Back in the saddle...

[ThinAir]

After about 18 months.

I used to post here quite frequently, but a career change as well as few other goings on have impacted on things.

Second ride out today and I'm slowly building up the miles... Started with a couple of 3 milers on the MTB, a 7.5 miler on my roadie and a 12 miler this morning..: averaged about 14mph so
I'm pretty pleased with that!

Couple of questions:

1) my hands are really cramping at times when I'm riding. Will this go away as I get more experienced, or am I doing something wrong?

2) I'm having some intermittent lower back pain whilst I'm cycling. It's not crippling, but it's definitely there and I've never had this before. I've put on a few LB's, could this be something to do with it or could it be I have the bike set up incorrectly?

On the plus side though, I'm feeling great (despite a fall/clipless moment/looked like a bit of a knob moment during this ride (about 20 metres from my front door on the way home)), I've lost almost a stone in just under a fortnight and I'm really enjoying my cycling again!

Looking forward to getting involved here again.

Peace out

 

[steve50]

welcome back, re- the cramping hands, are you wearing well padded gloves and are you "over gripping" the bars, try moving your hands around a bit more and relax a little, are you also taking the strain on your hands because of the backache. You state you have been off the road for some eighteen months and gained a little weight, perhaps your core strength could do with tweaking if you have got "out of shape".

 

[Mrs M]

Hello
Good you're back on the bike and enjoying it
Is your saddle height comfortable, found myself it can make a huge difference.

 

[ThinAir]

welcome back, re- the cramping hands, are you wearing well padded gloves and are you "over gripping" the bars, try moving your hands around a bit more and relax a little, are you also taking the strain on your hands because of the backache. You state you have been off the road for some eighteen months and gained a little weight, perhaps your core strength could do with tweaking if you have got "out of shape".

Haven't even considered that it might be core strength that could be the issue. I have got a bit (a lot) out of shape. I'll get the core moving again....

I am wearing some moderately padded Gloves... I'll experiment with some better padded ones and see if that helps, as well as moving the hands around a bit.

I am having an issue with my arms as well... The 'inside' of elbows starts to ache after a while. Is this Likely to be due to bad posture or because I'm putting too much weight through them?!

 

[steve50]

Haven't even considered that it might be core strength that could be the issue. I have got a bit (a lot) out of shape. I'll get the core moving again....

I am wearing some moderately padded Gloves... I'll experiment with some better padded ones and see if that helps, as well as moving the hands around a bit.

I am having an issue with my arms as well... The 'inside' of elbows starts to ache after a while. Is this Likely to be due to bad posture or because I'm putting too much weight through them?!

Possibly, you are putting a lot of strain on your arms especially when cycling uphill when you are more likely to be pulling on the handlebars, muscles that haven't been getting used for some time are going to ache. Have a good look at your position on the bike, are you over reaching, sitting too far forward or back, saddle a little too high or low, a lot of different things can contribute to backache and sore arms so I woul be looking at bike fit first.

 

[mjr]

Another very common mistake, especially on flattish bar bikes, is having the brake levers too high, resulting in your wrists bent back and elbows bent down. You should only just be able to see the levers over the bars IMO.