After an 84-mile road ride yesterday my backside feels like it’s been mercilessly scoured with sandpaper!
My Gore winter bib tights are warm, and fine for longish MTB rides when you’re not sat in the saddle all the time, but for road rides above 40 miles, the pads are not comfy enough. I have a leg length discrepancy and I’m a bit wonky at the hips so my left sit bone gets more pressure from the saddle than the right.
Any recommendations? I have some Assos shorts with good pads, but Assos only appear to have one style of ladies’ bib tights – at £255!

Can you wear your shorts under the bibs for extra paddage? Plus plenty of chammy cream may help.

Also make sure you get out of the saddle regularly on the road bike.

If you’re saying it is your sit bone then I would actually suggest it is the saddle that isn’t right rather than you need better tights. Are your lady bits sore over longer distances? You need to go to a shop that will measure your sit bones so you can get the appropriate width saddle.

Without being too graphic is it actually the bottom cheeks that are scoured and if so how? There is so much more to this, is there a chamois seam that has rubbed? Was it wet that has exacerbated this?

Otherwise tights wise it is personal choice but you also need to do research into the companies to see which chamois is designed for long rides, unfortunately internet shopping you don’t get this information provided. But the buzz word in cycling is “our 6 hour pad ..” so therefore something more appropriate for what you want.

I have a variety of bib tights, Ale and Giordana FRC are my most comfortable long distance ones, Altura progel are better for shorter distances. you need to physically see pad, is it smooth? does it have creases and seams?

Does this all make sense? Sorry I haven’t provided you with the obvious recommendation that you wanted but I don’t think it is that simple.

PS I wouldn’t recommend an extra pair of shorts, as they will rub against each other and potentially cause more issues, you just need to find that perfect combination of saddle and shorts/tights!

@vickypea

you say you have a leg length discrepancy – have you had a proper bike fit and had your feet (i.e. shoes) corrected to adjust this issue?

well worth addressing the issue at source, than compensating by shopping for more comfy bibs

I’ve obviously spent too long listening to The Archers, and thought you meant something else entirely by scouring 😳

Munque-chick – The painful area on long rides is always at my sit bone on the left. My “bits” are always fine, even on my longest rides (up to 130 miles). I have a Specialized Jet saddle on my road bike and I was measured for the right width. My previous saddle was the other way round: fine on my sit bones but mega-painful on my bits. I decided I’d rather have a sore sit bone! The pads in my bib tights are noticeably thinner than the summer shorts I use for long rides (Assos), but even they get uncomfortable eventually!

Esher shore – I’ve never had a professional bike fit, though I’ve heard of shoe inserts that might help, so I think that may be the way to go. Looking at my saddles, you can see they wear unevenly, and the hems on my jeans get trampled on one side more than the other.

Thanks all for your suggestions 🙂