Bike saddles

It has been a long time since my last blog. This time I want to reflect on bike saddles. Finding the best saddle and the best riding position are the two most important preconditions for a comfortable bicycle ride. If either of the two does not fit you properly, the biking could become more of a painful chore than an enjoyable activity.

In one of my previous blogs I praised Fizik Arione as being the best saddle I have ever had. While I am not changing that assessment, I am adding a few observations relative to bike saddles in general. For some unknown reason my saddle started to bother me couple of weeks ago. I did not have a break in riding, change in saddle position, or anything else that would explain my sudden sensitivity. It just happened. Repositioning of the saddle or taking different riding positions was not immediately helping. Reading various sources of information on the subject was not helping either. After some frustration and continued sole searching, my saddle is again comfortable to me. I am not convinced that this is only because of my lucky finding of the best position. Somehow I feel that saddle-related problems are physical and psychological. Physical when you feel real pain or numbness, psychological when you think you are painful. Often the two go together.

I would like to make two points. One that the perception of a saddle related discomfort may sometimes be psychological and not strictly speaking due to the saddle itself. And two, there is no single absolute most comfortable constant riding position for anybody. During any given ride we take different biking positions and accordingly, feel the saddle pressing different parts of our body differently. The optimal biking position is the one that allows us to tolerate the longest stretches of ride without pain. Nevertheless, though not the only factors important for biking comfort, proper saddle selection and bike fitting are essential.