Ladies -- A bike discomfort question

are you sitting with your pelvis tilted? don't.

Butt butt'r.  It helps me.

I'm more comfy in my tri shorts than my bike shorts.   

Do you mean does my pelvis tilt down towards the ground?  It does just kind of naturally point down when I am on the hoods so that my hands can reach them.  How do you keep your pelvis pointing forward while letting your torso extend?  Is it a core strength thing?  Or a seat height thing?

Yes, time in the saddle does help.  Although, saddle type does make a huge difference in that 'area'. 

I have found the perfect saddle for me- it's the Selle Italia Lady TransAm ($75 in Colorado Cyclist). I even told my husband I think I'll buy 2 more to keep in stock cause by the time I need a new one, they probably won't make them anymore- or they'll change.  And I just love this seat.

Everybody's body is different- some LBS let you try saddles before you buy'em.  Does your have the cut out?

I always cycle in (nice) bike shorts with a womens-specific chamois, and always sans-undies of course!!  I hadn't considered the possibility of too much padding.  Perhaps I should try some tri shorts.  The funny thing is, none of these things bother me on a mountain bike.  I realize the body position is very different, but you'd think annoying shorts wouold be annoying shorts regardless of the bike.

 For clarification, the problem is not chafing so much as a ton of pressure on some very sensitive parts.

aw, crap, won't let me copy and paste, so here's a linkie to a picture:

http://www.floridabicyclesports.com/systemone.htm

try tilting the seat down just a notch, that seems to help some too.

Wow this is some quick posting! :-)

 I will try adjusting the seat tilt again too.  I did try that, and I found that pointing it forward didn't help the pain and actually created another problem -- too much weight going to my arms and causing pain there.  Maybe I just tilted it too much.  Maybe I should get out the plumb bob and try moving it forward a bit?

 What a pain this is (no pun intended)!  I'd love to just get on my bike and go forever, but I just caaaaaan't.  Waaa waaa waaa. ;-)

I was having problems sitting on my new road bike until one day I realized it didn't hurt anymore. I think it was more the position I was sitting in than any acclimation of my parts to that particular saddle. Since I specifically noticed the lack of discomfort in that position, I tried to figure out what exactly was going on down there. I figured out that the posterior portion of the seat was placed in between my buns in the perineum area, and my pubic bone was resting on the front part of the seat. Since there was some convex curvature to the seat, my sensitive parts were essentially lifted above the seat and weren't even really touching. I do find when I sit more upright, I get too much pressure on my butt, and when I rotate my pelvis forward too much, I get too much pressure on my pubic bone. But in between feels right.

Now I haven't taken this new road bike on anything longer than a 30-mile ride, so I don't know how it will stand up for longer rides. 

I wish you luck in trying to figure out what is going on.

For me it was a new seat....Terry Tri Butterfly which has a cut out and tilting the nose of my saddle down a little and for longer rides I use body glide or chamois butt'r. When I first bought my road bike, it was awful and so uncomfortable.

I think fit is key and how the seat matches up to your body. Four seats is not a lot to try from from your LBS. I turned to BT for help as the the guys a my LBS didn't get my issue. Terry offers a month money back guarentee if the seat doesn't work for you.

Great bike shorts make a huge difference as well. I called Team Estrogen and spoke to them about the variety of bike shorts they carried. I have heard over and over the more you pay for bike shorts really makes a difference.  They are not padded more but more contoured to your body....if you look at the chamois they look very high tech.  I ended up with two favorite pairs both around $80 Shebeest and a Louis Garneau pair but the Shebeest are best.  When I feel flush with money I'm going to buy one of the $125+ pair since I'm going to be doing 80 mile rides this summer in training for the bike portion of a 1/2 IM with my BT women friends.

 Good Luck~