Molly Hurford on her book Saddle, Sore

Author and cyclocross racer Molly Hurford considers herself a bit of an accidental expert. About four years ago, Hurford started racing and writing about bikes. Women then started asking her questions, before and after races, and even during. Some of the questions were quite intimate: more than one woman pulled down her pants and asked, “Is this a saddle sore?” Hurford realized that women didn’t have a good resource for information pertaining to their bodies and cycling. “Not just saddle sores,” Hurford says, “but whether you should wear a pad or a tampon or why you shouldn’t wear underwear with your shorts. You should not wear underwear with your shorts.” She spoke with gynecologists, saddle designers, chamois designers, even chamois creme designers, to find answers to the many questions that had come her way. The result was the book Saddle, Sore: A Women-Only Guide to You and Your Bike.

Watch the video to learn about one of the odder questions Hurford has been asked (hint: rope burn) and about her challenge for coming up with language to disuss these questions and answers in a way that is neither too clinical nor too crass.

Hurford says Saddle, Sore is leading her to new projects, such as an expanded version to include information for pregnant women and women post-menopause. She even wants to do a verion of her book for men.