Groin Pain - on long seated climbs

[slipsam]

Hi all, I'm looking for some help with a painful groin issue. I've got the 3 Peaks ride in 3 weeks and today's ride has really thrown me.

A couple of weeks ago I rode up Buffalo and all was well, but towards the end I developed a pain in the groin. Not back near the sit bones, but right at the inner top of each leg just where it joins the torso. Once at the summit it was initially it was very painful to sit down and get back up again. After about 20 mins or so it eased a bit, and I rode down without any issues. Next day got up and did Omeo to Dinner Plain without any issues at all.

Today I rode up Buller and all was going great, feeling nice and comfortable. Was pushing up the last 1.5km from the day carpark to the village and starting to feel a bit tired. About 300m from the top the groin pain came on and was very intense. I had to do the last 100m out of the saddle. After getting off the bike i could hardly move and sitting down was not an option. Any movement caused extreme pain. I hobbled about for half an hour or so, filled bottles etc. and it got no better. I had to go down the mountain with all my weight on the peddles and my butt just hovering on the saddle. Any peddling had to be done out of the saddle. After about 20km (just before Merrijig) I was able to tentatively sit and peddle slowly without pushing too hard. It's now about 5hrs after the ride and the pain is still there, but has eased and I can walk and sit relatively normally, however riding would be out of the question.

Does anyone know what could be causing this? I think the nature of the climbs could be a factor. Buffalo and Buller are similar in that they both have pretty constant long climbs without breaks. Where as the Omeo - DP ride has lots of ups and downs.

I'm not totally happy with my seat (Specialized Romin) but it's the best of 3 i've tried on the bike so far. It was fine for the 250km around the bay and other 100K plus rides. I'm very concerned that the pain will return and ruin my 3 Peaks ambitions.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Bernie

[toolonglegs]

Look up on youtube some hip flexor stretches... especially the psoas muscle which is in the area you mention. Give them a go and see how tight you are in that area. Let us know.

[sogood]

Is the saddle too high? Or the pedal cleat too close to the toes? I had similar and it turned out to be a moved cleat that caused me to stretch more than I am comfortable with. YMMV.

[slipsam]

Hi guys, thanks for the responses. I tried the hip flexor stretch that involved the lunge position with 1 knee on the ground. Was able to complete it without any discomfort, didn't feel tight at all. I did notice that after a few stretches the groin pain appeared to have subsided a bit.

I did a quick google on groin muscles, and from the diagrams I saw I would best describe the pain as being around the adductor longus.
http://www.aidmymuscle.com/groin-anatomy.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Do you think regular stretching may prevent a re-occurrence?

Not sure about seat height. I've raised it a little from where the shop put it when I had a basic fitting 6 months ago. I've also moved it back a little. I tend to ride toes down, and always seem to prefer the seat a bit higher and back than where the shop puts it. Embarrassingly my cleats are in the position the shop put them when I bought the shoes. No idea if it's correct or not!

By coincidence I'm booked in for a proper fitting with Bike Coach in Melbourne next week, so that may shed some light on any potential fit problems.