numb and tender groin...

[Alias]

It's probably getting up to around 300k's now and my saddle is still giving some serious issues. I don't want to sound like i'm having a whinge but i was having a fairly easy spin session on the trainer tonight. After about 15 minutes i was unconfortable in the saddle and was looking for a more relaxed position, i couldn't find it. I thought that it might be still tender from the weekend, so i kept going and by 25 minutes i was standing up for a second to ease the pressure on (My friend calls it his "chad", i don't know what you call the area that takes all the load.) my groin area. I could feel the blood rush back when i was standing up. After 30 minutes i had to get off because the numbness had me a little worried, i couldn't feel anything that sits inside where your jocks cover. It's been over 3 hours now and i can feel tiny pins and needles in my FEET aswell. surely thats not good.
The worst part is the numbness i've got in my fifth limb, that is giving me some cause for concern.

My physical conditioning outweights my ability to put up with this kind of hassle, my bike is no good to me if i can only spend 15 minutes on it at a time.
Please tell me that numbness will go away, please god, pretty please.
Will that nerve condition itself to put up with that kind of abuse or should i by a new saddle?

 

[Bargearse]

I'm only new to racing bikes, but for me the solution was a Selle SMP saddle. I don't mind pain, but when shaking hands with the unemployed feels more like slapping a dead guy its time to get serious about protecting nerves down there. I feel much more comfortable with the SMP and can still feel my old fellow after a ride.

 

[meandmybike]

Please tell me that numbness will go away, please god, pretty please.
Will that nerve condition itself to put up with that kind of abuse or should i by a new saddle?

Your weight should be on your sit bones, not the blood supply to your pride and joy. As an experiment try riding the trainer sat bolt upright so there's no weight on that sensitive area. Does the numbness still occur?

I'd ask your local bike shop to take a look at your position. It sounds fundamentally flawed to cause that amount of numbness. Ouch!

 

[daniels]

Get a new seat and take your bike to a bike shop and get fitted to it properly. You shouldn't be getting numbness at all.

There is plenty of information around the web on these issues, if you Google around a bit.

 

[Rich8P]

Road bike magazine in Germany just did a feature on seats and urology. The language might make it difficult but you can probably find similar info on the web in english.

They tested blood flow with a special electrode in the end of a condom and pressure using a foil mat. The found a lot of difference in sadles. The also recomended some changes to bike setup including a slight downward angle on the saddle (measured out with a spirit level on the cheek bone pads and everything forward of that was at a couple of degrees slope).

I had the same problem and changed the set up but didn't buy a new saddle. It was better straight away.

Then I got caught on holiday with a chance to ride but no kit. I purchased the only pair of shorts in my size (Briko). The difference is amazing. In my case only luck but I don't know if you can find a shop that lets you try sitting in a saddle or on a trainer before buying.

Now I'm a father with very little time to train. A serious cyclist might recomend a harder saddle

 

[Alias]

Road bike magazine in Germany just did a feature on seats and urology. The language might make it difficult but you can probably find similar info on the web in english.

They tested blood flow with a special electrode in the end of a condom and pressure using a foil mat. The found a lot of difference in sadles. The also recomended some changes to bike setup including a slight downward angle on the saddle (measured out with a spirit level on the cheek bone pads and everything forward of that was at a couple of degrees slope).

I had the same problem and changed the set up but didn't buy a new saddle. It was better straight away.

Then I got caught on holiday with a chance to ride but no kit. I purchased the only pair of shorts in my size (Briko). The difference is amazing. In my case only luck but I don't know if you can find a shop that lets you try sitting in a saddle or on a trainer before buying.

Now I'm a father with very little time to train. A serious cyclist might recomend a harder saddle

It's funny that you mentioned the seat angle, it was probably going to happen anyway, it's the first thing i changed. Since then there seems to be a slighty larger load on the quads under acceleration, but the seat feels like a totally different seat. So far, i can't find any other problems but it seems to have fixed the numbness. Thanks for your help everyone.
Oh yeah i lowered the seat a little to, about 2mm.