Sore elbows, wrist pain
 

Hey guys, i rode my longest(28 mile) ride on my mtb yesterday. about 8 miles into the ride my elbows started aching so I kept switching up hand positions(I have rider bars with bar ends). I also had to keep bending forward or just riding hands-free to relieve the elbow strain. Wrist were fine once I stopped putting weight on them.

Thought I'd add my seat is adjusted properly with my legs at a hair under full extension while keeping my foot flat.

Any tips? Once I break a 50 mile ride I think I am going to spring for my first road bike and all the add-ons.

It sounds like you need to get your bars up higher. For real comfort you probably want your bars about level with your seat.

Also, work on your abs.

Joe

+1... Your putting a lot of force on your arms... Stronger abs and/or higher bars will help...

+∞ on the higher bars, and or a shorter stem. You're getting too stretched out and pputting too much pressure on the hands and arms.

Another question: Are your arms straight or just a little bend? A little bend is preferable to avoid hyperextension of your arms. That's thew chief cause of elbow pain.

You can get an extension for $15-20 at your local bike shop. It will allow you to raise the handlebars about 3" up, which could make a big difference in the strain on your back, arms, hands, etc. When you get the road bike, you can add those whacky elbow rests, too. But you will be hunched over on the road bike.

Also, you did not say what your prior distances were. Maybe you just tried to go too much further too fast.

What was the terrain like? Was you body taking alot of abuse from the road?

A rough road can wreck havic on your joints also.

+1 on everything said so far. I was having the same issues, especially when I first got back on the bike.

Working on your core, and being able to support the weight of your upper body with just your back/abs is going to help a ton.

One analogy that helped me was to imagine riding a bike like playing a piano. You want to be light on your hands, letting them just float on the handlebars, not leaning on them and supporting yourself with them.

Just because the leg length is right, doesn't mean your seat is adjusted properly. You also have to consider fore-aft adjustments.

If your seat is too far forward, you're going to put more pressure on your wrists that should be put on the pedals. If you're standing and you bend forward at the hips, your butt needs to go back to keep you balanced over your feet. If you're more balanced over your feet (which are pushing down on the pedals instead of the floor) you put less pressure on your wrists/elbows.

If you are over-reaching (handlebars too far forward or seat too far back or both), you're leaning forward too far, whcih also puts more strain on your wrists/elbows, because your back can't take it.

Try some slight fore-aft adjustment of your seat, adn as others have mentioned, think about raising your bars, or getting a shorter stem to move them back.

Kotts

Thanks very much for all the input. I will adjust the seat first and if I can't achive nirvana with that I will look into a shorter + riser stem.

And the answers:
Terrain was a very smooth paved bike path in G W Bush park.
My arms are not fully extended, but close to 10* from full extension
And most of my rides are 10 or so miles, but that is not a hard at all, mostly commuting. This longer ride didn't cause me to have asthma or make my body sore, just my elbows and wrist a little sore after the ride...but was gone after a hour.

I was gonna add my $.02 but you've enough reading to do from the previous answers;-) Just keep riding and let us know how you're getting on. and remember only small adjustments and one at a time!

Have yourself a test ride on a recumbent bicycle. I bought my first one about a year ago. They are really great! 50 or 100 miles a day no worries, I still feel good, no pain.