aspalmat

I've been experiancing sore muscles in the rib cage after riding for awhile now. After riding 3 or 4 days in a row, maybe 6-7 hours combined, my ribs can be very sore. Sometimes, if I move just the right(or wrong) way, I can get a very sharp pain in my ribs.

For reference, I'm 5'6", 140 lbs, and I'm riding a 2018 Trek Domane AL3, Size 52. This is my first road bike, and I wonder if the frame is just a little to big for me.

The bike came with a 90 mm, 7 degree stem. I have tried a couple of different stems, but now use a 70 mm, 17 degree stem. The soreness has lessend somewhat, but it is still there.

Does this sound like a reach issue? THis hapopens both riding outdoors and Zwifting.

I'm looking to get a new bike with a Carbon Fiber frame, and want to make sure I get the proper sized bike the 2nd time around.

Thanks.

berner

There is the possibility that your discomfort may be related to reach and overall bike fit. That fit begins with locating the saddle for the best compromise between pedaling efficiently as well as comfort. One the saddle is located, then the distance to the handle bar is established. It may be that the reach is off due to the saddle being too far forward. Trying to navigate, often conflicting requirements, can be frustrating. Rest assured that you will eventually figure it out. My suggestion is you become more knowledgable about bike fit There are many You Tube videos about this. One I like is by Peter White in New Hampshire. https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.php Another is Steve Hogg in Australia with articles on the subject.
https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com...efitting.com/#
It is counter intuitive but your problem may be the result of saddle too far forward. The articles in the links will explain the consequences of this. Good luck with this and hang in there.

Carbonfiberboy 

Looking at all the factors involved in bike fit is a major discussion. However it's a very simple matter to see of one's reach is correct. This is a static test. Get into your normal or most used position on the bike, elbows slightly bent, back relatively straight. Using a mirror or photograph, see if your upper arms form about a 90° angle with your torso. If so, your reach is correct, if not, move your hands around and try to guess at the modification that will give you that angle. In general, it doesn't matter what your position is, drops, hoods, bull horns, aero bars, whatever, this angle should stay about the same in all positions.

Of course your saddle position will affect reach and needs to be set fore-and-aft in accordance with your event rules and/or desired balance on the bike, then the question of reach settled.

The most likely issue with your muscle pain is that you're out of shape. It's not true that one doesn't need to do upper body work to ride well, Quite the opposite. The sharp pain in your ribs is probably a muscle cramp, very common. Another issue is that it takes a good bit of muscle conditioning just to breathe well on the bike. We move a lot of air and it's not just the diaphragm that pumps the lungs.

The reason for the right angle there is that the upper arms act as a strut supporting the upper body. Moving away from that angle will impose more muscle strain.

aspalmat

Thanks guys for the replies. The comments regarding being in shape makes me wonder. 2 summers ago, I had been doing lots of "core" work. Planks, side planks, leg lifts, squats etc. A bunch of different excercises to strengthen the core. I don't recall having the sore ribs that summer. This summer, I got out of the habit of doing those excercises, and that is when I started having the soreness. I have just this week started getting back to doing the core excersises. Maybe I'll focus on that for 4 - 6 weeks, and see how things feel.

As far as the fit, I had previous read a bunch of bike fit information on the web. I had gone through and set my saddle height and fore-aft position according to things I had read. Tried to make sure I was at a 90 degree angle between my body and upper arns. I was feeling pretty good on the bike. But, the soreness got me wondering about reach.

Maybe it's just as simple as I had stopped doing the core work, and there is nothing wrong with my fit on the bike. At kleast not the couldn;t be overcome by keeping the core strong. I guess we will see.

Carbonfiberboy 

Sounds right. Pushups, too. There's also a book: https://www.velopress.com/books/tom-...ore-advantage/

aspalmat

I got that book, and was doing many of the excersies from it. Just got out of the habit.

jadocs

Speaking solely on reach....That does not sound like too long of a reach given your height. If anything it may be too short given stem size (assuming ETT is in the neighborhood of 52cm and your physical proportions are average).

You may have other fit issues.