Raerfani

Hello all,

Do you all know what I can do to decrease the amount of back and neck pain I recieve while I am riding my bike? I feel like I should also note that have to reach forward a little bit to reach the handlebars and a little more to reach the brakes. Thanks!

aham23

ride more. work on your "CORE." and ride more. your body is not use to the position the road bike puts you in. that is all. later.

lvleph

Or could be bike fit. Keep riding and see if it continues to be a problem.

Raerfani

Thank you all, I appreciate your responses.

foomonkey

Make sure you don't have the "vulture" position. I find my self doing this and have to make myself stop. Try to relax your shoulders. Every 15 minutes or so, stretch you neck muscles.

Adgooroo

If you're a new rider, you may be carrying a lot more tension in your shoulders and neck than you should. Your whole upper body should be relaxed so you can devote your energy and effort to your legs/lower body. Try to be aware of that while you ride and force yourself to relax - jaw/face, hands, arms, shoulders, etc. - until it becomes second nature.

roadwarrior

..or he may too much drop forcing him to pick up his head to see where he's going.

Which is extremely common and why riders with a bad fit ride almost exclusively in an upright position, like the hoods or higher.

nostromo

In my brief experience with my new road bike I had a host of issues from cramping feet (carbon soled shoes) to numb hands/thumbs, stiff shoulders and painful seat.

But with more time on the bike all of those problems are gone. I had a proper bike fitting and the frame and setup is spec'd to my size, so I knew it was me that had to get used to everything. I'm enjoying my rides much more now and did a 3 hour club ride this past weekend with no problems other than fatigue.

Have others check your posture and adjust it as needed. I used to keep my arms very stiff, press hard on my hands and bunch up my shoulders and that would prevent me from riding longer than 30 minutes.

Paul Barnard

My initial inclination is to suspect that you are using your joints and muscles in a way that they are not accustomed to being used. I just got into road biking. I experienced the same things you did. It gets better with each ride. I find that pushing too big a gear up hills strains my lower back some. My butt is still getting broken in too. Wow that just doesn't sound right. More saddle time will help. On longer rides I do some on bike stretching that helps too. Relax too.

Did you have your bike fitted at the shop? If not you may have fit issues that would be difficult for the forum to diagnose.

superslomo

Raise the handlebars for now. You can always lower them later. If you can add a spacer or two, or flip the stem so it is angled upwards more, that might help. Bars with less drop from top to bottom could also help.

Campag4life

As usual, the voice of reason.

DrPete 

Or there's nothing wrong with your fit and you're riding too tense.

RELAX. Bend those elbows. Consciously slump your shoulders forward a bit--don't scrunch them up on your back. If your bike is an OK fit, you'll find that you're riding along comfortably with almost no weight being supported by your arms.

eippo1

+1
making sure you have a relaxed grip on the handlebars helps with the overall relaxation. people that have the death grip thing going on will often be tense all the way up through their back and have no ability to absorb the road or react when they need to take evasive action.

acid_rider

your bars could be too far away or too low (or both) forcing you to crane up your neck. perhaps flip the stem up (and/or add some spacers under stem) and re-evaluate

stretch daily and do some core work daily.

do you have good riding sun-glasses? the ones what cover the upper part of your eyes (up to eye-brows), if you lift your head up, to see forward while riding? My neck pain went away with proper cycling specific glasses as opposed to regular sun-glasses which were forcming me to crane up my neck too much to see forward (small lenses).

cccorlew

When I got my new road bike after 20 years of bonding with my last bike I had problems too. Sometime very subtle changes can save you. For me I moved the seat forward a hair and tipped the nose up just a bit more than is considered cool.
You might need a slight change in where your brake hoods are set, or in seat height or even stem length., or what I tried, But because there are millimeter adjustments that really do make a big difference the only thing is to listen to your body and work on it yourself. No bike fitter can feel for you what you feel.

+1 on making sure you aren't riding with your head down and shoulders up. Bend theose elbows in!

Shifty'sDad

I'm new to this too. If that was your first ride then leave the bike how it is for a couple weeks if you think the fit is pretty close to correct. I had the same back/neck pain as you and after the first week it went away. I only feel pain now where you might expect it (guads and sometimes saddle region). The advice about proper riding position that others gave is important to follow. On a longer ride learn how to stretch while on the bike as well. I learned a lot from Sheldon Brown's site. Have a look: https://sheldonbrown.com/pain.html

Jay Gloab

I don't wish to hijack the OP's thread, but I have some similar issues.

I did my longest ride yet yesterday, a 40-miler, in about 3.5 hours. I noticed during the ride that my elbows seemed tender, especially when I tipped my water bottle up to take a drink. They feel fine today, though. I'm thinking I may have been locking my elbows while riding?

Also, after the ride yesterday my wrists were sore, and they still are today. Was I gripping too hard, or was it likely just the stress of supporting my weight for so long? It hasn't been a problem on other rides, and I had done up to about 30 miles before.

yogi13

On the elbows issue, you might be locking up, or your position/fit could be a bit off, with too much weight being borne by your arms. On the wrists, yeah, you are gripping too tight.

Taken together, I would guess that you're tensing up. Try to consciously relax your upper body the next time you ride; if you do it right you'll feel like everything from your hips up is very still and you're just floating above the saddle and handlebars, with your legs moving with no extra motion elsewhere to spin the pedals. You might also work on building core strength; that will help you to not lean so much on your hands.

Pharmr

I think alot of it is caused by not being used to the riding position....it gets better over time....also when I first started riding my motorcycle many years ago, I found myself really, really tense and this caused some cramping....so like others have said here, try to relax a bit....I actually start with relaxing my face, then roll my shoulders down, relax my back, bend my elbows a bit and loosen my grip....it's something I have to focus on, or I'll go all tense again.

Jay Gloab

OK, I'll try to concentrate on keeping loose going forward. FWIW, I used to have problems after swimming with neck stiffness, like I was straining too much to keep my head up. It eventually went away as I got in better shape.

What should I do to build core strength? I'm talking on the bike here; I'm not likely to spend a lot of time doing situps and that sort of thing. Spend more time riding out of the saddle?

AStomper

Can someone post a picture of what the proper riding position would look like?

Shifty'sDad

This has animations and explanations for the different riding scenarios:

https://www.smartcycles.com/fitting_explained.htm

FIVE ONE SIX

+1. when i started riding last year, i was riding slower, and experiencing lower back pain. since i've make a mental note to always keep my elbows bent, and relax more, i'm riding faster and without the lower back pain...

if you're experiencing neck pain, you may need to flip the stem up, or go with a higher degree stem if it is already flipped up. if you can add a small spacer, say 2.5mm, try that before doing anything else...

it may have also just been a coincidence, it happened to me yesterday, but it was the first time it happened since last year. if it was me, i would give it a few weeks and see if it happens consistently...

one tip, relax your face when you ride, and the rest of your body will follow...

Raerfani

Thanks for the great responses guys. To further elaborate on this problem, I want to mention that the handlebars are too far away from me. I can't reach the brakes unless I lean forward which I believe is the main problem that is giving me this pain. Do you all know how I can move the seat forward so that I am closer to it or the other way around (moving the handlebars closer to me). Thanks so much! I would be such a noob without you all!

Raerfani

What's a spacer and where does it go?