Women's cycling tips - Saddle

It is common knowledge that a bicycle seat is not the most comfortable seat in the world, but if you are a woman it can even be painful! There are details that we do not give importance to when we start cycling but to which we should pay attention, such as the female saddle. Many women do not practice this sport or drop it because of the pain in the saddle because they think it is normal.

The majority of bicycles have been designed for men and have not taken the femenine physiognomy into account.This fact can lead us to experience a lot of discomfort during our training days. Luckily, cycling is integrating women and there is increasing awareness in the companies that manufacture these products.

In today's post I wanted to address the issue of the female saddle. In my case, like most, I thought that it was unnecessary to have a specific saddle and that it was an excessive expense, as if it was not needed for pedaling. The problem came when the discomfort started, I tried to train less, change the shorts, considered doing biomechanics... I discussed it with colleagues and I got the same response from all of them: We have all gone through these discomforts until changing the saddle. 

The question that arose in me: Why do I feel these discomforts? The morphology of a woman's hip is different from that of a man, so the support is not the same, I was supporting my weight poorly on the seat. The weight should go on our sit bones, which are the two small bones that support the hip and give us support when we are sitting. If the seat is not wide enough to provide support, this results in discomfort and irritation in the intimate area, asymmetrical pain in the knee and the sensation of having one leg stronger than the other.

A bad saddle will restrict your ability to move your pelvis forward because the tip of the seat will apply pressure to the perineum or your genitals, pain in the lower back and trigger poor blood flow with a feeling of numbness.

A specific women's saddle will be slightly wider at the back, shorter at the tip and may or may not have a gap in the middle. In road cycling they tend to be narrower saddles and in mountain biking it tends to be a wider saddle at the rear. In addition, it is advisable to use a saddle with a hole to avoid pressure in some unwanted areas. 

To know which saddle is most suitable for you, it is important to have good advice, measure your sit bones and choose the model most suitable for your discipline. In my case I opted for the Power Comp with Mimic saddle from Specialized, but we can find others such as the Diva Gel Super Flow from Selle Italia or the Bontrager Ajna saddle.

We must remember that there may be If you still feel discomfort, you should check that the saddle is well leveled, wear good bib shorts and use cream to avoid chafing.

I hope you liked this post, and above all, that it helped you! Keep an eye on the Arrivo Cycling blog as I will be periodically posting information of interest in cycling and for your next visit to Mallorca. See you on the island!

Xesca :)