rbk_3

I'll start off by linking to this thread from last summer when this whole thing started.


https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...l#post19949977


Long story short, I have a pain in my perineum that will not go away. It happened out of nowhere last summer. Aching pain in my perineum that came on during the night after a ride. I biked a handful more times after but it did not go away. It did get a lot better but never disappeared, I always felt discomfort. I took 5 months of the bike, seen a pelvic floor pysio, drs, chiro and nothing really helped or was able to tell me what was going on. I only have the pain in the centre of my perineum, no other symptoms.

Anyway, Tuesday I decided I was feeling pretty decent the last month and decided to try a 20 minute trainer ride and that was a bad idea. Now at square one. I don’t have any pressure point where if I press, it will cause pain. I don’t know where it is coming from.

Another interesting thing is that I never have pain during the ride, or even immediately after. It is in bed when I am trying to sleep it starts happening and then last at its highest intensity for several weeks. My saddle is a Specialized Power. I had a proper bike fit, and had the saddle pressure mapped, and everything was optimal.


I think about cycling every day and it is the unknown that is killing me. I would rather break both my legs and be in a wheelchair for a year, knowing I would heal. How do I cope with this?

TimothyH

Every one of us lives with the possibility that we may never ride again. In a moment it could be gone.

My faith gives me my identity, not my activities. I get my identity not from what I do but from who I am in relation to God. That will never, ever change. I realize that not everyone sees things the same way and I speak only for myself.

Someday I will look up from my bed and realize that I'm at the end. What I did will not matter much but how I treated other people. Cycling will have been icing on the cake.


-Tim-

Sepharad

How miserable. I am sorry for your pain. I have never ridden one, but would a recumbent relieve the pressure on your perineum.

I was instructed to cease Aikido, because of the liklihood of a detached retina.

My brother has been required to stop running because it damaged one of his legs.

Sometimes we have unpleasant choices to make, while terrible at the time, can lead to something new and good.

I hope you find a positive solution.

HTupolev

Have you tried a recumbent? Given the weird time delay of the symptoms, it's hard to be sure if it would address the issue, but maybe. A few of the roadies I ride with use Bacchetta Carbon Aero high racers in addition to their diamond-frame bikes, and they like them a lot.

Jon T

I have DVT and take 7.5 mg's of Warfarin daily. Every time I ride, the Mrs worries that I'll over do it and break a clot free causing a stroke or worse. It plays on my mind too. I'd rather die than have to give up riding. I've only been back in the saddle a little under a year after a 20 year hiatus from riding. I'm not ready for the recliner and Rifleman reruns yet.
Jon

odiolalluvia

I figure I'll be Mike Cavindish in a future life if I wasn't him already, so there's no concern there. Can only live one life at a time tho. Sorry to hear about the pain. I second recumbents. They're lots of fun.

rbk_3

Those Bacchetta look interesting to say the least. How do you even get started on one of those? I am not quite ready to go that route yet, but something to consider down the line potentially.

edsrx

I was a runner and a biker for years and it finally took its toll on my left knee, requiring a full four-piece artificial joint replacement. The metal and plastic knee has always been painful but I continued to ride (no more running). The summer after replacement I rode over 3,200 miles which included 7 century rides and I climbed all the major hills in New Hampshire, Vermont, and western Maine.

BUT, over the winter the pain became unbearable and I could no longer turn the cranks without crying.

I tried multiple disciplines over a couple of years with little result. This year I have tried cupping and faithfully use a foam roller. My range of motion has improved and the pain is always there, but not debilitating and I still don't know if I can ride.

Try to find some therapy for your condition.

I am optimistic for myself and all the bikers out there, and I wish all you folks can continue to ride.

Ed

nzhu

Perhaps we need to design an upper body bike

HTupolev

It's not really much different than on a diamond-frame bike. You can sit on the seat and use a foot on the ground to stabilize yourself as you put the other foot on a pedal. Then you push off and go.

WNCGoater

Tim is right. Not only in a moment could lose the ability to bike, we aren't even guaranteed our next breath or heartbeat. We, and particularly "we" as in men, tend to find our value in the world. May be in our job, athletics, finances... But when we find our true value, that is, our value in the sight of God and who we are in His eyes, is when we truly realize the value of our lives. When God defines us, everything else becomes secondary.

