Shermers neck

Eyes forward.

Neck pain never been an issue. But I need to gradually get my back used to
the drops if I use that position. The best thing about a road bike is the
many positions for your hands.

Quoted message said:

Hello-

I recently purchased a road bike (Klien Quantum) and the riding
position is much different from my upright commuter position on my
previous bike (Mongoose Crossway 625). As a result, I can tell that I
will have some issue with neck/head position. I read on another thread
about "Shermer's neck" and wondered if anybody had a link to a
resource that gave more information about it. If not, does anyone
have a link to help with head/neck positioning on a road bike.

2-second Google: http://www.ultracycling.com/training/neck_pain.html

Are you planning any ultra-tours or the like?

Hello-

No ultra-tours here. I went for a 40+ ride recently on the Mongoose, it
was my first time using aero-bars and I experienced a soarness in my
neck. My riding partner said to look down instead of ahead. This may be
what the issue boils down to, but I like to look into the distance to
get an idea of what is coming up. I felt something similar after a
short ride on the Klein and just wanted some advice on how to deal with
this issue.

Thanks for the link,

Andrew

Quoted message said:

Hello-

I recently purchased a road bike (Klien Quantum) and the riding
position is much different from my upright commuter position on my
previous bike (Mongoose Crossway 625). As a result, I can tell that I
will have some issue with neck/head position. I read on another thread
about "Shermer's neck" and wondered if anybody had a link to a resource
that gave more information about it. If not, does anyone have a link to
help with head/neck positioning on a road bike.

Thanks,

Are you sure you have the right size and that it's all properly adjusted
to your body geometry? If so, then take your time getting used to the
new position and your muscles will surely catch up before too long.
Where are you putting your hands most of the time you're riding: tops,
drops, or hoods? If you're trying to spend most of your time on the
drops, try switching to a different position.

Hello-

I am a husband/father on a budget so when this bike presented itself at
a very reasonable price I had to make the purchase. I am not very
familiar with how to correctly size for a bike, but I think that I can
work with what I have, make some adjustments and have a nice road bike
at a good price. I will be riding it in to work tomorrow and I will be
talking with a guy here who is more familiar with sizing, I will also
be going to the LBS and do the same. Just thought someone here might
have encountered the neck thing before and had some advice on how to
deal with it.

Thanks,

Andrew

Hello-

No ultra-tours here. I went for a 40+ ride recently on the Mongoose, it
was my first time using aero-bars and I experienced a soarness in my
neck. My riding partner said to look down instead of ahead. This may be
what the issue boils down to, but I like to look into the distance to
get an idea of what is coming up. I felt something similar after a
short ride on the Klein and just wanted some advice on how to deal with
this issue.

Thanks for the link,

Andrew

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello-

I am a husband/father on a budget so when this bike presented itself at
a very reasonable price I had to make the purchase. I am not very
familiar with how to correctly size for a bike, but I think that I can
work with what I have, make some adjustments and have a nice road bike
at a good price. I will be riding it in to work tomorrow and I will be
talking with a guy here who is more familiar with sizing, I will also
be going to the LBS and do the same. Just thought someone here might
have encountered the neck thing before and had some advice on how to
deal with it.

The best way to deal with a pain in the neck is to remove the cause. This is
true both on bikes and in other aspects of life.

It mostly comes down to "if it hurts to do that, then don't do that."

Being comfortable on the bike is more important than anything else. You may
need to get a stem with more rise, in order to raise the handlebars, so that
you don't have to bend your neck so much to see ahead. There's no law that
says the bars on a road bike can't be level with the saddle. In fact, many
experts recommend it, as do I.

RichC

Hello-

Well I saw the LBS owner and he said that I could come up a little more
(1 inch) on my seat stem, but most everything else was fine. I think it
is just a position to get used to.

Thanks for all y'alls help.

