?'s after first ride

Ditch the gel seat cover. Lower back and hand pain are usually a sign of the bars being too low and or too far forward. Moving your hands around on the bars while riding should help a bit too.

the pains are normal, but your time is really slow. was this a banana seat or tricycle?

some if it will be getting used to being on the bike, some of it is dialing in your fit. Scrimping on shorts never pays dividends, and those gel seat covers make big problems for me (I started bringing my own saddle to spin class). Don't worry so much about your time, or how fast you are or not. When you are starting out focus on getting your bike set up properly so you'll want to ride it again tomorrow... Once you are riding regularly, start working in some training program elements if getting faster is a goal. Hope you enjoy the sport.

HR

david462 said:

i went for a ride today. i did 40 miles in 2 hours 20 minutes. i have some concerns/questions after riding today:

*my lower back was sore the whole time. im guessing its cause the bike isnt set up just right for my size. is this normal?

*my butt felt like it was chaffing and was quite sore, as well as my upper upper legs. i was wearing bike shorts, but they were just a cheap $30 pair from a sporting goods store. the seat might have been a little too wide. it had a gel pad thing over the seat too.

*my hands fell asleep a little bit while riding. i was using the grips behind the brake levers 99% of the time. is this normal?

*besides that the ride felt good. is this a good start: 40 miles and a little over 2 hours? my average speed isnt that high but i had a good number of hills. on smooth flat road i could hold 18-20mph without killing myself.

Great first ride...

My thought about the other issues is that it sounds as if your saddle is too high. This causes your hips to rock, which leads to the lower back issues. If your saddle is too high, you typically place too much weight on your hands, which would cause the numbness etc. If you are moving around on the saddle, it could cause the chafing issue.

I ride a fairly firm saddle, as it is important to the health of the soft tissue to have your sit bones on a firm perch.

Jim

otb4evr said:

Great first ride...

My thought about the other issues is that it sounds as if your saddle is too high. This causes your hips to rock, which leads to the lower back issues. If your saddle is too high, you typically place too much weight on your hands, which would cause the numbness etc. If you are moving around on the saddle, it could cause the chafing issue.

I ride a fairly firm saddle, as it is important to the health of the soft tissue to have your sit bones on a firm perch.

Jim

ahh, ok. i raised the bars a little so far. all i did was tilt them up from the stem. i havnt worked on road bikes much so i dont know if theres spacers that can help raise the bars from the fork or whatever. hopefully that will help as well as lowering the seat a little.

i was moving around in the seat too much. i guess from it being too high. hopefully that will solve the chaffing (and taking the gel pad off). the seat without the pad is pretty firm, but its not the best shaped seat. probably a little too wide.

i could have easily gone another 30 minutes to an hour on my first ride. should i go ahead and try longer rides or wait till i get a bike that can be set up perfectly for my size?

I'd hold off on making longer rides until you get your position dialed in. With road riding's more "static" position that extra 30 minutes in a not so hot position can leave you less than happy. THen as you gain confidence in your postion, go for it!

HR

david462 said:

ahh, ok. i raised the bars a little so far. all i did was tilt them up from the stem. i havnt worked on road bikes much so i dont know if theres spacers that can help raise the bars from the fork or whatever. hopefully that will help as well as lowering the seat a little.

i was moving around in the seat too much. i guess from it being too high. hopefully that will solve the chaffing (and taking the gel pad off). the seat without the pad is pretty firm, but its not the best shaped seat. probably a little too wide.

i could have easily gone another 30 minutes to an hour on my first ride. should i go ahead and try longer rides or wait till i get a bike that can be set up perfectly for my size?

Have you measured your mtb and compare its set up to the road bike? if the road bike and the mtb are not similar measurements this sudden change to you riding position could cause major problems and injures. IE seat to bottom bracket (both height and distance behind), seat to handle bar, bottom bracket to handle bar, height of seat to height of handle bar.

Be careful when extend your ride time so that you don't go to far to soon. A good rule of thumb that I use 5% a weekly total increase and 10% increase on longest daily ride.

Get the seat position right first so that your hips don't rock when you peddle. the seat fore and aft position is a personal thing but if your cranks are horizontal and you knee is above the front peddles axle that's a good start(neutral position)

You said this was an old bike so the stem should be able to be lifted by loosening the head stem bolt and lifting the stem up( you may have a little cap over the the bolt just lever this out with a small screw driver) but don't go passed the max height mark on the stem.

As you have indicated in another thread that you may get your on road bike don't replace anything, put that money towards a new bike. Just try to adjust the set up to suit you as best you can. Remember 5mm either way can be the difference between comfort and discomfort.

Move your hand position every 15min and this will stop the numbness.