Any Bicycling PE'ers out there

Are there any competive or very serious cycling PE’ers out there? Do you find that riding negatively impacts your PE gains? I ride semi-competively, riding hard training rides with sponsored racers two times per week with an occasional race thrown in and/or a long ride on the weekend, but have been leery to get back on the bike after starting PE. Sometimes during longer rides, my member will ‘turtle’ on me — it’s like an extreme form of shrinkage where it seems to be trying to get back in my pelvis. I attribute this to a lack of circulation and figure this can’t be good for maximum gains. I have done a couple of searches on bike, bicycle, bicycling, cycling, and racing but can’t seem to find anything relevant. Just hoping to hear other people’s experiences.

Biking May Be Hazardous to Your Erection

I used to be pretty serious at around 100~125 miles a week averaging 19-21 mph and found that switching to something like a “Terry” saddle with the cutout really helped. I can still get a “buz” if I do a long ride (>45minutes) but I’ve not had any erectile or performance difficulties.

I’m 46 and have been using cycling for weight control and aerobic fitness since 1987. The type of cycling is road biking only; I don’t MTB at all.

Turns out Dr. Goldstein’s research may have been a bit flawed. From Outside magazine online:

<B>Goldstein’s findings had one flaw, his critics charged: They were based on studies that evaluated tiny numbers of cyclists. Even today, the best statistics available come from the Massachusetts Male Aging Study, conducted by the New England Research Institutes, which evaluated 113 cyclists. The study’s published results, in 2001, showed that the 90 men who rode less than three hours a week were less apt to experience impotence than similarly active noncyclists. But the study also discovered that the 23 men who rode more than three hours a week were more likely to have impotence problems than the other cyclists.</b>

The article goes on to say:

<B>Martin Resnick, chairman of the Department of Urology at Case Western Reserve University Hospital, in Cleveland, believes that 30 years of research on this question have not yet provided a final answer. "Ask any other urologist about these numbers and he’ll probably tell you that nobody knows for sure if there’s a problem," Resnick says.

"There isn’t any clear, definitive data yet, just theory," he adds. "Truth is, we simply don’t know if sitting on a bike and reducing blood supply to the penis for half an hour, an hour, or two hours is even relevant to erectile dysfunction."</b>

Seems no one’s really sure.

Any chance of getting this thead moved to either the Fitness/Bodybuilding Forum or even the main forum, where it might garner more input?

Thanks,

LL

So let it be written, so let it be done.

http://www.ncbi .nlm.nih.gov/en … 6187&query_hl=7

Thunder, thank you for the move!

Hobby, thanks for the link. I’m still figuring out whether or not to get back on the bike. It would be a shame to do all this work and then to not be able to reap the benefits. It would be interesting to see statistics on professional riders and whether or not their rate of ED or other related disorders was statistically significantly different than the general population.

Livelong,

Aren’t there bike seats available that improve the situation — ones that put less pressure on the relevant areas, just as a good PEer judiciously avoids applying pressure to the dorsal nerve?

I seriously doubt that recreational or fitness riding for, say, 20 minutes 5 times a week would do any damage to most guys, but competitive riding (i.e., large quantities) does seem to carry some risks. Try to reduce those risks as much as possible (e.g., with a good seat), and monitor your genital functions carefully to ensure that you catch any problems immediately. PE itself, of course, also carries risks, especially if a guy doesn’t carefully monitor himself.

Finasteride Cycling

I’ve been a member of the ABA for 25 years and raced BMX off and on all that time. I’ve also spent years on-road covering at least 200 miles a week. I’ve also taken up MTB in the past 5 years. I’ve always had to deal with numbness during rides until seats changed in the past few years which lessened the occurrence/severity of the numbness but not totally eliminate it. I’ve never had any kind of ED problems though, just numb while riding.

Years ago when I was heavily into all forms of cycling and PE, I WAS seeing gains. I’ve taken time off from cycling in the last year and have not had any gains from PE during the cycling break. I wonder if there is some kind of connection here. :-k

I’m not a cyclist. At most I rode maybe 50 miles per week in my tens and teens. Not for sport or exercise, just purely for transportation. I’ve never had any dick symptoms from riding.

Recently I’ve been riding a short 6 mile circuit, and the only problem I get is some temporary numbness in my hands if I don’t release my grip and shake my hands out every so often.

I wouldn’t worry about occasional short rides on smooth roads, even with a ‘taint mashing seat like mine. If you’re doing long or frequent rides, investing in one of those fancy split seats might be a good idea. If I were to have numbness I’d either reduce my riding or get a better seat.

Aren’t mountain bikers up off the seat a good deal of the time? I’ve never ridden a bicycle off road.

I’m a cat 3 racer and have been for 5 years now. I’ve had no adverse effects, in terms of PE, due to riding. It might help to rear back some on the saddle and focus your weight on your ischial tuberosities. I log in 200 miles a week. Also get off the saddle once in a while.

Thanks to all for your input! When I can manage it, I put in about 200 miles a week. But as stated previously, I have been nervous to get back on the bike since starting PE and doing so much reading about penile health.

After I started this thread, I recently did a ride of nearly 70 miles and throughout the ride really concentrated on getting my body weight back over my ‘sit bones’ and less on the inner penis. Things seemed to work out much better in the genital area but after that ride and the 20+ miler a few days later, my hip seemed all out of whack. Just really sore.

Bigflip, any recommendations on a particular PE friendly racing saddle?

Thanks again!

I’ve got the newer “split” seats on all 4 of my bikes and it makes a HUGE difference. I recommend you go to a few of your local bike shops and try out as many as possible. Find a good salesman or talk to the manager; they should be glad to let you test ride a bike and put different seats on the bike for you. Find the one you like and either purchase it or do an online search for a better price. I did this, found a good online price and the bike shop matched the online price for me. Since I bought 4 seats, he threw in 4 water bottles for free as well!

Yeah the saddles with the middle cut out work well. Selle Italia makes the best ones. I would not go for the cheap crap that Performance or Bike Nashbar puts out. The density of the padding is inferior.

The top of the line cycling shorts that Pearl Izumi puts out is great. It’s about 90 bucks. So I think with the combination of a proper fitting saddle, positioning, and quality shorts, you ought not experience problems with riding impeding your PE.

Assess your stem height too. Adjust it so you’re just in the right position and don’t squash your “inner penis.” When you are on the drops and your dick goes numb, you might want to raise it a bit, by maybe 2 cm at a time.

Happy riding!