Why do we have padded cycling shorts ?

[youngoldbloke]

Racing saddles are uncomfortable full stop.

Bit of a generalisation? Still - I have risen to the bait - I DISAGREE
This is my saddle (is this what you mean by a 'racing' saddle?) - not the narrowest, not the lightest at around 230gms, but it is comfortable and it fits me.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Bit of a generalisation? Still - I have risen to the bait - I DISAGREE
This is my saddle (is this what you mean by a 'racing' saddle?) - not the narrowest, not the lightest at around 230gms, but it is comfortable and it fits me.

That actualy looks pretty good. The ones I had in mind have the comfort of a cheese board. Look at the Fizic range. I had one on my MTB and after one ride my bum looked I'd been for a session at spanking parlour

 

[Norm]

The jersey was brilliant also, literally kept me sweat free on a 24 mile ride done in 50 minutes.

Seriously? That speed would put you out in front of most time trials.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Seriously? That speed would put you out in front of most time trials.

That's what almost 29mph?

 

[Wankelschrauben]

That can't be right, I must have timed it wrong.

I was maintaining about 25mph.

 

[pshore]

I was just looking up the saddles mentioned and cane across this description from wiggle's performance saddles page:

Performance saddles are narrower than the models designed for shorter ride comfort. They're intended for riders who have a committed riding style with weight on hands and feet so they're narrower and lighter. High tech padding materials and flexible body designs keep your pressure points comfortable and lightweight chassis components keep the weighto down. Most have some kind of ergonomic design to reduce pressure on nerves and allow unrestriced blood flow to your sensitive areas. Womens models have a wider design to suit their naturally wider pelvis. Saddle widths vary across the ranges from narrow (upto 130mm), medium (upto 138mm) to wide (upto 146mm). Narrower saddles are the popular choice for longer distance riders as they do not cause the hips to be placed in an unnatural position. Wider saddles will often feel comfortable initially due to their greater surface area but then progressively decrease in comfort as the miles increase, the correct choice of saddle is a case of getting the balance between initial comfort and overall comfort

I think it sums up quite well a lot of what has been said here.

I thought the comment earlier about pedalling harder was tongue in cheek !

So, for longer rides choose a less comfortable saddle then add padded shorts to compensate and pedal harder to use the saddle less

 

[Wankelschrauben]

Sorry it was a 20 mile ride, I've just looked it up the route planner, it is an 8 mile trip each way, I did an extra four miles around my area to get it up to 20, not 24.

Route planner

There is a big hill I got part way up and then walked on the way back but otherwise the speed was nice.