-Andrew

[email hidden] wrote:

Do you Google? Mike Shermer was a participant in the Race Acrcoss
America (RAAM) about 20 years ago, and had to abandon due to severe
neck pain. Try the link below.

http://www.ultracycling.com/training/neck_pain.html

Art Harris

Rich Clark said:

There's no law that

Quoted message said:

says the bars on a road bike can't be level with the saddle. In fact, many
experts recommend it, as do I.

Do you mean that you recommend it generally or in specific cases in
which lower bars create a problem?

My own experience is that lower bars are far more comfortable ( at
least for me). While I can imagine that individuals might have issues
that mitigate how low bars can be I see very few riders who do distance
rides at any real speed who ride with bars even with the seat (on a
road bike). Aside from the obvious aero advantage I find it plain more
comfortable. I am usually on the hoods or drops while on the flats or
descending. I stay in the hoods on short or easy climbs and only ride
the tops on sustained climbs.

Rich Clark said:

There's no law that

Quoted message said:

says the bars on a road bike can't be level with the saddle. In fact, many
experts recommend it, as do I.

Do you mean that you recommend it generally or in specific cases in
which lower bars create a problem?

My own experience is that lower bars are far more comfortable ( at
least for me). While I can imagine that individuals might have issues
that mitigate how low bars can be I see very few riders who do distance
rides at any real speed who ride with bars even with the seat (on a
road bike). Aside from the obvious aero advantage I find it plain more
comfortable. I am usually on the hoods or drops while on the flats or
descending. I stay in the hoods on short or easy climbs and only ride
the tops on sustained climbs.

Hello-

The ride in today was easier on the neck. I guess I just have to get
used to the different position. Thanks for everyone's input.

-Andrew

gds said:

Rich Clark said:

There's no law that

Quoted message said:

says the bars on a road bike can't be level with the saddle. In fact, many
experts recommend it, as do I.

Do you mean that you recommend it generally or in specific cases in
which lower bars create a problem?

I mean that I recommend it generally to people for whom comfort is more
easily achieved that way.

Quoted message said:

My own experience is that lower bars are far more comfortable ( at
least for me). While I can imagine that individuals might have issues
that mitigate how low bars can be I see very few riders who do distance
rides at any real speed who ride with bars even with the seat (on a
road bike).

All speeds are real. My experience is the opposite of yours, perhaps
because I usually associate more with utility cyclists who, even on
long rides, are not in any particular hurry.

Quoted message said:

Aside from the obvious aero advantage I find it plain more
comfortable. I am usually on the hoods or drops while on the flats or
descending. I stay in the hoods on short or easy climbs and only ride
the tops on sustained climbs.

Well, obviously what's comfortable is what you should do. Someone who
has neck pain riding on the tops or hoods is not likely to use the
drops at all.

To be more specific about my approach to this, I think drop handlebars
should be set so that it's comfortable to use the drops (so that the
rider will in fact use them, thus not defeating their purpose). The
height of the top of the bars will then take care of itself.

RichC

rdclark said:

To be more specific about my approach to this, I think drop handlebars
should be set so that it's comfortable to use the drops (so that the
rider will in fact use them, thus not defeating their purpose). The
height of the top of the bars will then take care of itself.

OK, I agree that what works is what's best for the individual. I also
find it interesting that you set up the bar height based on comfort in
the drops. I find the drops and the tops to be the least used positions
with most riding done on the hoods. Thus I've always worked to get the
fit best for that position and let the tops and drops take care of
themselves.

gds said:

OK, I agree that what works is what's best for the individual. I also
find it interesting that you set up the bar height based on comfort in
the drops. I find the drops and the tops to be the least used positions
with most riding done on the hoods. Thus I've always worked to get the
fit best for that position and let the tops and drops take care of
themselves.

I think the drops are a special case, because they're *at* (or even
beyond) the limit for most people. In other words, a significant number
of riders end up on bikes where the drops are too uncomffortable to
use, either because they require too much of a pelvic bend or because
they can't raise their heads enough to see. So they don't get used at
all, begging the question "why didn't you buy a flat-bar bike?"

