Spinning Wheels (Lessons from Two Years of Cycling): Creams & Powders for your Butt

Assorted Powders and Cream I Have Used

Even when I ride wearing cycling shorts with a chamois I can still experience chaffing and after ride soreness, especially on longer rides such as thirty miles or more. If I expect to ride any distance at all, say ten or more miles, I usually apply a generous amount of Anti Monkey Butt Anti-Friction Powder with Calamine to my butt and inner thighs to absorb perspiration and reduce friction while riding. I will also sometimes use it following an after ride shower to sooth any lingering soreness. I like that it contains Calamine, a mild antiseptic and astringent.

I have also tried Gold Bond Medicated Body Powder in the same way but actually do not like feeling the effects of its 15% menthol, though others might like the cooling feeling. If I do not have any Anti Monkey Butt Anti-Friction Powder with Calamine around I will use a small amount Tinactin Antifungal tolnaftate Super Absorbing Powder instead.

I never used a skin lubricant and cream until after a couple of thirty plus mile days in the rain on the C&O Canal. While taking a break at the C&O Bicycle Shop in Hancock, MD I saw a small and inexpensive .3 ounce tube of Chamois Butt’r. The small size afforded me the opportunity to try it to see if I liked it without having to pay more for or carry the weight of a larger supply. I tried it the next day and liked it enough to buy a couple more .3 ounce tubes when we stopped at the Confluence Cyclery in Confluence, PA. I continued to use it the next couple days. Since I was already a little sore I can’t say it prevented chafing but I did not feel any worse after using it and it may have actually helped me feel better.

While I prefer Anti Monkey Butt Anti-Friction Powder with Calamine over Gold Bond Medicated Body Powder, I have used and like Intensive Healing Gold Bond Anti-Itch Skin Protectant Cream after long rides to help soothe and heal soreness. While I have never tried applying it before a ride, it might also help prevent chaffing, like Chamois Butt’r.

What creams and powder do you like, use, and recommend?

Here are links to previous installments in the series:

Group vs. Solo Rides (Tenth Installment)
Competitiveness (Ninth Installment) 
Stats (Eighth Installment)
Accidents Happen (Seventh Installment)
Pedals for Cleats (Sixth Installment)

Riding Shoes with Cleats (Fifth Installment)

Be Kind to Your Behind (Fourth Installment)

Combating Hand and Arm Numbness (Third Installment) 

Reading and Riding (Second Installment)
Starting Over (First Installment)