New bike questions

[MollyJ]

I sat down to post to this thread and I discovered that I probably had TOO MANY questions and couldn't settle down to just one.

After riding my new Trek Madone 4.5 three whole times I'm not grossly dissatisfied with anything. If anything, I'm just starting to not feel like a visitor to a new planet when sitting upon my bike with my new bike shoes and clips.

But I love that I can move so efficiently.

So I am going to try to ask my newbie questions one at a time.

Okay body positioning. Probably the center of stress on my body right now is neck and top of shoulders at the neck. It's not bad but it's sore-ish. Didn't keep me from riding two nights in a row.

Questions are:

What are the tips for form? I know with my new dropped handlebars, my body is just getting used to a new configuration. So can anyone direct me to resources that talk about form to help with neck and shoulder fatigue.

Are their any good strengthening exercises that might assist in this.

I'm actually pretty happy with low back, legs. They feel worked out but in a pleasant way.

The backside is not grossly unhappy either. I've only been on my bike for one hour periods of time at this point so their may be updates on this.

TIA!!!

[ladyicon]

Hi Molly. Did you get a good bike fitting from the Trek dealer before you left the store? If so, go back after about a week and let them know about your aches and pains. We all have to build up certain areas of the body, since the cycling position is not a common position, except on the bike. Don't give up and keep riding.

[HillSlugger]

Yes, your body is getting used to the riding position and neck and shoulder pain is very common at first. It should get better with each ride, as the muscles in your neck strengthen. I suppose you could lie on your belly and practice raising and lowering your head. This might speed up the strengthening, but if you just keep riding and wait it out you should be pain free pretty soon. Enjoy!

[marni]

prime biking exercise for core and for strengthening neck and shoulder muscles- the plank. first with just elbows and toes on the floor, belly sucked in, navel touching back bone, glutes contracted and tight, shoulders down and back, neck long- Work on holding that position for a minute. When you can do that, do it with one leg lifted. When you can do that, do it up on a smallish exercise ball, hold, one legged and then rolling the ball clockwise and counter clockwise, forwards and back. Do proper full body pushups, on the mat, then with feet on the ball.

Whe you ride, focus on keeping your shoulders pushed down and back. When you get off of the bike do some angle stretches, neck and shoulder rolls.

Once you have a proper fit, its all about building strength and endurance.

Congratulations on you Madone. I am madly envious! Maybe someday.

[MollyJ]

Thanks for your general and specific comments. I really appreciate that. I actually feel like my LBS has been good in the selection stage and fitting when the bike arrived stage. I am actually much more pleased than I might have thought.

My core strength is not bad and I have done planks happily in the past. And the push ups. I like exercises on the ball and I don't have a small medicine ball but have considered it in the past. It sounds like something I can easily work on. Someone pointed out that you can do core exercises in front of the TV, though I am not a huge TV watcher. Still, I do find myself there, sometimes.

Thanks a bunch!

[MollyJ]

Marni, re: the Trek Madone. My old bike is older than my son--age 19. So the fact that I buy a new bike every two decades contributed to the "buy up" idea, even though I actually feel kind of like a fake on it. But I spent two summers riding a lot of miles on my old mountain bike with some less knobby tires on it. And I knew that I had pretty much leveled out on what I would do with that bike.

But I am excited by it and very vain about it. It's a beautiful bike.