Here at Vagina Buffet HQ I'm tackling the big issues, and this week (the final week of the Olympics), it's bicycle seats.
Recently, my foxy friend Jacqui emailed me asking, in my vagina research, did I come across any feedback relating to uncomfortable bike seats in spin classes?? She went on to explain that this is her main complaint with the gym, and her other female class participants agreed.
My first thoughts were… a) who is crazy enough to regularly participate in a spin class and b) never mind vaginas, how uncomfortable is it for men and their little nut cannons?
On my next visit to the gym, I stopped by the manager’s office. I detailed my bike seat research and asked if she ever received any complaints. “No.” she said “But you should take a class and test it out for yourself.”
I did, and roped in my gym buddy Mel.
We hired Sergio*, the spin class instructor from hell, for a one-on-one session with the bikes. We filled him in on the vag experiment and told him to work us hard. Mel took the smallest, most painful looking seat and I took the seat with the padding.
We sat, we stood, and power-peddled our way through half an hour of what I can only describe as utter torture. We finished the class and I collapsed on the floor. I could barely breath and was red as a beetroot. My fanny was paining, but so was my body. Why was I doing this again?
We gave our lady bits a couple of days, but the pain and discomfort never came.
Disappointed with nothing to report and considering scrapping this blog, I stumbled across a study by The Journal of Sexual Medicine. It revealed the serious things a bicycle can do to a vagina and genital sensation. According to researchers at Yale, competitive female cyclists who had low handlebars (forcing them to lean forward) experienced “significantly higher vibratory thresholds in the anterior vagina, compared with riders whose handlebars were level with the bike saddle.”
So there is something in this after all. And while it may be more aerodynamic and higher handlebars may increase wind resistance, I’d rather have some wind in my hair than wind and pain in my lady sails.
*Sergio is actually a very nice man, he’s just far more passionate about cycling than I am.