Having said that. I am a firm believer in one thing concerning the OP.
The body is beautifully designed, wonderfully made and ultra complex. But pain is the body's way of saying, "HEY! Something's wrong here." My point is, this pain is possibly being caused by something that goes beyond saddle pressure. Even though you've been checked out, as distasteful as it would be to me, I would seek out the opinion of a urologist or some other "specialist" and I'd want other internal things checked out, including prostrate etc. I would not hesitate to get an MRI if some professional thought it would be helpful. If I got no immediate answers I seek out someone who could get to the bottom of it.
Could be something as simple as a pinched or damaged nerve or something more serious. As much as it would pain me to lose my ability to cycle, right now that would be my secondary concern, #1 being to rule out some more serious issue.

canklecat

Sounds like a recumbent might be in your future. Mine too.

After a 2001 car wreck (other drive ran a light, t-boned my car) broke my back and neck in six places (C2 is still permanently damaged, splintered in three pieces), I figured I'd never ride a bike again. Sold everything. Bikes, tools, Detto Pietros, everything.

I needed a cane to walk the next 10 years. I was still on a cane for long walks until 2014.

In 2015 I got curious about bicycling again. Started with an upright comfort hybrid, which I still have -- only use it for local errands, or foul weather.

In 2016 I got a flat bar hybrid. Still needed a few months to adapt to the slightly more aggressive riding position. Neck pain and limited mobility continued to thwart me.

In June 2017 I tried a road bike, first in many years. Very challenging transition. I began more overall body conditioning, strengthening and flexibility exercises -- just stuff at home, no apparatus. The only "weights" I use are plastic cat litter jugs filled with water, similar to kettlebell exercises.

I'm still limited to 20-30 mile rides on the road bike before neck pain sets in. By 50-60 miles I'm miserable with neck spasms, which is embarrassing in group rides when I'm in obvious pain and other folks are fussing over me. I've ridden several metric centuries and one full 100 miler. I won't be riding another standard century, at least not on a racing type road bike. Took days to recover from the neck pain. I still need at least a day to recover from 50-60 mile rides.

So for now I'm limiting my road bike rides. Eventually I'll need a recumbent. The neck won't get better. It can only continue to deteriorate, and I won't risk surgery.

I still need a mirror for bike rides because I can't look over my shoulder. If I try to turn my head too much I'll risk sudden sharp pains and dizziness. I use a helmet mirror for the road bike. Both hybrids have handlebar mirrors.

I've given up other sports I used to enjoy. No more boxing, not even the most casual no-contact sparring. Can't risk even a slight unintentional contact punch because that C2 vertebrae is not intact. Can't play racquetball anymore either. I can manage very slow, gradual twisting exercises at home, but can't play any sports that require sudden bending or twisting.

But I'll keep riding a bike as long as I can, even if it means switching to a recumbent. It's the only vigorous exercise I enjoy, that leaves me feeling invigorated rather than exhausted and in pain -- as long as I respect my limitations.

Troul 

Re-Degree the seat angle. If that does not provide any change, change out your seat for a different one not mimicking the one you have now.

bkentr

Sorry for your pain.

As has been suggested, a recumbent might work. Getting started on a bent is not that hard. It's possible to
balance with the first 1/4 turn of the cranks. One foot down, one on the pedal, push and go.

Unfortunately, pain is pain no matter where it is, but to have it where it stops a body from doing something
important makes it worse to handle.

Back in 1980, I had to quite a job i loved, due to lower back pain.
My original injury came from sneezing while getting out of a waterbed. Shifted the spine back.

After that the disk wore out, then the bones in the spine, then L2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 followed.

Only mentioned that to say this. Finally, after 35 years, that's only back in 2015, i got the adjustment-correction
that I needed back in 1980.

Mentioned that to say that for the last 5 years of the worst, 2010 to 2015, I had multiple odd unaccounted for
pains. Some in my butt. Some in the knees, and some down the legs. Some of those came at night when trying
to sleep. At one point one leg or the other would give out.

Hindsight can clear up mysteries, and I now understand that those mystery pains were coming from the spinal
cord being pinched when the lower back was "out" for so long.

once the back was back in place, those went away.

That's a lot of words to say that as you are searching for answers or cures to pain issue, consider checking
out Robin McKenzie's books "Treat your own Back" and 'Treat your own Neck", or find a chiropractor that
specializes in "the McKenzie Method"

Have no way of knowing if this would help you or not, but it sure helped me.
Also, I am guessing that you might not want to leave any stone unturned to keep riding.

bkentr

Another thought about Bents,
A good friend of mine who got severely injured when a motorist turned in front of them while riding
their motorcycle. Very long recovery.
He recently bought a new recumbent trike. Two wheels in front. Variable speed hub. Disk brakes.
Very nice.

