Pain between shoulders on longer rides

Boy Lard

I seem to be asking a lot of stupid questions recently.

On any rides longer than about 2 hours (5 hour ride last night, pain after about 3 hours) I start getting quite bad pain between my shoulders. I have searched for threads covering this, but they all seem related to road bikes rather than mountain bikes

I have played about with moving my saddle back and forth and I don't really find much difference. If I drop my saddle down so I am much more upright I don't get the pain in my back/neck, but then I just can't peddle. Even with my saddle at full height, which is about right for my legs, my saddle is still lower or nearly level with my bars. I see a lot of xc type riders with saddles way higher than their bars and I am reasonable sure that would cripple me.

Any advice at all would be greatly welcomed. I am now concerned about changing my stem and bars (last stupid thread I made) and how this might make the problem worse.

I am 5'6'', I have (relatively) short leg to body length, I have Trek 6000, 15.5" frame.

t0pc4t

I think it's quite a pertinent question, not stupid at all

could be related to bike setup, could just be fatigue, for me a 5 hour ride is pretty long, if it's off road I'd probably expect some pain, even on the road probably as the muscles get more tired.

FunBus

could be the handlebars? Do you have very wide bars? Spreading your arms apart obviously squeezes your shoulder muscles together, perhaps causing discomfort after long rides.........

Saddle height which you seem to have focussed on is normally the main cause of lower back issues, rather than shoulders

If you do have wide bars, simply try moving your hands closer together whilst stationary and see if it relieves any pain?

Boy Lard

I have narrow(ish) bars, and am looking to put some wide bars on there. That is part of my dilemma. Wanting to go from purely xc, to being a bit more stable/capable when pointing downwards, jumps, bit of techy stuff.

stubs

I had the same problem myself and nothing stopped it, tried the following
Wide bars
narrow bars, low bars, highbars,
long stem, short stem
different saddle, different grips
and on and on and on

you get the picture I messed about with the bike so much I forgot where I started. So I just put up with it till I bought a new rucsack and TADAAAAH no more pain.

Moral of the story it could be any one of dozens of things just dont assume your expensive camelback suits you.

Boy Lard

How did you know I have a Camelbak?

But that is a thought, it will really piss me off if that is the case though.

stubs

Boy Lard wrote:

How did you know I have a Camelbak?

But that is a thought, it will really wee-wee me off if that is the case though.

Have you got a mate with a different pack you can borrow. If it is the pack and you have to get rid they sell for decent money on the classifieds on this forum or on ebay. I only bought a new Deuter EX12 pack because I wanted a bigger drinks bladder and only planned to use it for long haul rides but now its my all the time pack. Luckily a mate wanted a Camelback so I swapped with him for a pair of Fox DH jerseys.

Boy Lard

I have a Camelbak Mule, mate as a Dakine Nomad. I'll ask if I can borrow that and see if it helps. I hope it is that simple

stubs

Boy Lard wrote:

I have a Camelbak Mule, mate as a Dakine Nomad. I'll ask if I can borrow that and see if it helps. I hope it is that simple

If it is its cheaper than a new bike

Unless of course you need a good excuse to buy a new one

Boy Lard

I have all the excuses I need for buying a new bike, unfortunately I don't have the money. :roll: