Recently i have noticed that when i go on medium to long rides i get horrible pain in my shoulders,inside of my elbows,and left bicep. I barely used my drops on yesterdays ride and stuck mostly to the flat bar since i was not in a hurry and just out for a ride. I made sure to change up sometime though so i wouldn't get too sore. On the ride back into alabama i started getting pains in my elbows,mostly my left and my left bicep felt like it was ripping in half. My main problem however was the sharp pain in my neck/shoulder. My seat height is fine and i adjusted it back some and it seems fine. Could my stem be a little too long?? I'm new to bike fitting and i know while it's not the most comfortable style bike,it shouldnt actually cause pain riding it.


Any ideas??

As someone with continual upper and lower back pain I suggest

1. Visit a doctor/chiropractor. Continuing to ride in pain is not fun nor wise. Trust me, I ignored
the pain and paid the price.

2. Bike fit. Bike fit. Bike fit. The LBS I bought my bike from didn't do a good job. Find a real pro
at bike fitting.

I don't think it's something wrong with me but the bike. My single speed roadbike never gave me problems and i did a 77.7 mile ride on it and this ride only totaled 49 miles. The bike was given to me by someone i know so i had to pretty much fit myself. I'll see about finding someone to help me fit it that knows more. I know i don't want a "touring fit" but i don't want a hardcore "race fit" either. More like something inbetween.

do you do upper body workouts?

It could be that you have too much weight on your arms for your core strength, which is causing your muscles around the shoulder and neck to tense up.
to take off weight from your arms, you have to slide the saddle back and get a shorter stem.

since you have another bike to compare fit, line them up at the BB and compare the saddle and bar positions relative to the BB.

Core strength workouts and make a conscious effort at relaxing and extending your spine (relaxed, fluid posture).
& +1 on AEO's recommendation on comparing the saddle-/bar-BB relationships.

The only workout i do is cycling. I very rarely do anything else unless it's just lifting stuff working on my truck or something. I thought about the stem. I looked up a while back and they mentioned when sitting your stem should hide your front hub from view and my stem is further out so i can see my hub behind it. I'm looking to upgrade to a carbon stem anyways so i can just order it a little shorter than my current stem.

Cycling Performance Tips article on Hand and Shoulder Pain:
https://www.cptips.com/handsyn.htm