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sensitive skin

 
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Anonymous
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2003 3:32 pm GMT +0000    Post subject: sensitive skin Reply with quote

Doc: I've been putting in a lot of miles lately, i.e. 100 in 3 days, road and off-road and the pressure points on my derrierre are sore and red. I am wondering if chamois butter does more harm than good as it softens the skin. Don't you want to toughen you skin? What do the pro's do? Sad
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The Bike Doc
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Joined: 08 May 2003
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Location: Corpus Christi and Warda, Texas

PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2003 5:18 pm GMT +0000    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pam:

The Chamois Butter can help decrease chaffing and skin irritation provided you have not developed sensitivity to one of the ingredients. Typcally, a local hypersensitivity reaction will present with local redness, occasionally swelling, itching and/or tenderness to the area where the irritant contacts the skin. In your case, it is more likely that the cranking up the miles accutely is the culpret.

It is best to limit your milage increases to no more than 10% per week to allow your body to adjust. If you are road biking quite a lot, the traditional road bike and seat can be hard on the derrierre. This is usually not the case with off road riding due to the frequent getting up out of the seat and changes of positions that occur with off road riding. That is a tip on what you should do when on a conventional road bike. Get out of the seat frequently, change your postition often to help decrease pressure sores. You may need to get off the bike or totally out of the saddle for a week or two to allow yourself to heal. A training trick that can also help saddle sores heal is to pull the seat tube and seat off the bike and only pedal standing. That trick can help build some awesome climbing muscles. Another trick I have used with success is to were a pair of unlined liner shorts between the bike shorts. This gives a sheer zone between the bike shorts and skin and decrease chaffing.

The ultimate cure for road bike induced saddle sores it to get rid of your conventional road bike and go with a recumbent. There are several styles and models to choose from. There are ones that are cruiser types, others well suited for commuting and touring and others that are excellent for go fast riding and racing. Check out www.bentrideronline.com for some excellent reviews and discussions of recumbent bikes. Now, keep your mountain bike, recumbents are worthless on technical single track and rough off road riding. They can handle some fire roads, but in my experience, once the pavement is gone, mountain bikes still rule.

Thanks,
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Paul K. Nolan, MD
AKA: The Bike Doc
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Anonymous
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2003 12:13 pm GMT +0000    Post subject: Reply with quote

Doc: as usual, you are a wealth of information. I'm going to try the liner. 40 miles without a saddle would be a challenge! As for the recumbent, I'll pass. I'm heading out to Moab at the end of this week for some serious riding. Let's hope my butt holds up. Thanks again.
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