Back pain

[gbunker]

Hello,
I'm looking for advice on whether it's normal for my back to feel tired and stiff on longer rides?

I commute 4-5 miles each way every day on a Surly Cross Check with no problems. I am pretty sure that i am riding the correct frame size, and the bars are Velo Orange flat bars with a slight backward sweep. They are slightly higher than my saddle. Bike feels great on short rides.

On longer rides (30-35 miles), my hands get sore, and I wish I had more hand positions available to me. I have toyed with the idea of swapping out the bars for drop bars so I can have more options, but my back is already feeling stiff and achy after longer rides, and I am afraid the more forward position will make this worse.

Is this something that will get better as my torso gets stronger? Do I need to work on flexibility? Is it a fit issue?

Thanks!
Gillian

[jessmarimba]

I'm not an expert on identifying problems but I have some experience with back pain. I think drop bars really help in that, not only do you have a bunch of positions available, but you can figure out how to stretch different areas without actually stopping the bike and standing up. I can stretch my shoulders and upper back, even do little shoulder rolls if I'm on the tops of the bars, I can arch my back for a few seconds to stretch the lower part if I'm in the drops, etc.

But core strength can also come into play. Particularly with drops, but pretty much in general, you can't slouch into the bars. I don't know if your hands are sore just because of the shape of your bars or the type of padding, or if they're sore because they're holding too much of your weight already. Something to think about or feel free to give us your insight on that...

[gbunker]

Thanks, Jess. I think it's weight on my hands that's causing the problem. I noticec today on my morning commute that I tend to lock elbows and hunch my shoulders, which puts more weight on my hands, but less tension on my back. If I kept my elbows loose, my hands were better, but my back muscles did get more tired. Hmm.
Gillian

[Velocivixen]

Hey there. Glad to hear you're enjoying the Cross Check. I might spring for a bike fitting just to be sure everything is adjusted well and I would perhaps consider drop bars. You might do the fitting first, ride some more and if need be get drop bars later. The only issue I see with that is that a fitting include measurements of your body angles when you are holding onto the handlebars and they may be different going from flat bars to drop bars. I had a fitting on my hybrid where they wrote down all the measurements, etc., and when I asked if those measurements could transfer over to my new Cross Check, the fitter said "No" , because with the different handlebars the angle, positions would be just too different. Good luck and keep us posted.