Last week, I spent 6 days in a cabin on a lake near Alexandria with my family. I went on 3 longish bike rides over 5 days: Sunday, July 19, I went nearly 34 miles with a 21.0 mph average - the farthest I've went with an average over 20 mph! On Tuesday, July 21, I went nearly 22 miles while doing 3x5 mile intervals (20.9 mph into the wind, 22.1 mph half into the wind and half with the wind, and 23.4 mph with the wind).
After that 2nd ride, I had a little hard sore spot on my left "sit bone." But it wasn't bad. I took off 2 days later on Thursday, July 23 for a longer tempo ride. My left sit bone was sore pretty much right away, but it wasn't too bad. I did 30 miles total, with 25 at 21.33 mph pace. It hurt.
A few hours later, I had to look at what was so sore/hard on my bottom.
I TOOK A PHOTO.
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ARE YOU READY TO SEE IT?
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IT'S REALLY NOT THAT BAD, BUT I WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE FAIR WARNING.
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OK. HERE IT IS.
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First of all, you should know that this photo is mere centimeters from being rated NC-17. Secondly, like with most photos of "injuries" like this, the photo didn't do it justice. It was a HARD lump as big as a good-sized raisin, and it had a white and bloody head. My brother-in-law was within ear-shot when I spoke into my iPhone to do a Google search for "blood blister saddle sore." I quickly had to tell him what was going on.
And if you're wondering where exactly this is on my body, it's one point of an equilateral triangle with the other 2 points being my anus and my testes. It's like the Bermuda Triangle: mysterious things happen there, men fear it, and it smells funny.
I found some good advice
in this "SlowTwitch" thread. In it, the original poster asked what to do about a big
"nasty blister/chaffe right behind Big Jim and the twins." Most everyone talked about popping it (I wasn't sure if I should do that or not), and it was debated if you should "squeeze" or not. People mentioned that the squeezing lead to some pretty horrible pain. But after that, it should feel much better.
I posed the question
on twitter:
A few people said to not pop it, but most everyone said to pop it. Here were some helpful tweets:
Oops. Pic above. Sorry.
Thanks Joe, but I'm not that bendy.
Another "real life" friend sent me a direct message. I'm keeping her identity a secret (and that of her boyfriend) because it was a private message.
As you see in that conversation, I "operated" on myself. Let's back up 20 minutes. I got the needle-nose tweezers and some alcohol ready in the bathroom:
Also a big ass bandage for when I was done.
I popped it. I squeezed. I got out the "top" layer, but (as I sort of mentioned in that message on twitter to my anonymous friend) there was more beneath it that I couldn't squeeze out. Damn it. Here's what the toilet looked like when I was done:
The big bandage was going to be overkill, so I borrowed a smaller "pirate" bandaid from my Sister.
No "butt pirate" jokes. Please. OK, maybe just 1 or 2, but THAT'S IT.
The internet was right: it DID feel better right away after popping it. I was on the beach with my boys a few hours later, when something dropped out of my shorts:
I guess putting a bandaid on a hairy, sweaty patch of man means it won't stick long.
Sorry Matt.
That night, just before putting Henry to bed and about 5 hours after popping it, it looked like this:
Yep, now it's a crater. You can obviously see the top wound had drained nicely,
but you can see there's still something under it pushing it out. Yikes.
I didn't touch it after that. I tried to keep it dry. It started to go down and feel better. In fact, 3 days later (yesterday), I actually thought about going for a bike ride! I rode 21 moderate miles, and it felt FINE! It's now just a tiny bump that you can't see and you can only feel if I tell you it's there. (But nobody's hands are going down there, so don't ask.)
I figured out what caused the nasty saddle sore. It wasn't the 3 rides in 5 days (that's a fair amount for me, but not unusual). It was hopping on this long, flat, boring bike trail in Alexandria where I NEVER had to get out of aero. I was in 1 position for the entire time in all 3 of those rides. I'm used to biking in the city where there are stop signs and stop lights, and I pop into my "hoods" quite often. Not on these rides; I was down in aero and I was stuck there.So, here's what I've learned: (from some thoughts in the
SlowTwitch thread I first found)
- Wear good, clean bike shorts.
- Use "chamois cream" if you need to.
- Get a good saddle.
- Don't "hang out" in your bike shorts after a ride; get them off ASAP.
- Give yourself a bikini wax. (I'm not going that far, but someone swears by it on the SlowTwitch thread.)
- And (this is what happened to me) vary your position in the saddle!
- If you get one: pop, clean, apply ointment, keep dry, and take a day or 2 off, and you'll be fine.
That was gross, but I hope it was helpful.
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