Cycling Saddle Sores: Prevent and Treat With These Expert Tips

What’s a Saddle Sore?

A saddle sore from cycling is a skin irritation, abrasion, or wound caused by pressure and friction from your bike seat. In many cases you could also call it chafing.

Common locations for saddle sores include around and under the sit bones, where butt meets upper thigh, where upper inner thigh brushes side of the saddle, and for women the labia and clitoris area (yup, fun — women, there’s more help for you here).

A saddle sore can look like lots of little dots (irritated hair follicles) or a contiguous red and chafed area. In bad cases it can look like a more serious abrasion; there could even be blood. An infected saddle sore — which is just all-around bad news — becomes even more irritated, red, and painful. There might be puss or painful cysts.

So yeah, saddle sores are bad. Let’s move on to the helpful part: how to avoid getting saddle sores during bike rides.

Saddle Choice

Choosing a saddle is big topic worthy of its own post, but I’ll cover the basics here. A good saddle:

Is designed for your riding posture, which correlates with the type of riding you do. Road racers lean aggressively forward and therefore need a narrower saddle, because the contact area is narrower when the pelvis is rotated forward. Cruisers and long-distance tourers sit more upright and need a wider saddle. Mountain bikers, commuters, and most others are somewhere in the middle.

Puts most of the weight on your sit bones, which should be supported by the rear sides of the saddle. Find a saddle with a shape that matches the width of your sit bones. If it feels like your saddle is giving you a wedgie, it’s too narrow!

Avoids putting too much weight on the soft tissue between your sit bones. If this is a problem for you, find a saddle with a larger cutout or channel in the center. Also check in to make sure your lower abs are engaged and you’re not letting your pelvis rock too far forward.

Tapers correctly for your body and riding posture. The curve of a bike seat as it goes from wide to narrow can make a big difference for saddle chafing. A saddle that doesn’t get narrow enough in the right places can lead to rubbing.

Isn’t too hard or too soft for you. Squishy gel saddles may seem comfy, but they can actually cause chafing and saddle sores. When your body sinks into the soft surface, more of your skin presses against the saddle. Most endurance riders prefer lightly padded or even firm saddles that fit their body well.

Ladies, see my list of list of comfortable women’s bike saddles if you’re still searching. Sorry gents, I don’t have one for you yet.

Chamois Shorts

Finding the perfect pair of padded cycling shorts can be as hard as finding the right saddle (and just as expensive!). Here are some key tips to help you through the process.

Try them without underwear. A chamois is designed to fit close against your skin. Many cyclists find that the seams, edges, and wrinkles of underwear can cause chafing if worn with a chamois.

Choose the right shape pad for your anatomy, saddle, and riding posture. The padding should be under your sit bones when you sit on your bike, and the crotch should not be so wide that it feels bulky or domes upward in the center.

Thicker is not always better, especially for women. If your shorts are heavily padded in the crotch area they could be doing more harm than good by putting pressure on soft tissue.

Pull them all the way up when putting them on. The fabric should fit closely enough that it doesn’t move against your body when you move your legs. A good technique: drop into a deep squat for a few seconds after pulling up your shorts.

Bibs versus shorts? Some people say bibs create a closer fit and minimize the movement that causes chafing. Others are fine with shorts. The only way to know for sure is to try some of both.

A minority of cyclists find their saddle sores improve when riding without padded shorts. Whatever works!

Stay Slippery

For saddle sores caused by chafing and friction, one solution is to reduce friction by keeping everything slippy-slidey.

Chamois cream is the go-to friction reducer for most cyclists. Smear it on anywhere (yes anywhere) you feel a “hot spot” coming on, before it gets bad. Reapply as many times as necessary, and especially after going to the bathroom. Yes, you may have to stick your hand down your pants in public.

Chamois cream alternatives are less well-known but popular among the bikepacking crowd. They’re easier to find at the general store in the middle of nowhere when we run out of chamois cream, and bonus, they’re often cheaper. But most importantly, sometimes they just work better!

Word of warning: if you need a whole tube of chamois cream just to get through a ride, scroll back up and revisit your saddle and shorts. Sometimes chamois cream can mask an issue we would be better off fixing in other ways.

Some cyclists don’t use chamois cream at all. On long days and multiday rides it can make things too goopy and contribute to clogged pores and general irritation. Thus some folks prefer to avoid the goop and just stay clean and dry…

Stay Dry

If chamois butter and other creams aren’t cutting it, you may need a different approach.

