Maelochs

Thanks to the people who recommended stretching. That is another thing I don't do enough (almost not at all) and as I try to increase my mileage, it isn't my legs, but the rest of me, that turns out to be the limiting factor. A little more with the dumb bells, a little more stretching, and the riding will be a lot easier.

MoAlpha

Genetic back abnormalities?

firebird854

I experienced a similar problem and found an immediate solution.

A few weeks ago, I noted anything over 40 miles caused some intense lower back pain, forcing me out out the drops and having to sit up for large portions of the ride. This really showed when I did a 90 mile ride. I thought the saddle was to blame and bought a new one, the Specialized Power Arc, this totally alleviated the numbness I experienced when in the drops/hoods for long periods of time, but did nothing for my back pain. I then started to notice that I was subconsciously putting my hands about an inch up from the hoods when I was "in the hoods", this was my body's idea to mitigate the back pain albeit making me less aero. I took the hint and moved my saddle (on the rails) about one inch forward and have been pain free ever since. I also tilted it slightly downward and can stay in the drops for ages.

Just 2 days ago I had an incredibly pleasant 95 mi ride with 0 back pain, spending the majority of the time in the hoods with some large intervals in the drops. I recommend getting a fitting, but unless you're 40 miles into a ride, it can be hard to tell what needs to be adjusted, if you feel something may be a bit off, go ahead and move/change it, bikes are incredibly adjustable.

memebag

I've had various aches and pains when I first started cycling. All of them went away as I got stronger and drank more fluids. Ramp up more slowly to avoid serious damage.

Seattle Forrest

I think that's the opposite of the answer. There may be discomfort at times but you should not be in pain riding your bike.

wphamilton

It won't be a very popular opinion, but increasing distance, and time in the saddle by say an hour, I agree that some initial aches and pain are to be expected and not much concern. Those types of pains should go away with the conditioning for that length of ride, and concentrating on position and posture.

popeye

I was able to overcome this is a relatively short time by stopping the moment my back complained. Get off the bike and stretch until it goes away. Back to the drops.

Maelochs

I have done that ... five or seven minutes buys another 45 minutes ... but I'd rather put in the time before i ride rather than While I ride.

redlude97

I'm in almost puke inducing pain at least a few times a week riding my bike

Dan333SP

I occasionally get left lower back aches while riding which I'm pretty sure is related to a leg length discrepancy or weird hip geometry. I've never had a real fit, so I just find workarounds. One thing that helps is riding hands free sitting vertical on your seat for 30 seconds or so. Obviously not everyone can do that comfortably, but it lets my back stretch a bit and can alleviate any aches. Kinda like getting out of the saddle to take some pressure off your sit bones every now and then.

KraneXL

Great muscle pain remedies if you're lucky. Typically, but not always the cause.

Colnago Mixte

No argument with that, and I would add something I read in Bicycling magazine back in the 80's. It was a story about a woman who won the Race Across America several times, and was an extremely devoted long-distance cyclist and math geek.

She described how on long rides, the way something like your feet will hurt for a while, then your back for a while, then your neck, then something else, but the pain always passes, and kind of rotates around from body part to body part. This kind of temporary pain is completely normal for someone who's on a bike a long time. And there are things you can do like standing up. changing gears, varying your pace, moving your hands around, even sliding backward or forward on the saddle slightly.

But the thing to keep in mind is that this kind of pain is mainly a mental distraction, a way your mind attempts to deal with something as unnatural as pedaling a bike for hours and hours on end, and not really anything to worry about if it only lasts a few minutes then goes away.

Maelochs

Right, but that is not the kind of pain we are discussing.

Two kinds of pain to take seriously—the “I am doing damage to parts of my body which won’t heal” pain (things like ignoring serious knee pain, ignoring decaying joints, or my specialty, ignoring chest pain and a rising heart rate

And muscular pain which just intensifies.

The muscle pain is much easier to recover from—but if you do enough damage you lose a few or several days for no reason. As with muy back—I ignored it and rode through it and after the ride was still in pain for a few hours, and so tight I could barely move.

No damage done …. Just knots and cramps from muscles way overworked. But ignoring that kind of pain doesn’t help. Your muscles are not going to suddenly gain capacity in the middle of a ride.

I haven’—I no longer have the capacity, which is why I am still trying to grow and gain. Bt I know from experience … the same as standing or sitting in one position for hours—there will be lots of random discomforts.

