Aches and pains

renevat

Hi all
I've been riding for a couple of years now and despite having a comprehensive bike fit I still get a searing pain in between my shoulder blades after a couple of hours riding :x I ride mainly club rides, club time trials and sportives The actual pain is in the vertical plane between my shoulder blades and shortly after it's onset it feels like the area is bleeding, which it isn't and is quite debilitating, so much so that after a while I have trouble turning my head to look behind me :oops: which is quite dangerous of course. As I have some long distance rides planned for next year is there anyone out there that can offer solutions, advice or any sort of gen that might help me get over this :? Many thanks

Smithster

I'd go and see a good Physio mate. Your bike fit may be OK, but you may have an underlying problems from before you started riding, or from another activity totally unrelated.

SCR Pedro

I agree it's most likely a bike fit problem. I have also suffered the same symptoms, but my solution was to use a shorter stem, and lower the bars.

Out on a ride, I would suggest stretching once or twice an hour before you start to feel stiff. Stretching before and after a ride also helps.

dw300

madasahattersley wrote:

Your bike fitter failed to do his job. Go back to him and if he's worth the paper his business cards are made of he'll sort you out for free.

SCR Pedro wrote:

I agree it's most likely a bike fit problem. I have also suffered the same symptoms, but my solution was to use a shorter stem, and lower the bars.

Out on a ride, I would suggest stretching once or twice an hour before you start to feel stiff. Stretching before and after a ride also helps.

Chances are the bike fit could be better. But it takes time to get used to a new position, and no matter how good, if you have underlying problems, the position and duration on a road bike will exacerbate.

I had a similar problem when I started riding a road bike, and it was down to bad posture at my desk at work.

Things such as having a cheap crappy heavy helmet (or head!), your spine angle and how stretched out you are make a difference to how fast your trapezius fatigues if you are not used to the position. If you go to an agressive position too soon without allowing your body to adapt you'll have pain. If your core isnt strong enough and you rely on leaning heavily on the bars, you get a lot more road shock through those muscles too, again, youll fatigue faster.

Checking with a physio that there isnt anything serious wrong could be a good idea to start with.

Douglas_shaw

If your position is comfortable otherwise it could be you are too far forward and using your upper back muscles too much stabilizing yourself on the handlebars, seems strange that you are having this issue after a good fit though