Is some arm/shoulder ache inevitable after 100 miles?

Steve236

I finally did my first 100 miler yesterday after mostly doing 50-60 mile rides most weeks. A while ago I was messing with bar position and was surprised to find that if I take all the spacers out for a lower position I get less lower back pain than having a higher position and can do rides of around 50 miles or so in relative comfort. On the 100 miles ride I was fine up to around 60 miles but some arm and shoulder ache started creeping in after that. To be honest, I've been worse in the past when I first started longer rides and I wasn't in pain or anything at the end yesterday.

I've been told and read in the past that no matter how long the ride, if you have the right position, the only aches and pains at the end should be because of tired legs, not back, arms, shoulders etc. but don't know how true that is.

simonhead

If you are comfortable at 50 then the positioning sounds OK, think you may need to just do more longer rides but if in doubt a bike fit may help.

marcusjb

I don't think it is inevitable, but more time in the saddle does help with your core strength (which in turn, helps with arm/neck/shoulder/hand discomfort)

I know that early spring long rides can leave me with a bit of tiredness in the arms and shoulders whereas by the time high summer comes, I won't have any issues.

If I were more disciplined, I would do more work on my core strength over winter any way.

There are things you can do on the bike to help with shoulder/neck/arm tiredness on long rides - moving your hands around is really important, using a mixture of the hoods and flats helps to change position and stress on your arms.

Sitting up and stretching and shaking an arm at a time (or both if you are confident riding no-handed) is also important to avoid discomfort.

Drinking and eating puts quite a bit of stress on the other hand (i.e. if you always drink with your right hand, you often find the left arm suffers as it supports the extra weight etc.) - some people recommend alternating it. I am too strongly right-handed and have never really mastered drinking with my left hand!

Shoulder pain might also be helped by keeping you neck warm - I wear a buff around my neck on most long rides (other than the peak of summer) to keep the chilly air away from my neck and shoulders.

apreading

I think it is inevitable, to some degree, for many people.

Any muscle that is held under tension for long periods of time is going to fatigue and potentially start to ache. If your arms are supporting some of your weight then muscles in your hands/arms/shoulders are going to be under some tension. The more you get the front down low, the more that the muscles in your neck will be under tension also. Training and practice will make these muscles more resilient and possibly cause skeletal changes but there will still be some force being applied by those muscles. This can be alleviated by moving positions to change to different distribution of this tension to different muscles, giving some rest periods to some of them and reducing the amount of time they each spend under tension.

Setup can reduce the amount of tension and ensure that the basic posture is one that does not place mismatched tension to suit your bone and muscle structure, but if you are supporting some weight then some tension will still be there.

Constant bumps and vibration being transmitted through the loaded muscles will also increase fatigue. If you have alloy forks then it will always be worse than carbon, steel, suspension (not really relevant here when talking road bikes but the point stands) or other dampening features.

So yes, you can improve your bike fit and improve the bike to lessen fatigue and the chances of aches, you can improve your bodies condition and therefore reduce fatigue or increase tolerance to it, you can move around to lessen the amount of time that muscles are subjected to load but ultimately: a long time with little movement and constant vibration will eventually lead to fatigue and aches - its a question of when (how soon) rather than if.

cougie

If you are in the saddle for twice as long then yeah you might ache. Even if your position is bob on.

You'll probably get more accustomed and less achy with practice.