Chamois Butter – Athlete’s Best Friend
Triathletes need comfort while aboard their tri bikes. This isn’t an oh-by-the-way message. It’s a “we-need-comfort-now!” message.
From the name you can figure out it’s a cream that goes on your chamois. But why? And does it really go on the chamois? Do we even use chamois today? But we still need chamois cream?
It’s time to answer these questions and more! Let’s get past all the myths and folk lore, and get into some practical tips and real advice on how and why to use this cream…
What the heck is a chamois?
When it comes to cycling, the chamois is the piece of padding found in bicycling shorts, with the purpose of providing increased comfort for long days in the saddle.
The name comes from the olden days when this pad was actually made from chamois cloth, a type of sheepskin leather. Today, most shorts feature a synthetic chamois, usually made of foam, gel, and/or microfiber cloth. It serves the same purpose but is cheaper and easier to maintain.
It is pronounced “shammy” or “sham E.”
Where does the chamois butter come in?
For a real leather chamois, you used to need chamois butter to condition it. It’s like how you have to oil a leather baseball mitt to break it in and keep it pliable. You would apply the cream to the chamois itself, or else it would stiffen up after it was washed and dried.
These days you don’t technically need any sort of chamois butter since a synthetic chamois will remain soft and pliable on its own.
Advance Cycle is carrying this great new product in which it is a must have. It is called Morgan Blue.
Morgan Blue Soft Chamois Cream is an excellent choice and the large tub lasts for simply ages.
That said, the cream has a low viscosity which means it a little tricky to apply. It’s best suited for those who prefer to lather the padded insert of their shorts, rather than applying it directly to the skin. Trying to do that can easily result in spillage.
Once you’ve got your shorts on though, the cream does what it sets out to do, prevent saddle sores and general chafing from hours in the saddle. It does seem to last longer than other creams I’ve tested in the past, and doesn’t seem to get washed away quite so quickly like some.
The cream contains Saint John’s Wort oil, olive oil, sunflower oil and rosemary oil with natural vitamin E and herbal extract. Morgan Blue claims it prevents saddle sores, chafing wounds and skin irritation, and my testing certainly seems to back this up. I’m not a particular fan of chamois cream, but when riding big miles on consecutive days it does boost comfort enough to make it worth using, and this chamois cream has constantly impressed.
Weekly Schedule
- Saturday – September 13, 2014
- Location: UCF Research Parkway – Daytona Beach
- Duration: 3 – 5:30 hours
- Description:
- There will be group group leaving out of Tri Peak Athlete at 5:30 am. Make sure you bring lights.
- Warm up: 20 min at cadence of 90 rpm
- Accelerators: 5 x 1 min build to 100% of FTP with 2 min easy
- Total Warm up: 35 min
- Main Set:
- Olympic: 4 x 25 min at 95% with 10 min at 70%
- Half: 4 x 25 min at 90% with 20 min at 70%
- Ironman:
- 4 x 30 min at 85 – 90% with 15 min at 70%
- 1 hour at 70 -75%
- 3 x 10 min at 90% with 10 min at 70%
- Cool Down:
- The last segment of your set will be your cool down. Then get ready for your run.
- Run After the bike: 30 min
- Sunday – September 14, 2014
- Location: Downtown YMCA
- Duration: 90 min
- Description:
- Olympic: 8 miles at Zone 2 walk 20 sec every mile
- Half: 10 miles at Zone 2 walk 20 sec every mile
- Ironman: Will discuss on Sunday morning. Please bring enough hydration and nutrition for 90 minutes.
Keep up the god wok and I’ll see you in the morning.
Hector L Torres
USAT Lv 2, USAC Lv 2, USAS and USATF & MS
USA Triathlon Florida Region Chair
Florida Paratriathlon Development Coordinator
617 Virginia Dr.
Orlando, FL 32801
P: 321-443-0073
Central Florida Tri Club - Swim, Bike and Run 