This is actually fairly serious stuff, since it involves preventing a potential injury to human sex organs.

A Release Valve for Cyclists’ Unrelenting Pressure

It’s the area of soft tissue called the perineum, and it’s not just a male problem — female cyclists have also reported soreness and numbness in this genital region. But neither sex seems interested in these saddles, and I’m as baffled as Mr. Brown is by their apathy.

I do a fair amount of bike riding too, between 10-15 miles per day, depending on a number of variables. I have more than one bike, but the one I ride the most has a noseless saddle on it. When I first started riding, about seven years ago I noticed the symptoms that were described. It was very uncomfortable and cut into my enthusiasm for riding. I did some research on noseless bike saddles and came across the Moonsaddle. While it looks funny and takes a bit of getting used to, it works well and now I feel strange trying to ride without it. I haven’t put one on my secondary bike (a mountain bike) yet, but I have tilted the traditional style saddle down at an angle to reduce pressure on my perineum and make riding a bit more comfortable. Of course mountain bike saddles are built a bit differently than road saddles, especially in terms of padding.

“There’s as much penis inside the body as outside,” Dr. Schrader told me. “When you sit on a regular bike saddle, you’re sitting on your penis.”

Well there’s a medical fun fact you won’t find on the NREMT exam. But, it’s an important point.

It’s an important enough an issue that the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has issued a recommendation that police officers and other people who spend a long part of their work day on bicycles switch to noseless saddles.

But, of course there are some people, in this case it seems a majority, of people who don’t agree,

“I suppose there’s a small niche of people for whom a noseless saddle might be a solution,” Mr. Flax said. “But a saddle without a nose has real problems in terms of function. A cyclist can make turns using the weight in the hips against the nose. I just don’t think a noseless saddle is safe in a race.”

Well, Mr. Flax here are couple of points for you to ponder. First, this is based on science, not tradition. Also, most bike riders are NOT racers. In fact, I’d say that most people who ride bikes ride for fun and exercise, with a smattering riding to save the environment or even gas money. I don’t know if I’m atypical as a bike rider, but I have no pretensions of being Lance Armstrong and winning the Tour de France. I ride because it increases my aerobic capacity and helps me decrease my weight. I think there are a lot more riders like me than elite racers out there. If more of them knew about the variety of noseless saddles available, I suspect more of them would use them.

The BiSaddle, which is mentioned in the article seems a bit spendy to me, but there are other options. The Times article does not mention the Moonsaddle, but does mention several other brands of saddle sans nose.

Let’s hear some more wisdom from Mr. Flax,

“Serious bike riders would be totally embarrassed to show up at a race in a noseless saddle,” Mr. Flax said.

Well, they’ll be seriously embarrassed if one day Mr. Happy doesn’t stand at attention when their significant other is expecting something after the race. If you get my drift.

Well, there’s a certain logic to that retail strategy, at least for the short term. But if you’re in it for the long term, if you’d like your customers to keep cycling — and creating new customers — then it pays to protect the perineum.

The perineum and the delicate structures that run through it. It would seem to make business sense to inform customers and potential customers about a potentially serious problem and some ways to avoid it.