THE RIGHT SADDLE CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE

UP UNTIL RECENTLY, I WAS, AT BEST, A TWICEa-month cyclist.

- PAVLÍNA ČERNÁ

Not because I didn't want to bike more often, but because every ride would be followed by inevitable days-long soreness from an hour or two spent in the saddle.

Ever since I was little, riding my blue Giant mountain bike with my family on forest trails in the Czech Republic, I'd complain, if not outright cry, that it hurt and burned to sit or squat after a ride. I was told bike saddles just aren't all that comfortable. My stepmom and I were experiencing the same issues, sore for days, which only added to the impression that pain is an inherent part of cycling.

So I went with it. As a woman, I've been curled up in pain every 28 days since my teenage years; the postride crotch pain wasn't that bad in comparison. For how infrequent my rides were, it was what it was.

Once I became an editor at Bicycling, I started finding myself in a saddleand sore-more frequently. Yet I didn't even comment on how uncomfortable the saddles of the bikes I rode and tested were anymore. No amount of adjustmentsmoving it up and down, or shifting it back and forth-would alleviate the pain they caused. I concluded that we were all together in this suffering for the things we love to do.