically, you could ride on something like this one:

and you wouldn't get any numbness. Your bum might get sore, but nothing should be being squished.

Also, if you're on a stationary bike, you can position your body a lot more upright than you would if you were moving, because wind resistance isn't an issue, and that'll help avoid any unfortunate crushing.

Simpsonia

One thing I've noticed about a lot of exercise bikes is that the seats are so wide, that they effectively make it impossible to sit on your sit bones. As most people here have said, changing your saddle to something closer to a road bike saddle should fix this.

Edit: If it's a big ol' wide exercise bike seat like this

, you're never gonna get it comfortable, imo. Chuck it and get a real saddle.

Thirith

Yup, that's pretty much what the saddle looks like. Damn. Will have to see if there even are replacements that can be installed easily and that aren't the size of a pizza.