Sue and I are at Club La Santa in Lanzarote for our annual exercise punishment and to do a bit of cycle training for our Italian trip. Some of you may remember from last year that we come here every May to punish ourselves – run, cycle, swim, Fitball class, core training class, and that’s just today!

However it’s not all about exercise. There is some serious business to attend to.

After last year’s trip I had many comments about my (apparent) obsession with butt balm. I would say in mitigation that when you spend an average of 6-8 hours a day sitting, or perhaps more accurately perched, on a small bike saddle anything which assists in comfort is extremely interesting.

This week I have had a chance to revisit the various products I used last year and a new one by way of a consumer test. It’s not a scientific test, it’s all about comfort.  The contenders are:

Sudocrem – an old favourite that many babies swear by.

Bag Balm – Produced since 1899 by the Dairy Association Co of Lyndonville Vermont. In addition to improving the comfort of  cyclists and horseriders it is traditionally used by farmers to make cows udders more comfortable during automated milking.

Butt shield – A more modern contribution to this important issue.

Rapha Chamois cream – new to me thanks to Charlie Sayle’s recommendation. For those of you who haven’t heard of Rapha, they are the Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Versace of cycle clothing and this formulation containing extracts of Rosemary and Menthol has a fragrance ‘inspired by aromatic plants and herbs found on the slopes of Mont Ventoux’. I’m not sure if it was the menthol that led me to warm to it but I did.

The result : they all do a great job and ANYTHING is better than nothing. For me though I am a Rapha man through and through…….