I just purchased my first road bike: Specialized Roubaix. I've been riding it a week and after about ten miles into every ride, my lower back becomes unbearably sore and I'm forced to quit by at best mile fourteen.

I haven't changed anything on the bike yet and have not upgraded to clipless pedals. The shop set my seat at the correct height, but it's just the standard seat that came with the bike.

Is there anything I can do to increase my comfort? I'm starting to train for a few century rides a few months away, but if I'm already having this much of a problem with my back, this could be a pretty large issue.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions? All help is very much appreciated!

Could be a lot of things:

Tilt of the seat
Fore/aft setting of seat
Stem length
Stem height
You're still a beginner and certain muscles have yet to be acclimated

There's no definite formula for success, so it's best to make small changes one at a time. Be patient and persistent....you'll eventually dial it in.

Take it back to LBS for a better fit. For me lower back pain was related to too much reach - seat too far from bars/ bars too low.

From a person who has had back problems related to a weak abdominal core I noticed the same thing when I started. Do 3 sets of planks on toes and elbows trying to get to 60 seconds and side planks 3 times trying to get 60 seconds. Youtube it or find a physical therapist to show you how they should be done. Add in 30 ab crunches a day.

This can all be done in between beers watching tv at night in the floor.

I'll second what's been said about fit, and add that back pain I had when first starting out pretty much resolved itself as I got fitter/more used to the position. I have occassionally had pain since when partcularly unfit and/or after long periods off the bike.

Your just starting out and your muscles are not use to this new stress, your fit is probably close enough to be comfortable.
Lower back pain is either week core or tight hamstrings. Work on both, do plank and boat pose for your core, work up to holding each 1 minutes once a day and lightly do a forward bend AFTER your warmed up. Flexibility takes time be patience.

There are too many variables.

Some things that you can do, will need to do, etc:
1. Riding requires muscle adaptation. Your fit/position will change over time. It'll start out with the bars higher and closer, and as you get more fit you'll find that you can move them down and further out.
2. If you're not moving around a bit it'll be uncomfortable. Stand, sit, use the tops, the drops. Don't lock yourself in one position. Stretch your back even.
3. Core strength - do abdominal stuff while in front of the TV. 50 crunches at a time, sit ups, whatever, virtually anything is better than nothing.
4. Pre-existing condition?

Things you may need to do with your bike:
1. Bars too low or too far away or both
2. Although counterintuitive, bars may be too high or too close. Sitting sort of upright can really stress your back. It's like sort of leaning over the kitchen sink to wash dishes - I have to stand straight up else my back starts to seize in just a few minutes. On the bike I have a longer, lower position, appropriate to my body dimensions, and on my bike I have no back issues even though I have some actual back issues.

Could be the fitting or lack there of if your LBS did not do it perfectly. But then again................you just may need to train those lower back muscles to get use to the posture for cycling. Like any sport.............you use a different set of muscles and your body needs time to build up and adjust.

This would be my vote. When I first started my lower back would do same thing then as time wnet by I no longer have lower back pain. You have to build and train those muscles to get use to the riding position.

Def get a bike fitter's opinion, but it might just be that you haven't "trained" your body to accept the rigors of cycling yet. My gut feel (non expert!) is that it's more the former and less the latter. Get your fit tuned-up by an expert and keep putting in the important base training miles while making sure to alternate your riding position (drops, hoods, bars, standing, sitting, etc) to acclimate your body (and butt!) so you can nail those centuries coming up.

I just started riding a road bike this past December. As my ride time increased, I started having pretty bad lower back pain at about the 3 hour mark. The pain was on both sides of my spine at the bottom of my back. I could tell it was a muscle pain & not a nerve/joint pain. I couldn't do anything to fix it until I went to a get a sports massage & told the massage therapist of the pain. He said it most likely as the piraformis (spelling???) muscle. He did some specific stretches and treatment on my hip area. Since then I've been able to increase my ride time to 5 hours with minimal lower back pain. Also, I had a professional bike fit when I started getting more serious from the guys at Specialized, so I don't think my issue was due to fit. I think mine was just lack of stretching that muscle & the rapid increase of time in the saddle.

I would bet on #2 before #1 . The dishes analogy is a good one. The issue is that your pelvis ends up rotated back, as though you were sitting up, and you bend forward at your belly button. This puts a lot of pressure on your lower back. Here's an example, me from before I changed my fit to correct for this issue:



Look at my hips and the very lower part of my back - it looks like I'm sitting on a beach cruiser. And then above that, I bend waaaay forward at my belly button to get low. Not that you care much about aerodynamics right now, but in addition to causing a lot of discomfort, my ability to get as low as possible was compromised by this position because I was relying on the flexibility of my middle spine, not my hips, hamstrings and glutes, to get low.

For a road position, the forward lean needs to come as much as possible from rotating your pelvis forward on the saddle. This is true even for a mild forward lean. Obviously, different body types and flexibility levels will effect the details of the fit.

As for fixing it, handlebar reach is one element, saddle setback is also important. Handlebar height per se is less important, but may contribute as well. I addressed my problem by swapping to a longer stem and sliding my saddle back a bit. I may need to consider sliding it back a bit more at some point, but it's best not to make huge changes. Anyway, this pulled my pelvis forward and released a lot of the tension from my back. Pedaling hard still puts those lower core muscles to work, so I do feel that when I've been hammering for a while, but it's definitely improved. My back and neck, notably, don't hurt AFTER I'm done riding anymore.

