cydewaze

I dunno, it's weird. When I walk, sometimes my ankle hurts, like a tendon is caught on the wrong side of a joint. When I sit too long, my rump goes numb. When I sleep, my back hurts. When I run (which I don't do much) everything hurts. In fact, just about everything I do causes some sort of slight ache or pain. And I'm only 41.

But when I'm on the bike, I feel great. There are no aches or pains, and everything's like it was when I was 20. Even if I get on the bike with a sore ankle or a stiff back, the second I start turning the pedals it vanishes.

It's freaking bizarre. I wish I could just stay on the bike my whole life and never get off it.

Today Jess and I did our normal 13-mile loop. It felt pretty good, and she flew. She always flies when I can get her to eat a little more. She also does better when she keeps the cadence to 85+. We had a good ride. Then I got home and my knee hurt walking up the stairs. I need to find a way to ride the damn bike around in the house.

</rant>

here and there

One of the reasons I got hooked on cycling is that it is something I can enjoy without much pain. I'm 24 and have had a hand injury that made long rides uncomfortable until I got trekking bars. I've sprained my ankles numerous times which makes high impact sports that I enjoyed like basketball and jogging uncomfortable. Elbows? Yup, there's a weightlifting injury to my left elbow that makes some activities like basketball and weightlifting uncomfortable and sometimes painful. My back, well there's not a day in years I can remember without some lower back pain. Then last year I pulled a muscle in my mid back that still isn't quite right. To top it all off I have arthritis in my hands. I know I didn't get the best of luck in the gene pool and it was getting frustrating when the activities I enjoyed were not enjoyable anymore. Cycling has really changed that for me and for that I am extremely grateful.

dta95b7r

I have the same problem cydewaze, Always having aches and pains untill I start rolling. If I go out for a jog I feel like someone hit me a few times with a hammer. Thats how I felt after jogging on monday and tuesday went out for a 60mile ride feeling fine. I think it might have something to do with muscle imbalance, last week I started doing some high rep full body workouts hoping it will help. I'll let you know if it makes the pain go away.

Bockman

Are you stretching out regularly?

cydewaze

My wife does ballet. She's got me twisting into pretzels and doing various other undignified looking things.

ViperZ

Maybe some Advil?

Sorry man, it sucks to get old and have aches and pains, I know

bbattle

I've got a nagging sore muscle behind my right shoulder blade that is driving me crazy. I can go to gym and it doesn't hurt worse. I can ride my bike with no problems. I can use my 30lb. posthole diggers and move a ton of clay in the backyard and it doesn't aggravate the sore muscle.

But sitting in my favorite chair with some Lagavulin trying to watch the Sopranos is torture.

Is somebody trying to tell me something?

big john

Yes getting old sucks but it's better than the alternative. Like cydewaze, I feel best on the bike. Off the bike, all the old motorcycle injuries act up.

GuitarWizard

I've noticed the more cycling I do, the more uncomfortable I am when I lay down to sleep. Even sitting down at the computer, sometimes my leg muscles will start to ache (doesn't really hurt or anything) if I'm in a fairly static position for a long time. I've heard old racers' tales a long time ago of them sitting on their bikes even at home since they can't get comfortable sitting normally. Not sure if it's actually true or not, but is kinda funny.

mollusk

I'm not a doctor and don't even play one on TV, but I have a wild conjecture with a single data point to support it. When I first started cycling back in the 1970's I rode a lot of miles without toe clips. My quads got very strong but my hamstrings didn't. After some time my knees ached all the time unless I was riding and then they felt fine. My hypothesis was that the imbalance in forces on the knee joint at rest was causing the ache. After getting toe clips and straps the knee ache went away pretty quickly. Perhaps there is something in your pedaling style that is causing one set of muscles to get stronger than its opposing set? Just a thought and probably worth exactly what you paid for it.

2manybikes

Welcome to my world......

It's not always obvious that endorphins are a good pain killer. Throw in some Tylenol, and some caffeine and the world is great!

I can't really hammer very long until I have ridden about 50 miles. I have arthritis.

chipcom 

Just think how bad you'd feel if you didn't ride at all! Sucks getting older, sucks worse getting older like a slug.

cydewaze

Well you got a point there!

2manybikes

Feeling like a slug from a .44 ? That would feel powerfull wouldn't it? My slugs seem the same as they did years ago? I can't tell which ones are the old ones.


I feel lousy when I can't ride too.

ericgu

How is your core strength? If I don't keep my abs and back in shape, my position on the bike gets bad and I get all sorts of aches and pains.

mikeoverly

I'm 43 -- very similar situation. I use the bike to regenerate parts of me I've beaten up in other workouts, and luckily the aches and pains don't return as long as I'm on the bike at least every other day. Better than Vioxx, Bextra, etc. ... with much better side effects.

JLauren

Maybe THAT's the problem. ?

cydewaze

donrhummy

It sounds to me like you've got an imbalance. My bet is that almost all (if not all) of your exercising over a long period of time has been only cycling. As a result you've strengthened only certain muscles at the exepnse of others. Stretching is certainly part of getting the balance back, but so too is training the muscles that don't get worked in cycling.

cydewaze

Yeah, you're probably right, although I did spend this past winter at a gym, where I focused mainly on upper body, abs, and lower back. Might take more than one winter to fix though.

And here I was about to blame it on vegging in front of a PC at work for 8 hrs a day. I guess I'll have to think up some other excuse to avoid work now.

USAZorro

No. No. Don't stop blaming it on sitting at the PC all day. That certainly is contributing to things if you're not disciplined about getting up and moving around every 30 minutes or so. Sitting too long puts lots of static stress on the back.

Another thought that comes to mind is that a discomfort in your foot or leg can cause you to alter your posture - which can lead to further stresses on your back, and ultimately, pain. I suppose that a muscular imbalance in your leg could be having a ripple effect on the rest of your body, but I'm already dangerously close to practicing medicine without a license, and it's probably best if I stop here.

Good luck. I'm trying to get through some of this myself.