And try lowering your seat height. Seriously, do this first. If your seat height is too high, you will be plagued with saddle sores, whereas when it is lowered, it cures the vast majority of them. YOu may have to lower your seat a LOT to start with, like so low it feels too low (often even 2cm+) and then work it back up from there.

I too found this to be the best answer when stopping sores from coming on.

Hi All - There’s A LOT of threads on saddle sores and I read a lot of them before posting. None addressed my specific question so I’m sorry to create yet another saddle sore thread. Sorry for the longer rant, too.

I’m not certain if what I have is a saddle sore or not. I have what looks like an inflamed ingrown hair on my upper / inner left thigh. From Google photos (this was fun), it looks like these are considered saddle sores. I have several, maybe 5-6 at varying stages of healing and inflammation (one woke me up last night).

My inner thighs are not rubbing / chaffing against the saddle so far as I can tell. And I’m only getting the sores on my left inner thigh so I’m a little frustrated I can’t seem to identify the root cause. I’ve also had a bike fitting and got a more narrow saddle to no avail. I’ve used bag balm or assists chamois cream. Maybe I need to put Neosporin, prep h, tree oil, etc on them when I start to see them? My bibs are always clean, but maybe they’re not as breathable as others and this might be part of the issue (I have Ceroti bibs).

Now I’m taking the entire week off out of fear it’s just going to get worse. I’m training for a tri so of course that also means no running or swimming either due to sore location. While I’m training about 13-14 hours a week, I’m usually only in the saddle 6 hours a week (exclusively on the trainer).

For what it’s worth this is my first time training for a tri (70.3) and I’m doing the high volume TrainerRoad plan.

Any thought on root cause of the sores? Part of me hopes by taking the week off it will allow the sores to heal and then won’t happen often in the future.

Thanks, all! Appreciate the feedback. Some answers to questions:

• I just had a professional bike fitting and saddle replacement so going to see where that gets me before dropping the saddle some.
• Today I started to treat the sores with a higher dose of hydrocortisone.
• I'm not shaving the area and my understanding is shaving may make it worse.
• I decided to take a week off because even when they pop and start to heal, my running and swimming irritate them and the cycle doesn't seem to end. First week off in 16 weeks, hate it.

Most significantly, sores are all associated with areas covered by the bibs. Not necessarily where the chamois is located. I have sore on the outside of my thigh, back of thigh, middle of butt cheek. Seems less friction related to me and more bacterial. I clean my bibs and shower immediately after all rides. I may try the antibacterial chlorhex skin wash or use this as an excuse to buy The Black Bibs everyone talks about.

It looks like you have received lots of excellent advice here. Is it possible this could be a running related problem? Shorts chafing and thighs rubbing can cause what you describe. Generally speaking you would feel discomfort while running though. Just a thought...

I was plagued with saddle sores for the longest time trying every trick to no avail...got a prescription to doxycycline from my doc and never had a problem again. I usually take it during the warmer months. I also wash all my cycling shorts separate from my other clothes in Lysol laundry sanitizer.