greetings to another video today we're going to talk all about subtle comfort and how to
avoid saddle discomfort and this is because i guess over the past month i've just ridden
over about 2 000 kilometers and in that time i've been in the saddle for around 100 hours
and on those rides on strava and on the comments on the videos a lot of you ask
how do you sit in the saddle for that long without getting like a saw ass like how do you do it so
i'm going to share a few of the things that i've learned over the years to enable me to be able to
sit in the saddle for a long time without getting any discomfort so the first thing and actually
i've learned a few of these little tricks from philbert who work with team sky british cycling
and this is one of them and i was at a talk and he basically just said do not wax and do not shave
in that area because when you do that you are increasing your risk of getting ingrown hairs
which then leads to just really uncomfortable saddle sores so if you are wanting to remove hair
you get laser ipl and generally do it in a time where you're not doing loads and loads of riding
so that's what i would suggest the next one goes kind of without saying it's get a really
good saddle and a really good pair of shorts so good doesn't necessarily mean really expensive
but it just means that it works for you and i wish i could just recommend like this is the
saddle that's going to work for everybody these are the shorts are going to work for everybody but
it is a little bit of trial and error and yeah i'm sorry i wish there was just one saddle but
there's lots of different types of saddles so you can get on with different shapes there's ones with
cutouts ones without cut outs one thing that i would do is measure your sit bone width and get
a corresponding saddle to fit your sit bones and even if you're really small or really big doesn't
necessarily correlate with your sit bone width you could be really small with wide sit bones or
a larger person with narrow sit bones so make sure you do that and with shorts just try them on
for me like i'm quite specific with the shorts that i have like i don't like um like really
thick leg grippers and the chamois has got to be like super comfortable then we come on to
subtle angle so you might have the most amazing saddle in the world and it's perfect for you
but if it's not set up properly it's going to feel painful so again another phil bert tip is
when you've got the saddle on your back make sure it's between zero and minus three degrees you can
use it i like there's a spirit level thing on your phone and a great degree measure i don't
know what it's called but you can measure the degree angle of what your saddle is so
make sure it's between zero and minus three just for like optimal comfort and actually weirdly
my saddle had somehow moved and the saddle was slightly open last time i went to see him it's
like oh that saddle looks a little bit nose up and i actually had been getting a little bit of like
subtle discomfort but i was like oh it's because it's my winter bike maybe it's that and it's like
no no you need to so he can just see it so i'll leave as he does if you're actually if you're
having a lot of subtle issues you can get like subtle pressure mapping done and he's just amazing
so i'll leave his details below if you want to go and do that but a lot of these things you can just
do at home do all these first and then if you're still having real issues go and see phil or go and
see a bike fitter the next one is shammy cream um i have this is like full disclosure i have
worked with slipstream before in the past i'm not this is not a paid thing for them but this is the
chevy cream that i have used for years and years and it is my favorite one i
think it's the best one that there is and it's basically a really small company it's two guys
and they want to make a really natural really good chamois cream and this is phenomenal
the first ingredient is aloe vera but this lasts me around a year one tube
and you don't need a lot and what i like is there's a tube so you can always share so if
you're on like a bike [ __ ] trip with friends you can share it you don't have to like dip
i don't know dip in pots that always grosses me out and with this one what i like about it and why
it's so good and when they formulated it basically when you put it on i'll show you um it's like
um it goes like talc on your hands not on your hands wherever you put it i'll go on to that
in a minute but when you put it on it just kind of like disappears and it's just really really
really good and the reason for that is when they what they were saying is that when you've
got like a really thick chamois cream that's like gloopy or thick that basically like wears away to
nothing and then if there's any salt i guess that you've sweat out it just kind of like crystallizes
and then causes chafing and then that's why they don't really like all the other ones that
are on the market whereas this one is amazing like there's no it's just it doesn't feel like
you've got anything on so where to actually put shammy cream that's another question that i get
you basically put it where you come into contact with your saddle so i and you can also put it
in your chamois so if i'm going to do like a really long ride i'll do bow so i'll use use it on
myself and then also in my chamois but yeah it is really good i think it's 20 pounds i think you get
two it's on amazon i'll leave a link below if you are interested also you can use this afterwards
so if you have been on like a super long ride i do this when i've been on like mega long days you can
use it as like a soothing gel afterwards so you can't even really tell it's on but it's not greasy
it's not gloopy but it just works so definitely a thumbs up for not so cheesy and thumbs up for
slipstream and next one is get out of the saddle often on long rides especially on flat rides
you just basically want to let the blood flow around the body properly and if you are just
constantly sat down all the time that's not going to happen so that can cause subtle discomfort as
well and the last one is as soon as you get home from a ride whip those bibs off because if you
get home and you sit in your bibs and there's like it's kind of warm and bacteria can grow and like
you can just get skin breakdown so as soon as you can get out of those bibs get some air get get a
shower put some slippery on afterwards for like a and after balm um but yeah just don't sit in bibs
because that can cause problems then for when you go out again i think sour comfort is something the
more i guess more hours you are in the saddle the more you kind of like tweak everything to make it
better but i remember when i did lanterns on a groat and i did feel bad there were some people
mainly men just in so much pain and each of us at the stops they were like scooping out like
pseudocreme and like just slather it on themselves and i remember like riding along and this guy had
got black bibs and just there was pseudo creme like oozing out from his shorts i was just like oh
it doesn't need to be like that if you are still having issues honestly i can't recommend
phil enough like go and see someone doesn't have to be phil go and see someone spend the
money and get saddle pressure mapping because yeah you just don't want to be in pain on the
bike it should be fun any other questions i might do like an endurance q a so any other
questions that you've got for that leave them in the comments below bye bye bye um i love it hello
i'm bob i don't know i say new bike day new bike day new bye bye