Back ache, not really
 

Not exactly my back but the tendon/muscle that runs up and down the side of my spine hurts when I ride for 20 or more miles. It seems to be related to how hard I pedal. Only the right side hurts and my right leg is stronger than my left so it's probably doing more work. Any idea why this is happening and what I can do? My spine feels fine.

hi, I started a couple of weeks ago to really get into it, and i've noticed a little the same pain you're describing. some people will say it's because your bike is not properly fit, but maybe it also has to do with your position. you might want to keep your back straight, contract your abs to save your back. i've tried that and it seems a little better now. after doing some setups and getting stronger abs, I can tell the difference. but then again, i'm not a pro so maybe others could jump in to suggest you some ideas.

Could be a lot of things: weak abs, poor fit, poor positioning, or a bad saddle.

So maybe we can eliminate a few things. How strong are your abs? What kind of saddle are you riding? I used to have a heavily padded saddle and it gave me back pain on longer rides. I switched to something hard and the problem went away.

How does your fit feel? Do you feel too stretched out or too bent over?

Yeah. Do you stretch once the muscles warm up? Do you stretch at the end? Do you stretch in general?

How are your hamstrings? Do you also stretch your hamstrings? Sometimes back pain can be the result of weak hamstrings.

How much ab work do you do? A weak core can lead to back pain. Work up to doing 20- 30 minutes a day of abs.

How about raising your handlebars? Sometimes less flexible people can benefit by slighty raising the handlebars to take pressure off the lower back.

Koffee

I have decently strong abs. I used to do 3 sets of 40 crunches fairly regularly. I don't stretch at all. I know my bike is about 5 cm too short on the TT for me. My saddle doesn't have too much padding.

Ditto on the core strength, hamstring stretch etc.; one hamstring or IT band tighter on one side than the other will torque your spine. Also be sure to check your seat height first; if those hips are rockin' to reach the bottom of your pedal stroke, you will feel it right where you've described.

B

Very interesting. I bet I am rocking my hips a lot. What is the correct seat height? I've always thought it's where you knee is slightly bent at the bottom of the stroke.

True -but you can fine tune it a couple of ways. Another check...unclip and rest your heel on the pedal, foot level - your leg should be able to extend fully while your hips are level. Have a riding buddy check your form on the bike as well; they may see something you're doing that you're not aware of.

As for the abs...a strong core is essential, but you may want to think about NOT contracting them and instead stabilizing with the muscles around your ribcage. Overly contracted abs can restrict open breathing. A daily dose of planks will help.

B

Try nudging your saddle foward a bit. I had pretty severe back pain on long rides, or rides with lots of climbing. That helped me quite a bit. Try finding the point where you can pick your hands up off the handlebar without back strain (on a trainer or something). I found that point was very far foward for me. I have gradually inched my seat back over the season so far to where it was so I can be a bit more aero.

By the way, I'm 6'4", so back pain is a constant in nearly all things athletic. Core strength is paramount.

I don't mean to sound flippant, but 3 sets of 40 is like a warmup. Try 20- 30 minutes a day every single day. That's what I mean about exercising the abs and building up a strong core.

Koffee

Easy there, killer. 20-30 minutes is overkill, and you never want to exercise the same muscle group every single day. Abs are like every other muscle- they need time to repair. The quickest, easiest way to build ab strength is to go to a club, find 2 or 3 machines (at the very least one for the abs and one for obliques), then do 3 sets of 10. That's adequate for your everyday cyclist.

Besides, if the bike is 5 cm too short on the TT this is probably a fit issue.

5cm too short is a heck of a lot to be off by! I'm betting thats your problem right there.

Well it's an expensive mistake for sure. My LBS sucks. This is my first bike so didn't know anything when I got it. I just went with what the LBS told me.

Dude, assuming not a second of rest, 3 sets of 4 crunches will take a person 10 minutes since you're supposed to hold it for 5 seconds each. If you rest 3 minutes in between, that's fairly close to 20.

Are you sure its 5cm? Thats basically 2.5 frame sizes off... What are you basing your sizing information on?

Zinn's site has a calculator. I think my TT needs to be 55 or 53 and mine's around 50? It's a C'Dale R700 size 48 frame. It's perfect for my inseam though.

Well, you're not supposed to hold it for 5 seconds. You can do your abwork a variety of ways. I like to do a ton of different abwork exercises, and I actually can go up to 45 minutes depending. But a good 20 minute session is sufficient.

I haven't heard of any hard and fast rule for how long to hold an ab crunch, and I've taken full classes at conferences just about abwork. That 5 second rule is news to me. I have always heard that all abwork is done best if it's slow, controlled movements, where you vary the exercises you do.

I love Dr. Len Kravitz. He's one of the respected researchers for exercise physiology, and he's done quite a few seminars on abwork. Here's some recommended ab exercises: http://www.drlenkravitz.com/FitabsPlus/newabsone.html All of them are challenging. I took a seminar with him once where he had us do the ab exercises, and afterwards, I could barely walk standing straight up.

Here's a great article that brushes on the seminars he does with regards to ab work: http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article...abdominal.html

Dr. Kravitz is such a great person. He's so anal, and that's how I like my lecturers! But do read up on different ab exercises and how you can make the most of the ab exercises you perform.

Koffee