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How best to avoid, erm, numb scrotum when cycling?
Thirith
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
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?
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Thirith on
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Get a fitting and potentially a new saddle. If you're going numb, it's not setup correctly or you need a different saddle.
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
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!
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.
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.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
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.
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.
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.
Edit: If it's a big ol' wide exercise bike seat like this
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods