New road bike after 25 years: what soreness is normal?

[Zen]

-how do you stand up to pedal up hill?

The same way you get to Carnegie Hall.

[tiva]

The same way you get to Carnegie Hall.

Learn to play the viola? Really?
Oh, I get it: practice! Duh.

Thanks for the REI article--that's really helpful.

[Biciclista]

replace the saddle and get fitted again. That's a lot of soreness you are talking about.
How's your core?
Congrats on the new bike.

[tiva]

How's your core?
.

Pretty good--in the winter, I skate ski or classic ski 4 or 5 days a week, and in the summer, I teach sea kayaking and rolling. But off seasons aren't the best for keeping my core in shape--I hike with the dogs and work on our farm, but that's not really core work.

[marni]

you need to work on your core dailly as well as your arms and shoulders. It is your core that supports everything else and takes the stress off your shoulders and arms as well as supporting and providing leverage and strength for your legs. Work into the riding slowly, go slightly over your absolute comfort level but not to the extent of injuring yourself. Personally it takes me at least 200 miles to adjust and toughen up to a new saddle even if it is exactly the same make and model as the previous one and somewhat less time if I tweek my fit in any other way.

Hang in there, strengthen up your core and arms and shoulders and work into the miles and if it doesn't get better, consider a refit.

go you

marni

[OakLeaf]

Definitely put a saddle on that you think will work for you, before getting re-fit. Even a slightly different saddle completely changes the way I sit on the bike.

[tiva]

Thanks--I have a new saddle on the way.

[nscrbug]

Congrats on the Synapse Fem 5! I am currently trying to hunt down a Synapse Carbon Fem 3, with no luck. I will likely end up waiting for the 2011's to come out.

I would think a little bit of soreness would be normal, especially if it's been 25 years since you've been on a road bike. Give your body a bit more time to adapt to the new geometry. For what it's worth...I too, have a chronic back condition (vertebral slippage at my L5/S1) so finding a comfortable bike that I can do long distances on is extremely important to me.

Happy riding!