Switching from MTB to Road Bike

[kelownagirl]

I rode my new bike 25 km yesterday and 35 km today and my hamstrings are killing me! On my MTB my quads were often sore but now it's the front of my leg instead. They hurt this morning after yesterday's ride, and now this evening, after a second ride, I barely sit down

So my question - is this normal? Do you use different muscles to ride the two different bikes? Or is there something wrong with the fit of my bike that is causing me to use different muscles?

If it's normal, then I guess I'm just going to have to develop new muscles - this is like starting all over again... Ah well, another excuse to ride...

barb

[Trek420]

This thread should be interesting.

On the latest Nor Cal Easy Low Key Slow Paced TE ride (with optional hill) I brought my mtb/commuter. I've never ridden it that long. The bike fits like a pair of fave blue jeans, my legs feel fine but my abs felt like I did crunches all day.

Guess I know what to work on now.

[melissam]

Hmmm, veddy interesting! Here's my unprofessional, unexpert opinion -- it's probably something about your bike fit. Maybe the fore/aft placement of your seat is in relation to your pedals?

I typically ride my mountain bike for about an hour after work most days of the week, and usually ride my road bike for a couple of hours on the weekend. Sometimes the road bike gets skipped and I'll ride the mountain bike on the weekend. When I do this, I notice that my ... ahem ... butt is more sore after riding the road bike. I think it has to do with sitting different on the different bikes. It's like it has to get used to riding in the saddle all over again.

-- Melissa

PS I'm not a doctor, and I don't even play one on TV, but I think you have your quads/hamstrings opposite. Hams are the back, quads are the front. Then again, I could be wrong. I should probably leave this one to the good folks on this forum who took more than basic bio and chem. (That's probably pretty much everyone!)

[madisongrrl]

If your seat is too low it can strain your quads and if it is too high it can stain your hamstrings. When you raise/lower your seat you will also have to adjust the fore/aft positions to get the proper saddle setback.

[kelownagirl]

PS I'm not a doctor, and I don't even play one on TV, but I think you have your quads/hamstrings opposite. Hams are the back, quads are the front. Then again, I could be wrong. I should probably leave this one to the good folks on this forum who took more than basic bio and chem. (That's probably pretty much everyone!)

Ha ha, you're right. I was rewriting that post to make it clearer and then ended up not changing the words front/back. I meant the back of my legs are hurting now...

[kelownagirl]

I should probably preface this by saying that I usually ride hard and I was climbing some pretty tough (for me) hills, so I expect to feel some muscle pain. I'm just curious as to why it's now in the hams instead of the quads. I'm going to play around with the seat adjustment a little and see if that does anything.

Thanks,

barb

[kelownagirl]

I lowered my seat just a tad, and then had to play around with the seat position itself, but ta-da - my legs are just generally sore all over after my ride today, instead of intensively sore hamstrings. Guess I'll be glad when they don't hurt at all after riding? I think I'll go back to the LBS and have them check the fit a bit now that I've put 130 km on her...

Thanks for the advice!