Especially if you ride in hot weather, you may need to focus on staying dry rather than lubing up. When you get sweaty, both the dampness and the tiny salt crystals contribute to saddle sores and general irritation.

Baby powder is a surprisingly handy trick for keeping things dry and fresh. Apply a light dusting of baby powder to the inside of your shorts before and throughout a long ride to absorb moisture.

A rag in the waistband is another way to manage moisture. If sweat is trickling down your back and into your shorts, place a small folded towel or other absorbent cloth against your lower back under your shorts waistband.

Take breaks to air out. This may not work for your urban group ride, but bikepackers are known to do it when riding alone through unpopulated backcountry. During a long day in the saddle, take five minutes to stand around with your shorts down and air things out.

Stay Clean

Grit and bacteria are two major contributors to saddle sores, and keeping things clean will reduce both. You can think of this on several timescales.

Always wear clean bike shorts. If you’re at home, wash them in the laundry like a normal civilized person before wearing them again. If you’re bikepacking or touring, rinse them out as best you can (see Multiday Riding below).

Change and wash immediately after riding. Don’t sit around in your chamois shorts. Not at the coffee shop, not at the bar, in your car, or at your desk. Change immediately into clean underwear and pants. Shower if you can, or clean with a wipe (see next section) in the meantime.

Clean mid-ride if needed. During a long day or in really hot weather, cleaning up after the ride may not be enough. Take a mid-ride break to wipe down with a cleansing wipe and reapply your chamois cream / baby powder / whatever.

Any number of baby wipes or post-workout wipes will work. For stubborn saddle sore issues or long multi-day rides, some endurance cyclists swear by tea tree oil and witch hazel for their antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. Add a few drops to a normal cleansing wipe.

Watch Your Form

All the creams, powders, and wipes in the world may not be enough if you’re moving your body in ways that cause saddle sores.

Give it Time

If you’re getting saddle sores as you increase mileage, you may just need time for your skin to toughen up. You can still ride your bike with saddle sores; you just need to take extra care to manage them well and let them heal when off the bike.

If you can stay on the good side of the healing / damaging balance point, your skin will eventually get tougher in the problem areas. Yes, you’ll have callouses in some weird places, but your saddle sore problems will decrease. Yay!

Treating Saddle Sores

You’ve done your level best to prevent saddle sores, but all the miles are starting to catch up with you and your undercarriage. Here’s how to treat saddle sores so they’ll heal as quickly as possible, even while you continue riding your bike if that’s what you want to do.

Double down on prevention. If you’re going to keep riding your bike, make extra sure you’re doing all the stuff listed above: bike and saddle fit; shorts choice; staying lubed, dry, and clean.

Wear clean, loose, breathable clothing as often as possible when not riding.

Alternate between chamois, bikes, or types of terrain if you continue to ride with saddle sores. The variety will hopefully give irritated areas a longer rest between rides.

Consider blister or burn pads. Depending on the location and size of the sore, you may find some relief from blister pads (the donut shaped kind that surround the area to reduce pressure on it) or burn pads (adhesive bandages with a gel layer).

Take some time off the bike, if continuing to ride is making things worse faster than treatment can make it better.

Multiday Riding

The above tips are well and good if you’re out for a day ride, but what about multiday rides? Perhaps you’re out bikepacking or cycle touring and can’t throw your shorts in the laundry every night.

That’s certainly one of the hardest situations to deal with if you’re prone to cycling saddle sores, but don’t despair. Much of the advice in this post comes from experience — mine and others — in exactly that situation. Here are some additional tips just for you.

Be meticulous about staying dry and clean as described in the section above on Preventing Saddle Sores. Pay special attention to washing well at the end of the day (ideally with witch hazel or tea tree oil, but at least water) and applying antibiotic ointment or diaper cream overnight.

If you have two pairs of shorts with you, alternate each day. Different models would be best, since any differences in fit will give the previous day’s irritated spots a chance to heal.

Keep your shorts as clean as possible. If you have two pair, wash the one you’re not wearing and dry it in the sunlight. If you only have one pair, try to rinse and dry it overnight (difficult in cold or humid climates). If you don’t have access to laundry, you can use a bathroom sink or even a plastic bag filled with water from a lake or stream. If you’re short on water, at the very least rinse the chamois. I’ve even heard of people wiping down the chamois with alcohol hand sanitizer or a sanitizing wipe, in a pinch.

Don’t forget to take a rest day now and then. Unless they’re racing, most multiday riders take a day off the bike about once a week on average. Spend the day in clean, dry, loose clothing and you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by the improvement once you’re back in the saddle.