Balls and testicles

In the 90s I spent up to 14 hours a day on the bike (when touring around Europe) for weeks at a time, and never had any problems of such nature. You are more likely to exert pressure on the prostate than testicles, which can move around away form the pressure.

Enlarged prostate can case problems with urination, but I'm not really sure how prevalent that is among cyclists. I don't think you should worry about that unless you start experiencing problems which would manifest themselves pretty early.

I have been riding 1 month for 1 hour each day and after each ride my scrotum and testicles are cold which probably means I am cutting off some circulation.. I am not concerned about babies as I am 60 years old, but I am concerned about damaging my body.. Should I see how it goes and maybe it will go away with time or get a new saddle or adjust my saddle I have now,,, I don't want to lower it I feel it is pretty good on height. My leg is straight and still not locked.
Has anybody gone through this?
Thanks in advance
Dennis

dadams14 said:

I have been riding 1 month for 1 hour each day and after each ride my scrotum and testicles are cold which probably means I am cutting off some circulation.. I am not concerned about babies as I am 60 years old, but I am concerned about damaging my body.. Should I see how it goes and maybe it will go away with time or get a new saddle or adjust my saddle I have now,,, I don't want to lower it I feel it is pretty good on height. My leg is straight and still not locked.
Has anybody gone through this?
Thanks in advance
Dennis

This happens because a person is sitting on those vulnerable parts and the soft tissue which has the blood vessels to them. It's a result of modern bike fit which emphasizes performance rather than sensible, common sense.

To illustrate what I mean, sit on the bike in a way which allows you to hold yourself up in a riding position with your hand against a wall. Now, use a shoulder to support yourself on the bike, and let go of the handlebars. My guess is that you will find you immediately slide forward and down onto your genitals and the forward soft part of your crotch. If so, it's a recipe for exactly what your are describing.

Trying bike fit ideas is free, and fully reversible... and you don't have to spend a penny on useless upgrades. First of all, ignore all the advice to have your saddle "level", because a saddle is not a flat slab of solid matter. When you sit on it, it gives a bit, plus it has its own shape to begin with... not to mention that you have your own shape too. If you level the whole saddle, you are going to end up sliding forward on it, no matter what you do, because the part you actually straddle will not be level. It's inevitable. So, using the rider and bike against wall method (or a trainer if you have one), try angling the nose up slightly, and keep doing it until you don't feel like you're sliding forward on it, and that you're sitting on your soft tissues.

You have to get your sit bones on the wide part of the saddle, and that's what you put the pressure on, not the forward part of the pelvic bones in your crotch. In order for the sit bones to stay there, you have to get the saddle level right, but you also have to get the fore-and-aft position right as well, so that you can effectively ride with the weight on your sit bones. In my experience, whatever it's worth, most people have their saddle too far forward. Try moving it back a little at a time and see if there is any improvement. If you're not racing in triathlon, sprints, track or time trials, you want your weight back, in a way that you sit on the sit bones, and you pedal such that your knees are pushing straight down, rather than down and back. This will also help to get some weight off your hands, but given that you may end up a half an inch or so further back, you may have to raise your handlebar a similar amount so that you don't feel like you're bending over too sharply at the waist. But, and it's a big BUT, don't put your saddle so far back that you can't ride comfortably with the weight on your sit bones on the wider, flatter rear area of the saddle. But it also must be far back enough so that rather than allowing you to slide down on its nose, each pedal stroke helps to push you back.

I'm a observer of people, and most people I see out there on road bikes are sitting too high and too forward. They are literally pedaling down and back (not good for the knees) while sitting directly on the soft underpart of their scrotum and the blood vessels that supply the penis. No wonder they have problems like this. And it's not just on road bikes.

Once you go out on the road to try it out, a good way to tell is by riding no hands. If you feel yourself sliding forward or putting a lot of pressure on your forward crotch, and having to pedal hard just to stay back on the saddle, your saddle may not be angled up enough, and/or you may be pedaling from a position which seats you too forward on the bike.

If it was me, and not racing, I wouldn't take any bike fit advice from anything written after the mid-1970's. That's when things started getting a little crazy.

jo58hn said:

Hi,

I heard that one of the few bad things about cycling is that its bad for your testicles (balls) and often I and some of my friends have slight pains when we urinate because we have been cycling for a long time nonstop. Is this true about cycling being bad for your testicles?

Pain is what you get for urinating with other men...

I'm worried about all the talk about cold scrotums, painful grollies, and painful urination. Let's do a reality check: all the boys in the room do know that you're not supposed to sit on your scrod, right?

Here's a helpful hint: if something makes your scrotum cold or hurt, then you either need to make an adjustment/change or stop what you're doing.

Thanks longfemur. This is really good advice. Will take notice of my saddle ;-)