absoludicrous

A bit of background, I purchased a bike (61cm All City Space Horse) last fall to use as a commuter and weekend road bike. My daily commute is to work and back is 10 miles, and I avg roughly 40-50 miles per week.

I'm a tall guy at 6'4, but the bike seems to fit well…I set the saddle height using Greg LeMond's method (inseam measured from crotch to floor multiplied by .883). It feels good, I'm not hyper-extending and I feel like I get good range through the pedal stroke.

The stock set up felt a little long so I put on a shorter 110mm 7º stem (it came with 120mm) to see if I could reduce the stretch, and get into a more relaxed and upright position. Rode this way for 75 or so miles and decided to go even shorter and put on a 100mm stem, which I have approximately 100 miles on.

About 3 weeks ago I experimented with the current 100mm stem by flipping it to -7º just to see how it felt and to give me a little more drop. The stack is 50mm, everything else is stock. Bike seems to fit well and I experience no fatigue or pain when riding outside of a little neck crank every now and then when I get lazy.

However, the last couple of weeks (coincidentally, since flipping the stem) I have been waking up in the morning with a really tight and very sore upper back. The pain is generally located between the shoulder blades, and the spine itself feels sore. To reiterate, no pain is ever felt during a ride, only the morning after.

Here is a hack-job photo of me in my usual riding position with some angles and measurements. In addition to an image showing numbers for the difference between the stock stem and the current set up I'm running.

I'm pretty new, but I feel like my form/riding position is decent. I don't feel stretched, nor do I feel uncomfortable when I'm riding.

Anything look off? Thoughts? Ideas? Help?

oldbobcat

Your spine looks nice and straight from the hips to the shoulders, and then your neck heads downward, and then it curves back up to support the head. Ouch.

I don't know why your neck is doing this. It could be just sag from supporting the shoulders with your arms (doing pushups) or it could be the upper body saying it wants to be lower. Even though KOPS says your saddle setback is right, your arms seem to be bearing considerable weight. The first thing I'd try is moving the saddle back and lowering it a bit. Your reach to the handlebar is short, anyway, so you should not need a shorter stem. See what happens.

absoludicrous

Thanks for the insight. I agree, my neck is definitely not in line with my neutral spine—possibly the cause for my upper back pain? Head position is something I'll be paying much closer attention to. Chalk it up to a desk job for now.

I may see about re-installing the 110 or 120mm stem and see how that feels. Perhaps the original feeling of being too stretched was combination of the seat being too far back, not high enough, or me just not being used to riding this type of bike. (I rode BMX as young kid, and this is really my first road frame).

berner

We are able to ride most days in my area unless there is actual snow of ice on the roads. Mileage is still much less during these months than during warmer weather. The result for me is that during the first few weeks of near daily rides, my neck will be a tiny bit sore. My solutions are neck exercises and to lower the handlebar a cm or so for those few weeks. It is, actually it was surprising that such small differences can make such a large difference in comfort.

oldbobcat

In the case of upper back pain, a lower handlebar helps in many cases. Listen to your body and you'll find what you need.