downtube42

I felt an old familiar lower back twinge the other day after overdoing it, and it made me realize my back no longer hurts all the time. In fact, thinking about it, I've not had chronic back pain for a good long while now. The lack of pain has become so normal I don't even notice.

That was kind of a shocking realization. I've had chronic low back pain since I was 30 in 1990, but at 63 it's gone. Probably has been completely gone for at least a year. I no longer take ibuprofen or acetomenaphin just to take the edge off.

tl;dr time, bike fit, core strength

By 1992 I'd given up on the road bike and switched to a recumbent (tip: not the answer). From 1992 to roughly 2020 I rode many tens of thousands of miles on the 'bent, including 24 hour races, grand brevets, and regular club sport rides. And my chronic low back pain continued, perhaps easing over time or maybe I just learned to avoid activities that aggravated the pain.

Around 2020, I decided to give the upright bike layout another try. I'd done Paris Brest Paris three times on the 'bent, and had the crazy idea to see if I could manage to do PBP on an upright. I bought an 70's Windsor Carera and started swapping out parts from the local co-op in search of comfort. I read everything I could find about fitting, and about lower back pain among cyclists. Eventually I found a setup that didn't seem to cause much pain. I ramped distance up from 50k to 100k to 100 miles and eventually 200km. I'd still get low back pain, particularly on hard climbs, and I found stopping and stretching would relieve the pain and allow me to carry on. Eventually, I learned how to stretch out my back on the bike, eliminating the need to stop. Then in 2021 I think, convinced I could ride an upright long distance, I splurged and built up a randonneuring bike. Soma Fog Cutter frame, Ultegra hydro mech, tubeless, 2x11, square taper in a nod to the rando gods.

With my relatively pain free setup as a starting point, I went to a fitter to see if we could eliminate or at least reduce the climbing pain. He tweaked my bar rotation and cleat position, but the major change was to saddle height. He put it on the very low end of acceptable knee bend, to minimize low back movement. Honestly it felt super weird, like I was riding a kid bike, but I decided to give it a chance.

Since then, on an upright, I've finished three Super Randonneuring series, a 1000k around the Olympic Peninsula, and finished the Crater Lake 1200 (1200km and ~30k feet climbing). I did DNF London Edenborough London 2022, due to saddle sores not back pain. Strava says I have 1,400 miles on the Windsor and 11k miles on the Fog Cutter.

The Fog Cutter has a couple issues, one being an oscillation around 16mph, that led me to buy a Trek Domane for the next step: PBP 2023. Without a lot of miles on the Domane, I took it to France in August and completed my fourth Paris Brest Paris. I'd completed what I initially thought was a crazy idea.

One last thing, and I tend to think this matters. Just about a year ago, on something of a whim, I bought a fixed gear conversion bike. I put 450 miles on it, and pretty much fell in love with fixed gear riding. Who knew. I've since replaced that with a Detroit Bikes Sparrow build, and have another 1,400 fixed gear miles, including 2 at 200km and about a dozen 100km rides. I tend to think the fixed gear riding has strengthened my core, which shouldn't surprise anyone who's ridden fixed.

I'm sitting here in no pain, which is marvelous.

I think maybe I needed the recumbent for a while, as my low back was just too effed up for anything else. Eventually though I think the bent, while it allowed me to build leg strength and cardio fitness, wasn't helping my back progress. Once on the upright, a key bike fit change was to have my saddle on the low end in terms of acceptable knee angle. What the fixed gear added is more core workout from more out of saddle riding.

boozergut

My doctor asked me about back pain a couple of days ago. I told him that as long as Im riding my bike I have no issues, but that it creeps back in the dead of winter. Im not sure about what differences there might be between a bent and an upright bike.

Carbonfiberboy 

Photos of your fit? If it's a slightly different fit on your different bikes, then your lowest fit. Among my riding buddies who have back pain, they've found that a lower fit has been helpful.

Jughed

I stopped biking due to acute back pain, that then transitioned into 10+ years of me being in really bad pain and often immobile.

The pain was so bad, and I didn't take pills, that I was ready to call it quits - meaning I was done living, I could no longer take the pain.

Took 5+ years of poor diagnosis's and theories as to the cause of my pain... finally got a diagnosis and was prescribed the right kind of PT - and that included cycling.

Aside from a minor flare up every so often, I am 4 years pain free - and the best therapy is my road bike.

SW84

My story is just like most of the above. Had to be very careful when bending over, or the back pain would put me on the ground. Since I started riding my bikes after retiring in June, I haven't had to worry about it. Lifting things a certain way still cause a little discomfort, but it's getting better.

downtube42

In terms of differences, on a 'bent the upper body above the waist is simply not engaged. No motion in the back, no forces going through the arms to the saddle or pedals. Riding the bent, I was strong and fast

The first few years after back trouble occurred, I felt that a good long (recumbent) bike ride made my back better. In those days, I still had an upright for commuting and errands, but too many miles a week would put me down.

One of my doctors told me every back is unique. Cadaver studies have found spinal columns with all sorts of issues where the person never reported any back pain, and other spinal columns looked perfect when the person suffered chronic back pain. The spinal column and nerve bundles are a complex structure; "my back hurts" is not the symptom of a single common problem. It follows that there is not one common solution.

Long way of saying, when it comes to back pain YMMV.

jesnow

I had lower back pain when I was racing, and upper back pain. I solved the lower back with good mornings and lunges (be careful, these are dangerous lifts, start bar-only and work up), and the upper back pain with 35 lb shrugs.

But I haven't had any back pain at all for a decade. sold my weights. Still riding, but not quite the same volume. The main thing I did was stop stretching in any way. I know that's controversial, and contrary to what most people think. But I swear stretching did more harm than good.
Jon