Lower backpain when climbing

tofu21

Hello,

I know this may be a difficult one for people to answer but thought I'd ask anyway to see if I get any responses.

I'm still settling into the new Pivot that I got last month. I'm starting to really love the bike. I'm getting used to the bike an see to be understanding how to set it up. I took it for it's first really proper ride yesterday around Macclesfield forest and the Cat and Fiddle. It was bloody brilliant.

The Nobby Nic's were a hard work on some of the road sections but that's not really the bikes fault....

The only little niggle is that I'm getting lower back pain on hard long climbs, either side of my spine feeling like the muscles are under strain. After a few mins on the flat or down hill it goes again. Something I've not had on other bikes. The saddle hight seems OK to me, my hips don't seem to be rotating and I can lock my knee out if I push my heal down.

Apart from making sure that I'm sat on the bike properly, bending from the hips and not arching my back, would any setup changes to the bike help this?

Thanks
Simon

1mancity2

Are you wearing a backpack?

tofu21

Yes. I've used a Camelback for years.

peter413

I get this quite bad sometimes. Working on my core helped a lot but there are other things to look at as well. Also chack there isn't anything unnecessary in your bag, heavy bag doesn't help things at all.

I was told to try moving my saddle back and had it there for ages as I looked "right" on the bike to others but then after about a year someone suggested I tried moving the saddle forward and bingo, back was a lot better. Try moving your saddle forward or backward a bit and ignore anyone that says you're sat wrong on the bike, if it's comfortable for you leave it. I still get back pain but it's no where near as bad as it used to be and the more I ride the better it is due to increasing the strength of it.

For some people that isn't enough though, some need to go and see a chiropractor to get it sorted out, I know someone that had to do this and it sorted all of his problems out.

tofu21

peter413 wrote:

I get this quite bad sometimes. Working on my core helped a lot but there are other things to look at as well. Also chack there isn't anything unnecessary in your bag, heavy bag doesn't help things at all.

I was told to try moving my saddle back and had it there for ages as I looked "right" on the bike to others but then after about a year someone suggested I tried moving the saddle forward and bingo, back was a lot better. Try moving your saddle forward or backward a bit and ignore anyone that says you're sat wrong on the bike, if it's comfortable for you leave it. I still get back pain but it's no where near as bad as it used to be and the more I ride the better it is due to increasing the strength of it.

For some people that isn't enough though, some need to go and see a chiropractor to get it sorted out, I know someone that had to do this and it sorted all of his problems out.

I wonder if I need to get a tape measure out and see how it compares to my other bike.

peter413

That would possibly help but bar height also makes a difference as does saddle angle so there are a few variables you have to take into account.

al2098

I had quite some back issues with my previous ride. Now they are practically gone. I can only go by these changes I undertook
1. Got a full sus bike. You have a Pivot so I believe this will be a full sus.
2. I adjusted my pack to be tighter and higher up on my back. Initially uncomfortable but I got used to it.
3. Went to flat pedals, no pulling up on the pedals cured my knees, could have had an effect.
Ok I'll stop the numbering nonsense.

I started cross training, doing weights and running for about 40 minutes on rainy days. I think this and the full sus have eliminated my back pain.
Do you have back pain off the bike? If its just during climbing I would think it could be that training could solve it.

.blitz

tofu21 wrote:

my hips don't seem to be rotating

If you're sure about this have you tried dropping your heels to see if it makes any difference? Lowering the saddle & dropping your heels lets you alter your pedal stroke until it feels comfortable rather than having it dictated by the saddle height.

Try sitting further back and using your glutes instead of your quads.

tofu21

Thanks for all of the advice guys.

A common theme seems to be to lower my saddle. So I'm going to try dropping the saddle by 5mm and see if that makes any difference. I'm going to change one thing at a time so I know what fixed the problem.

smack148

I had this once or twice when doing uphill climbs on my MTB. One particularly bad session when I'd really pushed around in the big ring much as I could left me in agony (in a macho way).
By chance I was out with a roadie mate of mine a week or so later and he was castigating me for always being in too high a gear and he said mountain bikers always want to put the power down. He does some Roadie thing called spinning. he was explaining to me to use the gears better so that I'm never straining my muscles. Hate to admit it but he is right.
So you could try being in a lower gear than normal. the way he taught me was to cycle in a gear that actually feels too light and just keep the RPM's up. This means you're never putting strain on your thighs and lower back. You really notice teh difference on long road rides but I tried it on uphill MTB routes and found the same applied. I guess thee gears are doing the strain and all you need to do is keep the rotational speed up, which is cardiovascular rather than muscular based. (yikes, I'm starting to sound like a roadie)

try it if the other things dont work.