All that said, it is also possible that you need to adapt, as well. Cycling does use those muscles as I said. But if you're literally unable to continue after 15 miles or so, I think fit needs to be seriously considered. Even when I was relatively new to riding (before I developed that fit issue, which came later when I got a new bike and shortened my position by almost 2 cm) I could easily ride that far without back pain to the point of having to stop. Sure, my back got tired, but it was not in pain. I would definitely look into the fit issue.

Work on your core. It will get better.

Check the fit, of course - but it's probably your core.

I have lower back pain when I ride after about 20 miles. I have a VERY strong core. It mostly has to do with fit as my bikes have too much reach for me. That and it can be aggravated by using gearing that's too big when trying to haul ass.

The OP is in so much discomfort he/she is literally unable to ride more than 14 miles in one day. A weak core isn't sufficient to explain this. In general, people on these boards WAY overrate the importance of core strength - most of the chatter about it from most posters on this board is basically cycling cargo culting. They've heard other people talking about it, but don't actually know what it is useful for and what problems are caused by lack of it. Riding a road bike 15 miles without enormous discomfort doesn't require tummy crunches or planks. Enough of these silly, super-confident know-nothing diagnoses. "It's probably your core." Actually, it almost certainly isn't! And if core strength is a factor, which it could be, it's certainly not that alone.

As for fit, the particular case I described may well not be the issue. As others have pointed out, there are simply too many variables. Maybe the OP has a bad back. But fit, as a general issue, is definitely the first place I'd look, not to inadequate core strength.

firstly, you are new to the position. you might gt used to it.

i always find that my seat being too far back gives me back ache, try pushing forward a bit

I'm also in the generally weak muscles camp. The OP may not have the muscles to even hold his spine in column. Sore back and sore neck are the most common issues with new riders. The solution is pretty simple: back it off. Do shorter rides and more frequent rides. Ideally, start with 30 minutes/day and try to get out most days. Don't ride hard. Take it easy. Keep track on your calendar. The next week increase your time (not mileage) by 10%. Etc. IME it's not fit. I can ride at least 50 miles on any bike that I can reach the pedals on, and I'm a talentless hack of 68 with a bad back: stenosis, thin discs, and arthritic facets.

Once some strength has been established, say being able to ride an hour in reasonable comfort, some core work might be a good idea, but all done with the back straight, no crunches, sit-ups, etc. The bike is really the most gentle back exercise there is, but even that needs a gentle progression. No one who hasn't worked out is going to do an hour of core work and not expect it to hurt.

It takes time, measured in months if not years, to get comfortable doing distance on a bike, the young and talented excepted. Be patient. It's worth it.

curiously for me, when i get unbearable back ache on a long ride, it gets less painful when i go lower into the drops.

Strong core is good. Correct posture on and off the bike is good. Riding within your conditioning is good. Ramping the distance up slowly is good.

All that's true, but it's also true that your spine is complicated, is unique, and is going to be with you for the rest of your life. So take spinal pain advice from a bunch of anonymous yahoos on a bike forum with a large grain of salt.

It is true that you need to get used to it, and there are certain things that will hurt when you are not used to a roadbike. Your back and your bum are two common ones.

However, pain becoming unbearable in just 14 miles is quite severe. And I would not advice you to just grit your teeth and bear it. The last thing you want to do is get an injury by ignoring signals your body is giving to you. Personally, I would start of with a less aggressive riding position. Make sure the reach is ok in terms of length from seat to bars. Also make sure the drop from seat to bars is not too severe (keep it level when you start off). I know the common suggestion is to "flip it and slam it" (referring to the stem), but most of the time if you do not have the natural flexibility, you should really do the opposite and ease into a more aggressive ride-style.

I have the same thing, and I know why. When I sit deeper, what I tend to do is actually straighten out my back. Instead of sitting on the bike and arching my back, it is more like I am "leaning into" the bike. The main difference is that I rotate my pelvis.

More weight on your arms less for your core to support.

Just the opposite in my case.

It's your setup....if the bike is the correct size which I will assume it is since you went to a shop.

Anyone can ride a road bike without this issue regardless of their fitness level if the setup is good. If you are losing weight, your setup will change, just like you might need smaller pants and a differetn size jacket.

You do not need to suffer with this.

I fit bikes. For a long time. It is not uncommon for someone to have this issue out the door with a new bike that has not been properly set up for you.

Agreed.

That's why I made the comment that I fit bikes. For some of the "41" crowd, it's hocus pocus. Everyone's an expert. Until you are in excruciating pain.

It's funny...a couple of years ago I started having back pain. Which I have never really had. I'd get to 20 or 30 miles and had to ride no hands sitting up about every three miles. I had switched my seat post and had not marked the new one for the correct height based on the pedals and shoes I was riding at the time.

Got home, measured, lo and behold my seat was about 6mm too low. That's all it took. It had apparently slid into the seat tube on a particularly rough stretch of road. And in a pinch I did not use a torque wrench and tried to guess so I did not damage the post or tube. Fixed it and had no further issues.