Neck soreness

[Dogmama]

Along with bike fit - you may be hunching up your shoulders towards your ears. I see it often when people get tired. At stop lights, gently turn your head from side to side & try to touch your chin to your chest. Don't go backwards. Additionally, try stretching your arms backwards & forwards to release tension in your shoulders.

[JLMitchell]

Thanks for the replies, y'all. I'll stretch as often as I can. It already feels better. I can readily believe that my posture has something to do with it; I'm slouching in my chair as I type!
My fitting will continue on Thursday; I think they found out that I'm too stretched out and they need to replace a stem, or something like that. The thing the handlebars are attached to. But so far the riding is nice. I'm fighting the seat right now, though. I'm trying to see if it's something I can get used to.

[VeloVT]

Hopefully the fit will help a lot.

To expand on something Dogmama said, though... I think she's right that it's really common to ride with tense shoulders. In addition to the stretches she recommends, I find it useful to remind myself often to keep my shoulders down. To illustrate how they should feel, stand over your bike and hold your bars as if you were riding. Quite possibly, you will find that you are "holding yourself up" with your shoulders such that your shoulder blades raise and come towards each other in back. Now, standing in the same position, bent over at the waist, let go of your bars and let your arms hang down, really letting them go, letting gravity pull your hands towards the ground. Notice how different your shoulders probably feel -- notice where your sholder blades are -- probably much farther apart, right? This is how your shoulders should feel when you ride. At first this may be a little tiring to your core muscles, but that will change quickly.

Every couple of miles I check in on where my shoulders are -- sometimes, even if I think they are down, I will try to push them down as far as I can, and then relax and let them come up a little, just to make sure I"m not holding tension there. It really helps, I don't ever have neck/shoulder tightness now.

[JLMitchell]

So...y'all were right about my shoulders. I admit that for the first half of the ride I didn't even think about it, but on the way back I was probably unhunching them every minute or so. I couldn't figure out how to lift my ribcage, though. How do you do that and still keep your shoulders down? I can do it sitting here, but I can't do it on a bike.

And the bike fit is great. They used a shorter stem, switched my seat to the one I'd been using so far, and I think I'm on the right road. We went ~20 miles today, with some hill climbing at the end. I wasn't sorrowfully slow! My neck isn't killing me anymore, either. I made sure to stretch it out a few times, anyway, when we hit a downhill or a red light.

I had some mild saddle pain, but I think it's from riding the hard, narrow, old-school saddle that came on the bike. I only rode eight miles on it the other day, and I rode pretty gingerly once I realized that it wouldn't work out, but I'm pretty sure I hurt myself more than I thought I did. I think my recipe is Bag Balm, padded shorts, and my familiar seat, so once I'm all healed up I shouldn't have any pain. I'm even using Bag Balm off the bike because it sounds like it will help the healing process.

[OakLeaf]

My ride today reminded me - if the fit is right, then slightly bending your elbows will automatically un-hunch your shoulders. If I catch myself hunching, I just increase the elbow flexion by 5 degrees or so.

[JLMitchell]

I think I did what you're talking about. I think. I bent my elbows and I felt less pressure, so I guess that's it? My shoulders didn't stay unhunched for any appreciable length of time, but I was more aware of it today.

[Dogmama]

I think I did what you're talking about. I think. I bent my elbows and I felt less pressure, so I guess that's it? My shoulders didn't stay unhunched for any appreciable length of time, but I was more aware of it today.

Try to gently draw your shoulder blades together and down. Also, be sure to unclench your jaw.