pain in my___ while skidding
 

is anyone else who is riding track drops getting a pain in the bottom part of their forearm while skidding due to gripping onto the drops/exerting pressure/supporting yourself? Anyone have any tips on avoiding this pain in the arm?

lift weights?

I think you might be trying too hard! If you lean way forward and either rest your pelvis on your handlebars, or let your pelvis almost touch the bars you should barely have to try stopping your rear wheel. You need to unseat better it sounds like.

Unless you're constantly using a skid to come to a stop..which is wrong for a million reasons.

how can my pelvis touch the bars? there's a stem in the way! ouch. i'll try unweighting more and leaning forward more.

That's what I essentially mean't. Lean WAY forward, like ****ing superman. It'll be scary at first, but once you get the hang of it you can skid FOREVER. My record is 30 feet. Nothing impressive..but very fun.

do you have to be going really fast to keep a skid going really long? you eventually come to a stop right?

Hey! I'm not the only one huh (same part of my right forearm, I skid with my right foot forward)? I run 81" gears so I have to really muscle the bike to skid, that is my own theory. My forearm just hurts thinking about skidding, and the funny thing is that my forearms are very strong, I ride motorcross and until recently worked as a professional motorcycle mechanic for a pro racing team.

My solution is to stop showing off and skip instead of skid....................
But skidding is so cool.

i have issues skipping. i'm doing something wrong but i'm not quite sure what it is.

Honestly, when I skid or skip I try not to put any pressure on my arms I just let my legs do all the work. I'm running a 48x17 right now and I have no problem just skidding while still in the saddle just work out those legs and the inner thighs and you will get it. I think it just takes some practice and when you skid try not to put so much pressure on your hands and more just taking up slack with your legs. I don't know what I'm saying right now though because I'm a lot less than sobre. ehh

are you skidding with your hands down in the drops or up top?

not in the drops and not at the very top, probably where it starts to curve down or maye a alittle higher, otherwise i dont get a good grip.

right...on the shoulders. that's where my hands usually are for skids -- no pain. just wondering.

sounds like it could be repetitive stress injury thats aggravated by the position of you arm

Just lean foreward. I ride track drops and I lock my thighs against the handlebars. I run a 48-17 (however many inches that is). Once locked into the skid i feel no pain. This past sunday i took first in the skid comp at Hawaii's first alleycat ever. I probabaly skided for over 100ft. Bull horns would help also tilting your drops out would give you the same effect. Also the closer your handlebars are to seat level te easier it will be.

I skid often (with bullhorns) and dont get any forearm pain. I DO get pain in my knees - just below the kneecap. Anyone else get this? it's usually after I'm riding, not while. I've been riding brakeless for a couple weeks now, so I skid/skip often, which is fine but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm doing serious and/or permanent damage to my knees.
A friend of mine recommended taking glucosamine (sp?)... anybody have any thoughts on that?

should I just put the brake back on?

What's your gear ratio? What's you skidding technique? Have you been riding a fixed gear for long?

Whatever you do, don't start taking glucosamine just so you can skid. That's stupid. You're still going to be damaging your knees.

The glucosamine is supposed to help with the long-term health of your joints. Some of the products have condroitin with it. I take it though it would be hard to say for sure that it's helping. Supposedly it takes a while (like a month) before it starts to help. For current pain, though, ibuprofen or something is probably needed.

for a while i had extreme wrist pain from riding my fixie with drops. my wrist just couldnt handle the sideways forces of stopping. drops only hurt my on my fixie though, i could ride my roadie for 200mi and not have my wrist bother me. i switched to risers on my fixie and never looked back. not super narrow risers though, i cut them down to my shoulder width and its all good now. i still have nagging wrist problems though.

My Mom takes it every day for arthritis pain in her hands and swears by the stuff (even more so since they pulled her vioxx)....

however she has a bad knee from running, and the glucosamine doesnt seem to be helping that. but its less joint related and more torn miniscus (sp?) related.

I also get pain from drops. I found that I needed to adjust the position of the drops a bit to cut down on the pain. If I ride extended periods with them it still hurts. That's why I ride bullhorns most of the time.

As far as chronic joint pain. I used to run a lot but had to stop because my knees started sweliing and hurting to the point where I couldn't walk for days at a time. I started getting accupuncture treatments once every two months and the pain went away. I now get my knees treated twice a year and haven't had any problems with pain or swelling for a few years, even with the incessant skidding I do.

angles mean everything...one of the reasons why i run my bars up a little....more so than down.....if that makes any sense....

on the knee thing... the lady was saying that i should try accupuncture too...how long a session is it?

I think the pain will go away if you get rid of that carbon road fork. :D

Four needles in each knee, they stay in for 15-30 minutes. My step-dad does it for me, he taught accupuncture in SF for a few years. Although, my wife has been doing my knees recently, since she took a few classes when she was in dental school, and step-dad taught her some of the more obscure points and theory. I've had him treat my back a few times as well, feels weird having 12 needles down your back and legs, not painful, but warm and tingly kind-of, hard to explain. Feels great when the needles come out and you stand up again, like when you're joints are made out of rubber. Ooh, I'm gonna have her do my knees tonight when I get home...

to answer bostontrevor, my gear ratios are 48x18 (74.6) and 46x17 (75.7).
I can skid with either foot on the 3 o'clock position. I try to take turns, to alleviate the strain on either knee.
And I've been riding fixed for about 9 months, but only about 3 weeks brakeless.

I am interested in the accupuncture idea, though...
Judah, do you or your Dad (or wife) know of any places in the city that you might reccommend? How many sessions do you need before you feel better?
Any idea what is costs?


And this weather sucks.

Matt

i had my back done several times, and it took awhile, which was why i asked you how long a session was.....but that was after i had fell 10ft+ off a loading dock and landed flat on my back...had it not been for the amount of muscle given i was still into powerlifting, i know i would have done more than tweak 3 discs....

i'll tell you though, accupuncture...the tingly feeling you speak of, is wayyyy better than the shots of cortizone i had to put up with....brutal...