I was thinking that I would follow along out of interest, but since nobody else has chimed in, I will throw out some thoughts.

First, it's unlikely to be a nerve since it is occurring on both sides. Although itching/burning is often nerve or blood flow related

There are 5 adductor muscles that all have pretty close origins off the pubis, but fan out and attach at several points down the thigh, and in the case of the gracilis, just past the knee. Any pain further down the leg if you start probing around? How close to midline is the pain? What about if you poke on the pubic bone?

There is a joint there (pubic symphysis), and it can move, but it seems unlikely that cycling would bother it and running would not. Any history of trauma or laxity in that area? Ever had that joint mobilized?

Those muscles adduct and internally rotate the hip, so from a function standpoint, is it possible your leg is doing something goofy? If we threw you on a Retul or similar motion capture, what would your knee track look like from the front?

Random troubleshooting thoughts: How tight are your bike shorts? Does the nose of your saddle rub your thighs? What does the level of your saddle look like?

It's an odd presentation for sure.

Do you have multiple bikes, and if so is it across all of them? What bike are you riding? You said "after cycling." Does that mean no pain during? How long of a ride does it take to trigger it, and how quickly does it resolve?

Thanks for the reply.

No history of injury to the area. It first started about 1.5 years ago after my last A race of the season. I had been riding a tribike for training mostly and switched over to a road bike.

Unfortunately, I sold my tribike shortly after the race, but I’ve always wondered if the road bike switch was a trigger. I’ve since ridden a number of bikes and the issue persists.

I’ve actually had a retul done recently, but they did not mention any weird knee tracking issues or anything and for the most part said everything looked fairly normal. Playing with saddle angle is a good thought.

The other symptom is occasionally feeling like the front of my hip flexor and lower back are being pulled (like over stretched).

Really weird presentation I admit. At this point, I’m just trying to figure out who would be best to see for advice.

The next obvious question I think is are you using the same shoes across all of the bikes? If so it maybe your cleat position or it may simply be worn out cleats.

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Dave Jewell
Free Run Speed

Thanks. Same shoes across all bikes.

The saddle tilt is something to explore more I think. Thinking back to my fit on the road bike, the fitter had suggested I try tipping the saddle up slightly (this was in response to my wanting to feel more planted on the saddle) this was also the time when I think things started flaring up.

This week I went back to a level saddle/possibly ever so slightly pointed down—and suddenly the problem seems to be much better... not sure if it’s totally kicked but it does seem to have made a difference. Reading a bit more online it looks like tilting the saddle up could have totally shifted my pelvic position on the bike—which also adds up to some general feelings I’ve been having (just feeling out of alignment, etc). Of course I very well could be reading too much into it. It hard to believe such a small change could have caused so many problems.