Biking

Beau2

My brother posts to this forum and said I might get an answer to my biking question here.

I had my prostate removed about a year and a half ago. Each time I try to ride there has been some pain; however, recently the pain has really diminished. I have recently taken short rides with no bad results, and I would like to up my mileage.

Any recommendations on saddles? how to build up mileage?

Thanks.

gkoper

Bike seats
You might consider noseless bike seats. They sell them at Walmart.

DanKCMO

If you are road biking I
If you are road biking I recommend the Terry Butterfly. It has a front to back cutout that relieves the pressure on the perineum (or whatever that area is called). There are many similar saddles out there with a similar cutout.

The Terry Butterfly was the seat I have used for several years prior to my RALP, it just so happens it worked great afterwards. I had bought a cushier seat to use during my recovery but the Butterfly worked fine.

If you are riding a more upright bike like a city bike or hybrid, they make seats like the Terry Liberator or other similar seats with more padding and a little wider and they still have the front to back cutout.

I had no pain at all in my perineum when I rode, but what was strange was I had a mild pain across my stomach that was more related to the incision sites. After a long bike ride it felt like I had done a 100 crunches (I am not certain what a 100 crunches would be like though since I have only done about 10 in my life). Asked the doctor and he said no problem and it gradually went away after a few more weeks.

Dan

lewvino

There is a specific bike
There is a specific bike seat that is better. I don't remember its exact name. My dad bought one for his bike. If I remember it is in about 2 or 3 sections with a hole down the center of the seat area to relieve some pressure.
I've not had any problems with bike riding since my surgery. I do about 30 minutes a day on the stationary bike and yesterday rode our jet ski for about 4 hours.

Good luck,
Larry

rickety

Two bicycle seat options
I had my radical prostatectomy in March, 2007. I was riding by mid-May, two months later. My surgeon only agreed because I told him my seat had no pressure points on the prostate.
At the time of my surgery, I could find very little information about riding after an rp. I was afraid that I might have to switch to a recumbent.

The first bike seat I tried was the Bisaddle by Bycycle, Inc (www.bycycleinc.com). They have four models ranging from $80 to $225. They suggest about 100 miles of riding to adjust to it. After 100 miles, I gave up. (But read on - this is currently the seat that I use, and have for 3 years now). I could not get comfortable on the saddle - it is meant to support your weight on the sit bones, not the perineum. When riding a seat like this, you realize very quickly how much the nose of a normal seat is used for balance. I felt very uncomfortable taking one hand off of the handlebars. Riding with no hands is not an option (maybe if you're a more talented unicycle rider you can overcome this.)

I decided to try a seat sold at my local bike shop, the Hobson Pro Hub X2 (available on Amazon for $70.39). This seat was more comfortable for me than the Bisaddle. I rode this for several hundred miles, and basically used it to fine-tune the adjustments to my bike. With the new saddle type, my weight was now more forward and put a lot of pressure on my hands. My local bike shop reversed the headset stem and raised it more, and this greatly improved the comfort. Unfortunately, the saddle began to slip, and the gap between the two cushions disappeared (the Hobson Pro has two roughly triangular pads that are separated by rotating a thumb screw so that the two pads are the proper distance apart. The locking screw that held this distance began to slip and failed to hold the distance).

This was putting undue pressure on my perineum, so I put the Bisaddle back on. I was surprised to find that it was no longer uncomfortable - the Hobson seat had essentially worked as a training seat for me. I have not switched back and am quite happy with the Bisaddle seat. It is now several thousand miles later, and I am able to ride as far or as long as I want to, on any type of terrain. I would strongly recommend it, but be prepared for a long break-in period. It takes quite a bit of riding to get used to it.

There is some interesting information about different tests that were performed on the Bisaddle and a comparison between it and a normal seat and the notched seats. It was surprising to me how much better the Bisaddle is than the notched seats, which still introduce quite a bit of pressure on the perineum.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Ride on !

Rick

Beau2

Thanks
Thank you for the recommendations. I was able to find the saddles you recommended on-line. Amazon has some for sale, and there are reviews. I am in the process of reading the reviews.

Went for about a five miler yesterday. I used the old saddle. It felt different, but no pain. Today I had no after effects, so maybe after I get a new saddle I'll work my mileage up. Fall is a good time to do that.

Lindorf

Beau2 said:

Thanks
Thank you for the recommendations. I was able to find the saddles you recommended on-line. Amazon has some for sale, and there are reviews. I am in the process of reading the reviews.

Went for about a five miler yesterday. I used the old saddle. It felt different, but no pain. Today I had no after effects, so maybe after I get a new saddle I'll work my mileage up. Fall is a good time to do that.

I bike quite a bit. I was
I bike quite a bit. I was back on my bike about 6 weeks after RP and am back to the effort level from before surgery now, after a year. I use a fizik arione saddle at the moment. I was using a selle smp saddle before and immediately after the surgery the selle was about 250.00. The smp is designed to take pressure off of the perineum and was effective at that. It took a week or so to get used to the way your sit bones seated on it but was very effective. The saddle I am using now is more of a racing one, but both have worked well. I am riding 30-50 miles a day when I ride, as much as 250 miles a week and only my physical conditioning is an issue.

Just don't do too much too soon, your body will tell you when you are pushing too hard.

Happy riding.