PREVENTING SADDLE SORES

Saddle sores are a pain in the bootom for cyclists and can ruin a lovely Sunday morning ride into the countryside. The usual recommendations are:

1. Get a decent saddle
2. Get some proper cycling shorts with seamless padded bottoms and make sure you have enough pairs of shorts to ensure you start with a clean dry pair every day.
3. Don't wear any underwear under your cycling shorts! The seams will cause pressure and chaffing. Ladies: We have been reliably informed that lace knickers are the very worst thing to wear on a bicycle.
4. Keep your bottom clean! Your sores will feel ten times worse when they become infected

All of the above is simple good advice, and very well known. But if you stay in the saddle for long enough you will still develop sores. Hands up all those who expect their bottom will still be clean and dry after riding 50 miles (or even ten) on a warm summer day. It isn't possible! Also stopping to wash your bum and change into another pair of clean dry shorts in the middle of your ride isn't really practical. Which brings me to the secret weapon in the fight against a sore botty! CHAMOIS CREAM! Surely this stuff is the unsung hero of the long distance bicycle rider.

CYCLINGS 'UNSUNG HERO'

One cyclist (whose name has been removed to protect his honour) suffered with saddle sores for about three years before a bicycle shop told him about this stuff. There are several makes available, but the most common seems to be Elite and Agu. Although it is readily available, you have never see it on display in any bicycle shop. However, if you walk in and ask the shopkeeper who will dig it out of a cupboard or from under the counter.

It works partly because it contains substances that kill the bacteria that cause inflamation of the skin, and partly because it is slippery and slimy so it acts as a lubricant between your shorts and your skin preventing your shorts from rubbing your skin away. It's ideal to protect the skin from excessive sweating. It's components make it particularly indicated to protect the delicate skin of the chamois area against microbes and bacteria.

For best results squeeze a generous dollop of cream from the tube and spread it liberally around the bottom pad on the inside of your cycling shorts. Now pull the shorts on. Expect it to feel fairly disgusting! Its a lot like pulling on a pair of cycling shorts that are full of cold slippery slime. There is a good reason for this - they are full of cold slippery slime! But we reckon filling our shorts with slime is infinitely preferable to riding with saddle sores ;-)