He loves it, and cannot ride a standard bike, but uses this one.

hillyman

There is always something else. Explore the possibilities. "I'm being followed by a Moon Shadow"

BobbyG

Before going recumbent, have you tried an alternative bicycle seat like a Hobson Easy seat dual-pad, a Moon saddle, or any other seat that doesn't put pressure on the perineum. You would probably abandon the standard position of sitting on your "seatbones" but when the conventional position causes pain, try something else. For me personally, I ride with seat and handlebar padding. I don't share your same problem, but I found I can't make it an hour on a non-padded seat, while padding allows me to ride up to 6 hours in comfort. This is not the case for most people, but it works for me.

Doctor Morbius

Due to a really messed up lower back I haven't been able to run (and sometimes can hardly walk) since May of 1994. So yes, I understand how scary it can be. Life still goes on though. Find new hobbies or a way to work around it. That's why I ride bikes now. It's really my 2nd choice. I know that's not going to make me popular on a cycling web site, but I have grown to love it.

Flip Flop Rider

noseless saddle. I use the moon saddle but look up adamo (I think that's the name)

McBTC

For as long as I was unable to do any outdoor biking (over 4 years) due to a knee problem and replacement complications... I wasn't sure it would be in the cards. If you're out of it that long -- maybe riding an indoor recumbent trainer with a big, fat padded seat in the meantime -- your problems may resolve themselves. I also ride an Adamo (ISM Prologue), a saddle that never comes in contact with the area where you're having a problem.

GrainBrain

Interesting, my grandfather recently suffered from something similar. At the bottom of the spine it was being pinched.

---

Good luck fellow biker! Just remember it wasn't the bike that made you who you are, it was your own personal decisions. With that, once one chapter may be over another always opens, you just have to keep your eyes open.

Now, I don't think it's time to throw the towel in yet!

The following is conjecture on my part, please confer with a doctor

Pain has a funny way of radiating about the body.

This pain reminds me of when I suffered from shin splints in highschool. I could exercise and be fine, but the moment I stopped the pain would be there, not so much pinpoint but a broad throbbing pain. I don't think your saddle is affecting anything. If it was something serious, you'd instantly know.

I would suggest doing yoga, or swimming, or stretches. I think you need to carefully keep exercising.

Start throwing fits at your doctors appointment. Moan, wail. I've found the way doctors work is if it's not life or death you're on the back burner of their concern. You could have a higher pain threshold then most. Get the full diagnostic sweep.

The following is merely a suggestion, and if you're against it that's fine. I'm just thinking of options that don't involve opiates, but are a little more powerful then an NSAID

When it comes to meds, this may be a good time to try medicinal cannabis. Eaten in small amounts, carefully. This is a taboo subject, but it may prove more effective then an NSAID, and less dangerous then an opiate or derivative.

rbk_3

I actually have the Rido R2 on now. Essentially a noseless saddle with a nose. I had my fitter pressure map it and it was literally 100% of the pressure on my sit bones. Literally nothing on the soft tissue

BobbyG

Damn...sorry. I have ridden couple of Recumbent Trikes I found them a little un-bike like. But I have a feeling that a recumbent bicycle, and one with larger wheels that sits up higher would feel more bike like. I've ridden a couple of small wheel crank forward bikes , and small wheel folders and I think larger Wheels really add to the bike like experience But if I had to choose between a recumbent trike and no riding, I would be happy with a recumbent trike.

sdmc530

A good friend of mine had some issues with his prostate a few years ago. A lifelong biker the doctor told him no more. He was crushed! He went on a quest to find a ride his doc said was safe. He rides a cat trike. It’s not a road bike but he can still ride. I can say it saved his life finding it. He would have been devistated without finding it.

I hope you can find something that works for you. I myself try not to ever think about this situation, frankly scares the poo out of me

BlazingPedals

The only thing I don't like about recommending a recumbent is that it plays into the idea that recumbents are for those with physical problems. They may be that too; but they're also fun enough that they are a first choice for many. I think going directly from a road bike to a recumbent trike would make for a Bad Experience - too much speed loss and even more foreign-feeling than a 2-wheeled bent. The biggest problem with converting is accepting that a bent NOT an upright. It has its own handling and speed profile. Not better or worse, just different.

PS: Recumbent trikes are not like bikes. They are like little human-powered go-karts. They tend to be slower than bikes, though.