You can adjust the location of the hoods to some extent, either by
moving the levers up or down on the bar or changing the stem length,
after the drops are positioned at the appropriate height. It's
interesting to notice how, amongst racers, as the average bar height
seems to have gone down in recent years, the lever location has crept
up until their hoods are actually higher than the tops. I don't think
they even care about being able to brake while in the drops.

I spend most of my time on the hoods, too, and my tops are only about
1" below saddle height. I want to be able to ride for extended periods
in the drops (the prevailing winds are almost always in my face on the
ride home in the evening), but I want to be able to brake and I want to
be able to see the rush hour traffic.

RichC

rdclark said:

I think the drops are a special case, because they're *at* (or even
beyond) the limit for most people.

Why? What kind of "limit"? Are you referring to flexibility? If so I
think they are well within the limit for almost anyone who will put the
work in to developing the flexibility. I understand that there are
folks with problems that are not easily corrected but I don't believe
that this is "most" people.

Quoted message said:

You can adjust the location of the hoods to some extent, either by
moving the levers up or down on the bar or changing the stem length,
after the drops are positioned at the appropriate height. It's
interesting to notice how, amongst racers, as the average bar height
seems to have gone down in recent years, the lever location has crept
up until their hoods are actually higher than the tops. I don't think
they even care about being able to brake while in the drops.

Yes, but most racers spend a large % of time on the hoods and only
come to the tops on climbs and for short stretches on the flat. So, I
think their position on the hoods is the crucial one. As to braking
from the drops. It is certainly doable although I certainly feel that I
can brake more effectively from the hoods.

Quoted message said:

I spend most of my time on the hoods, too, and my tops are only about
1" below saddle height. I want to be able to ride for extended periods
in the drops (the prevailing winds are almost always in my face on the
ride home in the evening), but I want to be able to brake and I want to
be able to see the rush hour traffic.

I do think that in the end it is a matter of personal preference driven
by body measurements and flexibility. Can't do much with your geometry
but I am a big proponent that improving flexibility is good for your
riding and other activites as well. I hear folks talk about problems
with age and flexibility. To some extent that is true. But I am 60 and
ride with folks in their 50's , 60's and 70's and everone has
maintained (or developed) flexibility so that we all are cofortable on
bars a couple inchesl lower than the seat and get all the advantages
that come with that.

gds said:

rdclark wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I spend most of my time on the hoods, too, and my tops are only about
1" below saddle height. I want to be able to ride for extended periods
in the drops (the prevailing winds are almost always in my face on the
ride home in the evening), but I want to be able to brake and I want to
be able to see the rush hour traffic.

Quoted message said:

As to braking from the drops. It is certainly doable although I certainly feel that I can brake more effectively from the hoods.

I have to disagree with both of you. I find braking is most effective
when in the drops because 1) you can apply more force to the levers,
and 2) you can brace yourself better to prevent flying over the bars in
a panic stop.

Art Harris

Art Harris said:

I have to disagree with both of you. I find braking is most effective
when in the drops because 1) you can apply more force to the levers,
and 2) you can brace yourself better to prevent flying over the bars in
a panic stop.

Art Harris

I might agree with you about very hard braking. However, that is a rare
occurrence(at least for me). Most braking is either for gradual
stopping or feathering to drop speed. I don't think that it is more
than a couple of times a year that I brake hard enough to even think
about needing bracing or worry about going over the bars.

Art Harris said:

Quoted message said:

As to braking from the drops. It is certainly doable although I certainly feel that I can brake more effectively from the hoods.

I have to disagree with both of you. I find braking is most effective
when in the drops because 1) you can apply more force to the levers,
and 2) you can brace yourself better to prevent flying over the bars in
a panic stop.

It depends on where your levers are relative to the curve of the bar.
Some racers have the levers so far up the curve that they'd need
foot-long fingers just to touch the brakes from the drops.

RichC