Neck pain
 

After a long ride a couple weeks ago, the base of my neck/center of my shoulders was pretty sore, but I expected it after riding that distance. I wasn't able to ride for a couple weeks after that due to weather and other obligations. On my next ride, the pain flared up pretty quickly and before I got to 30 miles I could barely stand the pain when turning my head to look behind me. This has never happened before...it has now been about 4 days since my last ride and I can feel a little soreness and can tell that if I rode now, the same pain would come back fairly quickly.

Is this a situation where my muscles just need to get stronger, or I need to htfu, or is it indicative of a fit issue?

Your brain is getting more sensitive to signals from that area - what it used to interpret as discomfort, now it interprets as pain. It is possible some muscle knots/trigger points have formed as well, compounding the issue.

It would be a good idea do decrease reach and drop at least for a while, slowly build up the distance and then perhaps try to slowly get back into a more aggressive position.

This is a non-professional opinion, take it with a grain of salt.

When I got my first ever bike with drop bars, I got the same sort of neck pain you describe, only mine would set in the night after the ride, or sometimes after getting up the next morning. I immediately thought it was some sort of fit issue. A few weeks of riding after, and with no changes to the bike or the fit, no more neck pain. Just my body getting used to it. I was also getting dull ache in my lower and mid back, which I also thought might be fit, but that just turned out to be lack of core strength. A few months later and my back feels better than it has in probably ever. I reckon the lower back issue is more related to me being a pretty-much-out-of-shape fat guy, so that might not be relevant.

Make sure you're riding with your shoulders forward and not pushed back where you're putting weight or relying on having shoulders locked back as far as they can go. Arms likewise bent so you use muscle to balance your weight over the bars.

This ^^^^ technique is big. Neck pain is my no. 1 issue and pretty much always has been. I manage it through exhaustive focus on riding position.
Posture is huge. Lack of pelvis tilt in the saddle really sets up the neck to be stressed because it puts the back in a S curve and top of the back is bending in the opposite direction of neck extension. Saddle setback matters to take weight off the hands which goes up the arms into the neck/trackes. Bar height and reach are key.
Good luck.

Good notes on posture. Push your chest out, relax and drop your shoulders, straighten and stretch out your neck and upper back. Visualize trying to pull your shoulders away from your ears.

Thanks for the tips guys. Finally going to get a chance to ride tomorrow. I'm going to move my saddle forward a touch and really focus on posture. I can feel some pain or soreness in my neck even now and it has been over a week since I last rode. Hopefully it won't be too much trouble tomorrow and beyond...

I would not move my saddle forward. That just messes with a whole lot of other stuff.
http://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...discovery.html

For long distance riders, this problem becomes Shermer's Neck. (google)

Some riders have found that they could eliminate their problems with Shermer's Neck by doing dumbell shrugs and dumbell presses with all the weight they could handle. Trainers generally advise against neck flexion exercises as overuse can lead to injury.

The above are the two approaches which have been found to be most useful.

Agreed - don't touch your saddle, adjust your handlebar position.

If you have health insurance, you might want to look for a physical therapy shop that does bike fittings. It will probably be covered under your insurance.

I've been feeling like I need to move my saddle forward anyway for a while. Moved it forward about 5-6 mm last night and tested it one the trainer. I also looked at my posture in the mirror. I've never felt more comfortable on my bike. Rode 17 miles to work this morning and really felt great. It was much easier to keep correct posture than previously. I'll ride home this afternoon and hopefully get a longer ride on Saturday to really check things out.

I relieved my pain-in-the-neck with a timely divorce.

Be careful if you decide to flip your stem. ;)

GH

I used to have one of those headsweats that ties in the back. I liked to bunch it up so that I wouldn't have a big knot flapping in the wind behind my head and would tuck it under my helmet's cinch adjustment. I guess the knot would push on my neck muscles to where it could cause neck pain, headache and hsoulder pain after over an hour riding. I ditched that headsweat for the headband type ones and the pain went away. So maybe could have something to do with helmet / headsweat knot issues?

That's fun, but not the issue. I and many others do long distance riding with a -17° stem, a long reach and no spacers. It's mostly posture and training.

I had a bit of this issue a few months ago. Turns out my saddle was a bit low and back. Sounds counter-intuitive. Nevertheless, my spine was curving in the wrong direction therefore when in the drops it was much more strained to look forward.

I keep wondering, after stretching out briefly on an Infinito and feeling comfortable, (I was told Italian bikes tend to have a longer reach for a given height...) if I should go longer & lower...If I flipped my stem it would be a bit radical I'm sure...

It depends on your personal configuration and goals. My goal is always to go faster and I've found comfort to be compatible with that. You may have seen me make these two posts before, but they're what I look at for models:

http://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...l#post12953035
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z04uoO7U_SA

You can ignore the foot angle part of the second link if you disagree, but I think they are correct with that. I like her position and stretch. Note that her elbow barely overlaps her knee when she's down. I think in her low hoods position there's no overlap. This is how all my bikes are set up. It seems natural to me. I've done 400k brevets with this positioning and no issues.

I practice an especially masochistic form of myofacial release by jamming the tip of my trigger finger into my perennial knot spot until I scream out..works great!

YMMV

This, I moved saddle 1cm forward and my arms was pushing against the bars and shoulders pushed back. Got neck and shoulder pain after one ride. Leveled saddle out, adjusted saddle back and it is now perfect.

Look into a Ritchey 30 degree stem, that will give you a much more comfortable riding position.

This article might offer some helpful suggestions ...

CYCLING PERFORMANCE TIPS - Back Pain & Neck Pain

After riding the Almanzo 100 last month (gravel century), I've been having neck pain. Add to that, I've been riding a new/old Italian road bike with a lot more reach. I found this last week and I have been very pleased with the improvement in my neck pain. I do this once or twice a day:

Stretching

Source - Exercises to Treat Shoulder and Neck Pain From Cycling | ACTIVE

Edit - BTW you may feel dizzy after these stretches, I do them seated.

You sure this is a muscle thing? If you rested for two weeks and it didn't heal, that would tell me there is a good chance it is more than muscle.

I had a similar experience after hunting for a week straight and carrying a tree stand many miles on my back. Even after a couple weeks of rest, I still had pain.

Went to the chiropractor and he fixed me up good in a couple visits.

Oddly enough, I think the cause is a particular set of bibs that I have. The neck pain has surfaced a couple other times, and I finally realized that it happens every time I wear certain bibs. Apparently, the chamois (which I thought was going to be good for my long distance chamois) is just uncomfortable enough to change my posture subconsciously and hurt my neck.

I have ridden as long or longer with other bibs with no side effects at all.