Hermes

Recently, I restarted playing piano after decades of hiatus.

Cycling and strength training trash my hands, arms, neck and shoulders and a hard cycling workout also trashes my posture for sitting at the piano. I find it all bad. My approach is timing the practice sessions and use marginal gains on the bike and in the gym to try to reduce stress on my hands.

I really like the SRAM Etap electronic shifting since it spreads shifting the rear derailleur between the two hands versus just using ones right hand. I ride with as light of a touch on the handlebars as possible.

Aerobars might seem like a way to go but they round the shoulders and generate more neck and shoulder fatigue - at least for me.

In the gym, I use more machines and less freeweights so that I do not have to rack weights and load heavy weights on leg press machine - marginal improvement.

josephpiano

I'm curious. Can you elaborate more?

Also, I use mtb cleats, as the shoes are walkable. However, I'm wondering, do actual road biking shoes/cleats/pedals (Speedplay Zero pedals, for example) help one accomplish this better?

josephpiano

What kind of core strengthening do you do?

I'm a classical musician.

josephpiano

Not very tightly.

for inaccurately tracking, what are the proper adjustments to fix that?

MinnMan

What he means is whether the bike pulls to the left or right if you are not controlling the bars. If it is, there are any number of possible reasons - perhaps the wheels are out of true or there's some imbalance in the steering column. Take it to your LBS and they can diagnose the problem.

Worth checking, but maybe not the most likely cause of your problem.

Cyclist753

Push-ups, sit ups, leg extensions, planks, etc. I do some of these exercises every morning. Yesterday I changed the oil in my car so that was a different bit of a workout! These exercises strengthen the body's core. My lower back muscles are strong enough to allow me to ride in a lower and more 'aero' position without undue strain on my hands. I can ride 'aero' without holding the bars. I am sure my arms are sufficiently strong but my hands aren't. My feet tire from standing, too, although my legs never tire from standing. I'm 62, 158lbs and 5'10" with a 'small' skeletal frame.

Classical- great! I am a huge fan of Debussy, Ravel and Rachmaninoff's piano works. I had the fortune to hear Alicia de Larrocha play in Houston and always wanted to hear Aldo Ciccolini and Rudolf Serkin. Guitar is cool and I heard Andre Segovia play, too!

_ForceD_

Check the things that MinnMan pointed out. Also, you can adjust the axle placement in the dropout. It could be that the axle is in there crooked. But it should be all the way into the dropout on both sides of the axle. When it is, it will track straight (on most correctly built bikes).

Dan

tcs

Professional pianist: 'It hurts when I do this.'
Doctor: 'Don't do that.'

Seriously, how about cycling in a similar position with similar hand pressures as piano playing?

Steamer

Yeah, not only is it easy on your hands and wrists, but you are much less likely to have an upper body injury should you go down.