Anyone who has not learned a lot about pain oand injury … will, most likely, if they keep riding. After a while the differences between “sore,” “strained,” and “torn,” become very clear—you can tell when joint is complaining and when it is telling you Stop Now.

On another hand .... by doing specific exercises to address those particular weaknesses one can overcome them more quickly and enjoy riding more.

It is akin to doing intervals—no one really likes doing intervals, but those who want to go faster will go faster, faster if they work at it in some kind of structured way.

I could either ride less and grow very slowly, or I could ride more and also exercise more—which is good whether I ride or not—and ride more.

Since I like riding and I don’t want to decay too quickly, exercising and stretching makes more sense, to me and for me. Your mileage will most assuredly vary.

Here’s my thing: I will only live so long …. And the longer Iwait to do stuff, the less I have to do ti with. Decay is a real thing, growth is slower, recovery takes longer.

I could ride shorter rides … which means whole sets of roads would be closed off to me, which means I would be letting my weaknesses control me … or I could do a little work off the bike, and have more options.

Instead of spending another six months adding ten miles a month, I could (as I have been doing) add tens of miles per month—whole days of riding, or whole new realms of terrain to ride through.

Doing less and gaining slowly is fine when you are young and think you will live forever. When you realize that in some number of years, you will be Forced to do less by age and infirmity …. You think in terms of gaining more now so I can afford to lose more later.

I already have too much to regret. (I hope this post doesn't get added to that list.)

wphamilton

Maybe it's "YMMV". I'm not saying add 10 miles per month to avoid the pains, I'm saying add 10 miles per ride as the "normal" pains move out to the last hour or half hour of them. That's actually my method this year, having slacked inexcusably on weekend rides and my "long ride" was about 30 miles. Next week 40, next week 50, then 50 again a little faster and less discomfort and so on. I just expect it, not a matter of bike fit or core strength or medical issue but something that will happen regardless and get over. Whether I'm training for short rides or a century, I always get the aches and pains and they always stop one or two rides later.

KraneXL

You beat me to the punch. ^^

Maelochs

No. Emphatically no.

It is "You mileage is guaranteed to vary," or "will most certainly vary," because That Is What I Am Saying. As for the proof .... your mileage does indeed vary.

I plan to do more resistance exercise and stretching for the reasons I have amply explained. You do whatever works for you. It's a wonderful world.

wphamilton

I agree with you then. Before jumping into all of these suggestions, which may be good ones, OP should IMO consider that it could be simply the natural consequence of being in the saddle longer, and line out on its own in a ride or two if he keeps on doing what he's doing now.

seedsbelize 

You must be a serious cyclist. You certainly sound like one.

And on the serious side, I am another one of those oldsters doing what I have to do to keep riding as long as I can. Stretches, core work.

tombgosh

I've had various kinds of lower back pain from full-on spasm to aches and dull ache and tightness associated with sciatica. But never ON or FROM the bike. When I have back issues, often from sitting at a desk all week or gardening, I get on my bike as therapy.
I suggest: core strengthening. stretching the hips and hamstrings. And looking at fit, specifically keeping your bars at least as high as your saddle.

The bike industry does a big disservice to the public by pushing bikes with low bars: looks very fast, but is no good for nearly all the non-racers

cyclintom

Yes to all but mainly too aggressive a position. You don't get used to this as you get older. You need a more up-right position.

PaulRivers

I think the term for this is "survivor bias".

Let's say 10 people get shot.
- 5 of them die
- 4 of them are taken to the hospital and survive
- 1 of them is just lightly grazed by the bullet and he just goes home

That last guy comes out and say "Getting shot is no big deal guys, but put a bandaid on it and you're fine".
Then some magazine publishes his statement because it sounds exciting and gets lot of views and it's not in their interest to point out what happened to the other 9 people.

chainwhip

Encapsulated here:

"There are old pilots.
There are bold pilots.
There are no old, bold pilots."

But what's life without a little risk.

TXCiclista

Thanks for all the follow-up replies. Lots of good advice/wisdom here. I've started some core strengthening and am paying even more attention to position & fit than before. I'll be tackling the same ride this Sunday, so we'll see what happens!

chainwhip

Best of luck!

Colnago Mixte

We'll be rootin' for ya. Position on a bike takes a long time to perfect and fine tune, many years, and then your body changes over the years too.

You might gain weight lose weight, get more fit, less fit, get more limber or less limber. I am always fine tuning my fit all the time, as I have 7 or 8 bikes and am always on a different one.

Definitely bring your tools along to be able to adjust fit, on the fly.