Saddle Sore Solutions for Women // Cycling During Covid-19 // Increased Indoor and Outdoor Cycling // Cycle Booty to the Rescue!

On August 6, 2020
By Kimberly

I hope you never, ever need any help with saddle sores and chafing. But, if you do, here’s what I’ve tried and what I found that works for me. With working from home due to Covid-19, suddenly I had more daylight hours due to not commuting. I decided to devote that bonus time to improving my cycling speed, strength, and distance. More time in the saddle meant more discomfort from saddle sores. Here’s how I solved the problem with some great products from a female-formulated and operated Cycle Booty, as well as some other items that provided relief. I hope this helps you!

1. Padded Shorts

When I first started riding, I realized right away that I needed quality padded shorts, or saddle sores would keep me from riding. I tried out several brands or padded shorts, and settled on Vanderkitten due to their great quality, fantastic graphics, and reasonable prices.

Unfortunately, their production is halted for now, so I can’t purchase any new kits, but these are such great quality, they’ll last me for several years.

Other brands I have in my drawer and successfully wear are Castelli cycling shorts, as well as shorts from Squadra, and Specialized. Of those three; the Castelli are my favorite. I tried bibs and despised them, so it’s shorts for me.

If you’re not convinced you need quality cycling clothing to avoid saddle sores; read this. Vanderkitten Womens Cycling Kits – Cost Per Wear – Review.

2. New Seat

My first saddle came with the bike. No amount of adjusting provided much relief from saddle sores. I invested in a second saddle, also with no relief.

The third one’s the charm, right? Third, I chose an ISM saddle made in Tampa, Florida. It’s doing the best of all for me. While I can’t say it’s completely solved saddle sores and soreness; this saddle is the least painful so far!

Actually, I ordered the 2.0, the 2.1, and the 3.0 saddles from ISM so I could try all three, then returned the 2’s. I chose the ISM PR 3.0 Saddle 235mm x 145mm: Black, and had a professional “refit” with that on my bike.

Yes, it holds my cell phone when I’m too tired to put it in my jersey back pocket. But that’s not why I chose it!

3. All That Other Advice

Simultaneously, I spent hours reading articles about saddle sores and saddle discomfort. Immediate bathing after rides, using a glide cream, washing shorts every ride (uh – who wouldn’t?), using a very good new razor, all great ideas.

Still, I was having some troubles with saddle sores and discomfort. Instead of focusing on my bike or clothes, I decided to focus on my skin.

First, I ordered a ginormous 32 ounce bottle of glide cream from Chamois Butt’r Her’ for only a little more than the smaller tube. If, by any chance, I had been stingy with product due to coming to the end of an eight-ounce tube; now was the time to stop that habit.

4. Skin Care

Always, I’ve known my skin is pretty sensitive. Just a look at poison ivy and I’m breaking out in an hour. On a whim, I ordered a sample of Petal Power post ride intimate parts wash from Vanderkitten. It worked. Like magic, it worked. It was a female-formulated product, female-owned company. I was glad to support them, and then they stopped production.

So, next, I started searching for body washes with the same ingredients. I even tried to convince Autumn at Stream2Sea to take Petal Power’s ingredient list and develop an ecoconscious version in biodegradable containers, but Stream2Sea was busy recreating itself in the new Covid-19 world where cruise lines were not purchasing their sunscreen. She developed an ecoconscious spray hand sanitizer, and saved her company.

My search for saddle sore skin care relief found a few products – but not many. I ordered the only two that seemed designed for women. One was HONEYFUR pH Balanced Feminine Hygiene Wash from France. I used it a couple times, liked it’s piney scent due to tea tree oil, and admired the attractive container. France has great cyclists; it had to work!

It seemed to work pretty good, but before I gave it a full couple week’s workout, the second brand arrived; Cycle Booty. Not wanting to invest recklessly, I chose the Cycle Booty Travel Size Kit with sample sizes of the two products I wanted most to try; the citrus cleanser and post-ride cream. When it arrived, interestingly, the order included a “thank you” gift of a second travel size kit! Yippee!

I tried them both after my very next ride. Immediate relief. Also, immediate results.

Unbelieveable – while after the ride, I could feel bumps in the usual spots blooming, after using both products, the bumps relaxed, lessened, and reduced greatly in size. Since I’d had such a painful experience the week before, I started using the post-ride cream even on no-ride days.

The Honeyfur is still sitting in the shower. I’m scared to give it a full two-week trial now! With my saddle sores in check, I’m reluctant to experiment.

5. Cycle Booty

Well, you know how it is when you find something that works – you want to tell someone! Especially the creator. I’m obsessed with Cycle Booty, so I went online to find out who was behind these wonderful products, but also what from their line I could order next.

https://bit.ly/dwhCycleB

There were six products listed on the Cycle Booty products website: the citrus cleanser, the post-ride cream, a pre-ride anti chafe chamois cream, a coconut sugar scrub, a cooling gel and a moisturizing body butter. Oh, yum! If you prefer Amazon; these individual product links are for you. Not all products are available all the time from Amazon.

Still, I wanted to know more about the company. It matters to me; who’s behind the products, how they were developed, where they plan to expand. So, I contacted the company, and the story is a dream!

Cycle Booty was begun by Caitlin Yates over a year ago, and they just began expanding this Spring about the time I found them on Amazon. She’s an indoor cycling instructor in Northern California, and had struggled with saddle sores while teaching three to four classes a day. Like me, she tried several products with little relief.

Her grandmother owned a skin care company with products made of 100% natural oils that were soothing. Caitlin began using her grandmother’s cream, it worked, so she reformulated the cream specifically for cyclists. Her North CA indoor cycling community had great success combatting saddle sores, so… She went national.

Product lines developed by a female owner-operator delight me, so I’m pleased to purchase their products and even promote them! Caitlin very generously gifted me with a full-size of the chamois cream and the cooling gel. The quality is wonderful, the scents are gorgeous, and I can pronounce every single ingredient on the label. And – no more saddle sores.

I’m No Expert

I’m just a beginning cyclist with four years serious road cycling and a lifetime of pleasure riding. Here’s some expert reading for you:

Saddle sores: how to prevent and treat them from Cycling Weekly.

Saddles Sores and Other Indoor Bike Trainer Problems You Might Encounter from Bicycling.

How to Diagnose, Treat, and Avoid Saddle Sores from Bicycling.

How to Prevent Saddle Sores and Common Issues for Women from Bicycling.

Paralympian’s saddle sore surgery highlights lack of research for female cyclists from Cycling Weekly.

Female cyclists want gender differences to be given greater priority in kit design – including overcoming saddle-sore issues from the Telegraph.

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