Mdgooding

I am new to cycling, first and foremost. Of course I’ve ridden bike my whole life, but new to the serious cycling game.

Ive done about 30 miles on the bike so far, learning and getting used to it. However I have been having some issues that I just can’t seem to get right...

1) More pressure than I’d like on my hands/wrists.

I have moved the seat back, slight angled up in attempt to move my COG back.. Seat is at proper height (might could go up a tad), but still feel like too much of my weight is supported by my hands. I try to keep a slight bend in elbows as well, as I should.

2) Having some back pains, some lower, some mid (but this is likely a result of my mild scoliosis/lack of flexibility...which I imagine will get better over time..my guess)

What I want to achieve is a lighter feeling on my hands and just be overall more comfortable in the saddle.

I am just barely 6 feet tall with well balanced proportions (torso to legs) and slightly longer arms...if that’s helpful.

Hopefully I can get some good suggestions to alleviate these issues!!

philbob57

How's your core strength? I'm told that those who ride with little weight on their hands have decent core strength. I can say that I put less weight on my hands as I develop core strength, so I believe the rumor.

Also, 30 miles is not enough to develop much more than a sore butt. Have you ridden more miles than that? If not, I think we have to break our bodies into riding.

Lemond1985

May need to stretch out some, sounds like you are cramped up a bit. That can affect breathing and comfort quite a bit, like wearing a coat that's too small. You want a stem long enough to allow you to pull on the bars when seated climbing and sprinting.

I push my seats all the way back on the rails, and use long stems. Stock stems are always way too short for me, so I generally get something longer. I tell people to try to stretch out horizontally as much as you can, but keep your main body mass directly over the bottom bracket, centered between the wheels, for the best comfort on long rides.

People's instinct is to sit upright with all their weight on the back tire, and when that doesn't work, they get a softer seat and a taller stem. Never works.

Iride01 

How are your hands positioned? I ride a drop bar, I find that if I ride with my hands on the top of the bar. The part that comes straight out from the stem, then I'll get some wrist issues. If I ride in the drops or have my hands on the hoods of the shifters, then wrist issues are seldom. Though that does bring up how to properly hold the hoods which when incorrectly done will cause pain in the heel of the palm.

I feel like I lessened the pressure on my hands and wrists by going lower with the bars.

Carbonfiberboy 

Basic fitting:
https://www.bikeforums.net/21296948-post3.html

Numb or sore hands:
https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...l#post12953035

Cycling is maybe the best back exercise there is. There are also very good stretches, the McKenzie System - google.

Mdgooding

So I ride up on the hoods as that’s where I’d like to be most of the time. My seat is almost all the way back on the rails in an attempt to push my wright back off my hands, but I’m not sure that is the best thing to do. Honestly all I am after if just more comfort and to stop the feeling of when I lift my hands like I am about to fall forward. As a result of that, there is too much pressure on my hands/wrists causing pain.

Mdgooding

Makes sense. I can’t seem to figure out the best position for my seat fore/aft...like no matter what I do I almost feel no difference haha. It’s weird. As it is right now, my ball of foot is pretty well aligned with the pedals at 3 o’clock which is good. But I also feel like if I slid the saddle forward a bit I’d still be is a good position knee to pedal wise...so I just don’t understand why I feel like I am going to fall over forwards.

Lemond1985

I see these posts about "too much weight on my hands", and my first reaction is, that you don't really don't want a lot of excess weight on your hands (or on your seat) and the solution to that, your task so to speak, is to find a way to get that weight off your hands AND ONTO THE PEDALS.

Whatever it takes, long stem shorrt stem, seat all the way forward or all the way back. Just find a way to get "centered" on that machine so that there's not much pressure on your hands or on your butt, it's all on the pedals. That's really the key to comfort, speed, balance, and everything else.

Iride01 

I'm not a fan of KOP's. It has everyone emphasizing where the knee is in relation to the pedals and forgetting the other important things. If tube lengths and angles on a bike is perfectly fitted to the rider, then KOP's would probably seem like a great thing. But no production bike is going to fit everyone perfectly.

I used to have my seat pretty far back. That was when my bar height and seat height were close to the same. That's also when I had the most issues with wrist and shoulder pain. On my 60 cm 1991 Paramount and on my 56 cm 2020 Tarmac, my seat is pretty far forward and the handlebars are almost as low as they can go. There is a little setback in both seat posts, but not extreme. Less on the Tarmac.

I'm not saying it's right for you, but if you haven't tried it then you won't know. However don't do just the seat and not lower the bars. It's both together that helped me.

Carbonfiberboy 

Can't do anything without photos: just the bike and you on the bike from the side.

berner

You may have the saddle as far back as it will go but maybe it needs to go back even more, I say this because I found I needed another seat post with more setback . From the center line of the seat post to the center of the clamping area is now 25mm compared to the previous distance of 15mm. Maybe something similarly simple will work for you. I second core exercises for any athletic activity and especially cycling.

All muscular activity is connected to the largest bone on the body, either directly or indirectly, namely the pelvis. I have a book on yoga anatomy with very good illustrations and explanations how it is all connected. There is a ton of info on the web about this and one could spend some time profitably reading up on this. Just in case you wish to learn more: https://www.secondsale.com/i/yoga-an...iABEgKVuPD_BwE
You don't have to be able to touch the back of your head to profit from the book.