I’ve wanted to get into bikepacking for years, but I’ve always been concerned about how I’d be able to ride for multiple days. I was on a cycling team in college and the longest ride I’ve done is about 70 miles, after which I was toast and my butt was really sore. Obviously this is different than bike touring, but it still makes me wonder how others do it.
Do you take a lot of breaks throughout the day? Or is it more just conditioning yourself and building “callouses” (for lack of a better word haha). I’m pretty sure my pelvic bones are positioned right on my saddle, but maybe I need a different one.
Things that worked for me:
- Bike fit and saddle compatibility. Make sure they’re all set up for you; get it done professionally if you’re not sure.
- Multiple handlebar positions. I attached bar extensions to my flat bar to give my hands and wrists a few different positions to swap between. Also gave my bars a double wrap of bar tape because I was doing a lot of off road riding.
- Training. Do a whole lot of 2-5 hr slow rides, just accumulating time in the saddle. Not sure how you usually ride, but get used to a comfortable cadence and level of power you can put out all day.
- Stop for breaks but only if you need them. I found if I stopped for too long my body would start to cool down and it would be hard to get going again. I relied more on “bike yoga”, e.g standing in the saddle and stretching my back and legs. If you’ve done lots of training rides you’ll find you need to stop less.
Main takeaway is that it’s all about spending time in the saddle. If you’ve done a month of training and you’re still not comfortable, it’s probably your saddle. Lots of places can now measure your sit bones and recommend a saddle. They might also let you test ride a saddle for a week or two.
Good luck!
Get yourself a Brookseather saddle or something real nice. Two quality chamois shorts. Chamois or anti chafe cream. Get your bike fitted to you. And yes, build the “memory” of long days in the saddle.
Wear one chamois with the cream on your nice well fitting saddle (doesn’t have to be leather but they are nice for long days because they are smooth and low friction and they have suspension to them, plus you’re not dropping your soft bits into foam which can be hot and increase friction). Take a few breaks throw out the day and stretch a bit. Alternate days with different chamois shorts (nice $100 ones and don’t wear anything else) so they stay drier and don’t funk up. Make sure your bike fit is optimal, yes you can do this yourself but a quality fitter will set you up probably (hopefully) better than you can yourself.
Also check spelling before posting 🤷♂️🤦♂️
Since i do casual cycling only when i’m not touring, i try to get something like a weekender in before i go on a longer tour, or two longer day rides, to get my butt used to it. It will be a bit sore after that but after some rest days i’ll be ready to go and it’ll be fine. So yeah, conditioning myself to build “callouses” :)
I’m riding a brooks b17, no cycling pants. It is super comfortable now, best saddle i ever had, by far, but it took about 1000km to be that way. Before that it sucked and hurt and i almosted wanted to sell it, because i never had these problems with other saddles.
A good saddle made I world of difference. I have a brooks on my tourer and I cant remember whats on my commuter but its also very comfortable and doesnt cause any pain. I wear padded undershorts for longer tours, but I can comfortably do 2-3 days without them on the brooks.
I try not to ride further than I need to if I can help it while on tour. 50 miles/80km a day seems a good amount to avoid most of the kinds of fatigue or pain you might get from riding. Any further and I start to feel it.
I may have a headstart on training as my commute to work is 10 miles so im doing about 100 miles a week just for work so that probably keeps my butt tour ready.
70 miles as a one off will probably hurt more than 50 miles a day for 7 days.
You both get used to it, and your saddle moulds to you, to some extent.
I was off the bike for a few years. When I got back on, my first long ride was a killer. The second was shortly after, and it wasn’t so bad. After a couple short rides on consecutive days, it was pretty much not a problem any more.
My ass I used to taking a beating. Also, yeah, good saddle.
Lots of great recommendations here and a good saddle/setup is probably the most important. I have only one thing to add: Padded bicycle underwear also helps quite a bit.
Saddle soars are caused only from bad equipment or bad set-up. The “conditioning or getting used to” is big BS.
Check your saddle height/angle and handlebar position both affect the “butt pressure”. If you have saddle that you got on pre-built bike change it - manufacturers cheap out on them.
I have saddle from SqLab, they make bike parts for people with medical conditions like bad knees, bad posture… So it takes some time to get used to that it supports only sit bones but I never had any sore from it.
It is individual so you need to try what is best for you. I didn’t know it and suffered on my old bike sometimes, it got better after few rides but the problem didn’t entirely go away.
