greenteac

Just joined this forum and this is my first post I hope this is the right place. I have been doing road cycling for about two years and saddle sore has been a long gone issue. I can ride on my road bike for hours without any saddle sore. I do have a power meter so that's how I usually train.

Sadly I have been on many business trips lately where I can not bring my bike so i can only train in the hotel gym. Lot of hotels I stay only have recumbent bikes instead of upright bikes. Lot of time my glutes got super sore after maybe 40 minutes of riding at around the same power I do on my road bike . My heart rate is under control and everywhere else feel fine, just my glues are super soar. It usually feels ok after a couple hours of rest.

Did a lot of google on "recumbent bike glute sore" and all results are relating saddle sore which is not the issue I am having. I am wondering if I am just doing it wrong on a recumbent or just because it uses quite different muscle and I should train at a lower power level?

Drew Eckhardt 

The relationship between you and pedals affects muscle recruitment.

Sitting closer to the pedals recruits your glues more and quads less.

popeye

Ride more worry less.

greenteac

Thank you guys. I am having a long road tour coming up but is getting stuck training on hotel recumbent having sore butt so is getting a bit worried haha. Being a roadie rider all the time wasn't even sure what is the proper position on a recumbent. I guess I will just keep pedaling on and hope this kind of training give a surprising result.

topflightpro

Your glutes are weak. The soreness is coming from them having to work.

When on the recumbent, it is easier to push out on the pedal, and your glutes are doing the work. When you are on your road bike, you are not engaging your glutes. Rather, you are just focusing on your quads to push the pedal forward.

Ultimately, it means your pedal stroke on your road bike is not as efficient as it could be, as you are not using your glutes to push the pedal down.

FBOATSB

Welcome to Bike Forums. I can just about guess what kind of seat those things have because I have one at home that I use re: time constraint or when it's to crappy outside to ride properly. I know I'm a big wuss. Play with seat adjustment/tilt if possible and sit slightly more forward on the seat so hip joints are even with front edge. There's actually a condition caused by over working gluteals while under compression on a large flat surface, but I don't remember what it's called, which of course does not apply when on a proper saddle.

greenteac

I guess having stronger glutes (thus better butt ?) will not hurt anyways. I will keep on training then, but good to know I am not just doing something completely wrong and don't contribute to my training at all.

banerjek

BTW, if you're going to ride 'bents, you gotta learn the lingo.

It is incorrect to refer to the condition you're experiencing as "sore glutes."

Correct term is "recumbutt"

DXchulo

It's funny how specific your strength can get. I stopped riding my MTB for about 2 months and was only riding road (more than 1,000 miles per month). After that first ride back on the MTB I was sore the next day. If the road bike and MTB use different muscles, I can only imagine how different the recumbent must be.

Steamer

Yah, it's probably not soreness from muscle exertion but from ischemia (which is what recumbutt is).

greenteac

I was having a hard time deciding what term to describe my condition when i started to google about it, but recumbutt sounds just perfect LOL!