60+ miles lower back pain

When I feel the back starting to tighten up I'll stand on the pedals and stretch as best I can. Flex the butt cheeks, stretch the hams, etc. Anything you can do to keep your lower back loose. But I think there's a point where you have to just accept some pain.

I'm not a doctor or expert in the body, but I have (and still do) had a soreness in my lower back that kicks in at about the same point. After a lot of reading and thinking, I have narrowed my problem to my gluteus medius muscles. These muscles wrap around the lower back on both sides and are involved in the leg push on the downstroke. I'm pretty sure I stressed them by getting a little eager when I started intervals in late May after two months of base building. I have continued to ride, and can prevent the discomfort from arising to the point that I have to get off my bike, by holding back on power. I have found that 200w is my magic number. If I stay under 200w other than very brief stretches I can ride for several hours. But, if I push it over 200w, especially early in the ride, the discomfort almost becomes more than I can stand. I also avoid stressing them by climbing mostly off the saddle, using my body weight for power and keeping my upper body very relaxed. I figure they will heal themselves over time if I avoid stressing them more. Anyway, it's a real inconvenience. Good luck.

driggs, the strengh that comes from your legs also comes from your core which is the lower back. So I guess you need to get it strong. Do some 'upside down sit ups'(lay on your stomach). I'm not sure if this works. I read it somewhere. See what others have to say ...

driggs said:

I notice that I can ride real comfortable for up to 55-60 miles, but at 60 miles my lower back aches and religiously at 60 miles it aches. I'm not sure what to adjust or how to start training to fix it, any thoughts would be great

Good points in the prior replies. Longer rides, pushing hard in the big ring used to really do the job on my lower back too. I'd usually hurt it on a fast spring group ride, then suffer the rest of the season.

About a year ago, our club had a talk from a trainer. He recommended stretching and core strength work. I started stretching every morning, and also doing crunches or leg lifts, and a back or glute exercise (no weights) later in the day. Just one set a day, 20-25 reps. Once or twice a week I'll go to the Y and do a couple sets of 12-15 reps on the ab and back machines. Not trying to max out the weights, using my bodyweight or less (175 lbs) on the machines.

After a month or two, I noticed the pain going away. Now, have almost no pain from my lower back at all. I can still get a little tightness from pushing hard at low cadence, but it's nothing like before and goes away as soon as I ease up. Really makes riding a lot more fun.

It's funny, but I was wondering why the hell my lower back at the tops of my hips was killing me on climbs and on heavy cadence in the big ring.

I've begun doing similar core work as described in an earlier post. One of my favorite is "the bridge." Get into pushup position but with your forearms on the ground instead of your fists and hold your body rigid in the up position for a minute. It sounds easy, but it's not. I'll do one in the beginning and one at the end of a 15-minute core workout in the morning.

Hope this helps.

My lower back kills me. I wake up in the night with pain so severe I can barely turn over. It kicked in when I turned 40 years old but I resist using pain killers or drugs if possible.

driggs said:

I notice that I can ride real comfortable for up to 55-60 miles, but at 60 miles my lower back aches and religiously at 60 miles it aches. I'm not sure what to adjust or how to start training to fix it, any thoughts would be great