Ultracycling

Thanks so much everyone! I will point her here and to the book!

You weigh less than my left foot though right? So that's not entirely unexpected.

Definitely. I tried dieting for a LEJOG attempt and had the shittest year until I quit it, got fat again and won the 24hr Worlds.

I've turned my gooch into steak tartare so often now I'm just used to it, used to the pain and shuffling and cleaning and whatever I can do to manage it.

Ha I’d wager I’m probably a fair bit above average for these things. Mainly due to height admittedly.

Edit; appreciate the compliment tho 😘

Actually would taller riders have a centre of gravity further forward than shorter riders? I guess it depends if you're taller because of long legs or long torso. But, if you have a long torso then presumably you have more weight forward which means you might get more hand issues rather than saddle issues?

Bike size should mitigate that.
I do think there is some mileage in position. That’s why I was suggesting fit is an important factor.

I’d imagine cadence could also play a factor.

I'm not as much of an expert in gooch warfare as Hippy, but one thing that's worth considering is that trying to find the right chamois cream really helps too. It's a bit like finding the right facewash or whatever, as much as they're all seemingly the same the wrong one can cause spots.
Any of the lanolin-based ones need washing off really well too, as they can clog pores pretty easily and the lanolin is basically waterproof.

Don't be fat. Keep clean...

And according to BC, don't shave (or, presumably, depilate by any other means)

All good tips and my friend is watching and learning so thanks everyone.

I don’t know if there is a female specific but there is a washable bandage some use.
I can’t recall it’s brand name.

Yeah, I knew there was something I wasn't thinking of (drunk and tired combo ftw).

Fit indeed. I chose bleeding arse over numb cock. Cycling is so fun...

I knew I should've stopped the back, crack and sacks before TransAm..

Reskin. But that's really after you've already done damage. Hotel sleeps (and the showers) probably had the biggest impact for me. But I also kind of experiment on myself. I mean, it can't get any worse than TCR4 and I finished that. So, I've done 7 days of bivvy sleeps with 0 washing just to see if it made any difference - other than feeling gross, surprisingly not really. If I bivvy now I have wet wipes and other shorts to sleep in - I assume that help during TPR but it was a shorter event so tricky to say.

Looks like Strasser might crack the 1000km mark:
https://www.lfgss.com/comments/16094362/

Actually would taller riders have a centre of gravity further forward than shorter riders? I guess it depends if you're taller because of long legs or long torso. But, if you have a long torso then presumably you have more weight forward which means you might get more hand issues rather than saddle issues?

Isn't this basically what bike fitting is to fix?

Yeah, but I'm not trying to fix it, just thinking about taller rider weight distrib and if it changes or ends up the same. I'm not suddenly growing another 30cm so it's not an actual issue.

My tuppence on saddle sores is that you either get them or you don't and there's not a lot you can do about it in the short term.

Weight has to be a big factor - heavier people don't have any different skin.

Experiment with different saddles and types of shorts (and when you find good ones, buy a few as they won't always be available).

If your saddle is too high you will be more likely to get them from additional rubbing. I've found that lowering my saddle slightly helped a bit with saddle sores that were already established (but fucked my knees as didn't tighten seat clamp properly)

In the long term, ride loads to get your skin used to it and your position dialled in.

I used to think hygiene was important, until I discovered ultra racing and people wearing the same shorts for a month with no issues. Keep things clean, but obsessive / extreme hygiene won't fix an underlying issue.

If you've got a long body, don't you (or your fitter) just have / put your seat further back, so that you are still balanced on it, ie so that you don't put too much weight on your hands?

If you've got a long body, don't you (or your fitter) just have / put your seat further back

Seat set back is driven by the legs, not the body. Although KOPS isn't the iron rule some people make it out to be, it's not far off as major deviations tend to make pedal reaction have too much horizontal component.

What tester said and it would depend on leg length vs. overall reach. Higher saddle would put you back a bit but there's still presumably a bunch of torso hanging over the front. Anyway, my arse gets shredded, nothing much short of heroin addiction or some other rapid weightloss is going to fix that.

Seat set back is driven by the legs, not the body. Although KOPS isn't the iron rule some people make it out to be, it's not far off as major deviations tend to make pedal reaction have too much horizontal component.

I guess that is true if you use or take into account KOPS. I set my amount of setback based on not having too much weight on my hands.

Other than respecting the god of KOPS, what issues are there with a horizontal component to pedalling? Given that people manage to pedal recumbents OK, it's not immediately obvious to me, but I might be missing something.

If you go midfoot then it's highly unlikely you are doing KOPS!

Not KOPs, that setback depends on legs. Hence moving the saddle down and foward when you go midfoot, you've effectively shortened your pedaling leg length.

For me it's more about how much knee is bending and hip angle. Arms/hands come into play later.

With relatively long back back and short legs, I set my position based on balance and myy feet end up where ever, within the limits. I only use 165mm cranks now though so hip angle is decent, knees rise too high and the forward pedal position doesn't feel too far forward, so yeah based on this it does matter where your legs are but if I'd go with KOPS or set my fit based on the legs especially on any longer cranks, it would just feel shit to ride and uninspiring. I tried a slightly more forward position on my bike last winter, about KOPS I suppose, after a while I ended up not really riding the bike until I changed it back, just didn't work.