I’ve heard more than my fair share of saddle sore stories, but even I was shocked when I received a message from a successful ultra-cyclist after a short training ride. “It suddenly dawned on me that I was cycling without pain,” she enthused. “Normally a ride begins with intense pinching agony while I find a comfortable way to sit. Now I just fit! Is this how nice cycling is for everyone else?”
The rider in question had recently recovered from labiaplasty – a surgical procedure that reduces the size of the labia minora. What shocked me was not the radical solution she had resorted to, but the fact that she had, until then, been in agony on every ride, and assumed this must be normal. I’ve endured some painful days in the saddle – especially towards the end of multi-day events – but it had never occurred to me that for some people, this was a permanent state of affairs.
Cycling’s culture of ‘noble suffering’ has a lot to answer for. And as well as those suffering in silence, there are all the riders we’ll never get to meet, because the pain they experienced when they first sat on a saddle was enough to deter them from cycling altogether.
Carly, a theatre professional from London, was so excited when she got her first bike that she rode it every day, ignoring the increasing discomfort in her vulva until she ended up in A&E, being told by doctors that an infected follicle was on the verge of sepsis.
“It swelled to about the size of a satsuma,” she recalls. “I was sent home, and essentially just cried in pain for three days.”
Denne historien er fra March 10, 2022-utgaven av CYCLING WEEKLY.
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Denne historien er fra March 10, 2022-utgaven av CYCLING WEEKLY.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
CLASSIC BIKE COLNAGO SUPER
A trailblazing bike immortalised by Merckx and Saronni
"Strava activities are the only way I know some of my friends are still alive"
...or that Bernard is doing his weekly shop
AN EXPERT'S TAKE ON... SADDLE SELECTION
Crucial advice to guide your next purchase
JUST A NUMB#R?
Approaching a landmark birthday, Charlie Graham-Dixon explores how ageing affects cycling performance and what can be done to stay ahead of the curve
RURAL PERIL
More UK cyclists are killed on rural lanes than on busy city streets. Rob Kemp investigates why and what can be done to keep us safe while riding in the countryside
A BLESSED RIDE THROUGH THE FOREST OF BOWLAND
Forgoing cloak, cassock and cross, Trevor Ward goes in search of the holy roads that helped make a Tour winner
Dame Sarah Storey claims road and 19th gold double
More success for Team GB's Paralympians in Paris, but Storey slams women's time trial course
Roglič matches Vuelta win record
Slovenian takes fourth Tour of Spain title after hunting down O'Connor's lead, writes Adam Becket
Williams crowned Tour of Britain champion
Welshman leads home resurgence at the stage race to crown an Israel-Premier Tech clean sweep, reports Tom Davidson in Felixstowe
CLASSIC BIKE CLAUD BUTLER OLYMPIC ROAD
Iconic British brand's Holdsworth-era road bike