Gotten a professional fit?

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My Strava | My Instagram | Summerville, SC | 35-39 AG | 4:41 (70.3), 10:05 (140.6) | 3x70.3, 1x140.6 | Cat 2 Cyclist

Saddle angle and correct shorts make a big difference. For example compared to my road bike then the tri saddle sits more nose down. Also, riding the tri bike in cycling bibs is not comfy as there is too much padding that bunches, but with 4mm tri shorts then it's fine. Conversely, riding the road bike in tri-shorts is not as comfy as in good bibs that spread the pressure over a wider area.
As mentioned a good fit will get you a long way towards a comfortable position. And where you sit on the saddle is a function of your bar setup.

As for me, I've gone the other way. I ride fairly aggressively nose up, as shown in the pic below.


I find it a bit more comfortable if I'm supporting the symphysis pubis (pubic bone) directly rather than on soft tissue. But I don't really know how you guys ride with your dangly bits.

Sometimes my outie thinks it's supposed to be a innie.

<lol>

Ah yes. Good point, didn't really check but gender will impact this, and also if you are on a tri saddle or road saddle.

The drop from saddle to pads also a strong factor.

The point being that you do need to experiment a bit once you have the fit close

Most tri-specific saddles have a center cutout that extends all the way to the end of the nose so that you can roll your pelvis forward (clockwise when looking from the drive side of the bike) and not have the saddle tip pressing on soft tissue.

Examples:









Personally, I use the ISM PN1.1 on my tri bike. I wouldn't be able to ride 15min in aero on the Specialized Power saddle that I love on my road bike. Horses for courses.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

the biggest comfort problem triathletes face is the saddle. we routinely find that at least 1/3 of all triathletes are not content with their saddle. this is because, while in the aero position, your pelvis is rotated forward and your weight is coming down in the general area surrounding your genitals, rather than on the posterior side of your trunk (butt, sit bones).

one way to deal with this is to "hook" your sit bones on the twin "noses" of a split-nose saddle like the ISM. this is the most thoroughly nose-ridden style of saddle. but some folks (including me) find this not comfortable, as your sit bones - ischial tuberosities - are the origin of your hamstrings.

my solution has always been just a spitload of gel or foam in the nose of the saddle, to displace the weight over a greater surface area. hence the original profile design tristryke. still my favorite tri saddle. alas, i'm in the vast minority there.

the most typical current new in vogue solution, among the pros, are saddles that are not split nose, but that do have a lot of padding in the nose, and with a rounded nose. and are cleaved down the middle. you sit these saddles, rather than hanging off the nose of the saddles. but you're still nose riding because if you don't your thighs won't clear the flanges of the saddle when you're in aero.

as it happens i'm writing about this right now for the front page, and saddles like the gebiomized stride, syncros belcarra (almost the same saddle), bontrager hilo, specialized sitero, selle italia watt, are all examples of this. but as mentioned above, it's not just the saddle, but the whole fit, and part of that fit that's really critical is the tilt of the saddle. i tilt my saddle nose down as much as i can, until i begin to slide forward. then i tilt it very slightly back. this places the onus on bike makers to provide seat post clamp hardware on their bikes that allows for micro adjustments in tilt. not all bike makers get that memo.

finally, sometimes during a bike fit session someone says to me, "i feel a lot of weight coming down on the aerobars." that can be disconcerting if you're not used to it. however, the weight's going to come down somewhere. so, you need to decide where you want that weight to sit. if it's not on the aerobars it's on the saddle.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

The way I sit on my saddle (1st gen Specialized Sitero), those bits are hanging off the front, so no pressure at all :)

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

Or like the old days

The fitter would ask right or left?

That meant do you hand your junk to the right or left

If you said right they would point the nose of the saddle to the left just a bit

yeah. but, not so much now. that used to be a thing john cobb would preach. angle the saddle a little based on that. but not on today's tri bikes.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I remember when I got my first non round seatpost and so had to change from riding a typical road saddle to one of the ones with a channel. Which then meant changes not just to my TT bike, but to my road bike and MTB as that slight angle had resulted in some minor pelvic imbalance over the years, and so needed to work on getting that even across the fleet.

Of course is also meant I needed to replace my cycling socks as the elastic in the left one had been stretched from where I tucked it in.

It was also possible back in the day due to round seatposts. With aero, non-rotatable posts there is no option to angle the saddle side-to-side (plane // to the ground).

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

I'm now preaching the Bisaddle, and this thread will be no different.

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

I believe that your position depends a lot on fitness, and the length of the event. I ride fairly aggressive positions on road and tri, and have come to several conclusions, for my own comfort.

I’ve settled on ISM PS 1.1 for both road and tt.

In a multi-hour ride, I sit with pressure dominantly on my sit bones, rather far back on the saddle, because I can only unload the weight on my saddle so much. Since my pelvis rotates a lot and I keep my lower back flat, I need a lot more saddle tilt than any fitter would suggest… but it works for me and no I don’t “fall off / slide forward / put too much weight on my arms.” I’ve experimented a lot and always go back to a tilt that provides the most of the support on my sit bones even with my back flat and low. I routinely do 3-6 hour rides with minimally padded tri shorts and no lubes, waxes, etc, and no issues. It definitely hurts when I remove saddle tilt.

For shorter events like sprint distance, I ride on the nose, but I’m also loading the saddle much less. I assume pros do the same since they are putting out a lot of power and weigh less than I do.