When i look back at all of my fastest TT times i used a 52 t chainring,so here i am two weeks from state champs and i change over to 52t just to see how it feels,go on a real hard ride with some hard efforts,a little over two hours,get home step off the bike and feel a little twinch in the lower back,now i have a bad back from a bike/car accident in 89,so a twinch is normal,in about thirty minutes i am dieing,next day i can not walk upright and miss four days from work,went to my ciro twice and massage twice, a week with back still hurting i go for a ride on my road bike come home i am fine,hurts a little but i am OK,do a road ride Saturday,fine, ride TT bike with the 52 again,back hurts again,I do not ride the TT bike as much, but last month i did back to back 100 mile rides and was fine, The only thing to change is chainrings,i know i am not really changing my cadence to much but i seem to use my gluts more with the 52t ring, Any ideas?
I don’t think your cahinring did you in. You proabably slept wierd and it manifested it self after a hard effort.
Switching from a 53T chainring to a 52T chainring is absolutely, positively not causing your back problems. If anything, pedaling the bike should be easier.
No its done this two times both after riding the TT bike,the road bike seems ok, i do not belive i am to low,but i had no problems last month after the two 100 milers
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You might have some fit issues with the TT bike then. There is no way a 52 ring will hurt your back (unless you put it on kinda skewed).
Rusty
John i do agree it is easier,but now my gluts get tight ,i am thinking they pull on some back muscles or something,
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The size of a gear can’t possibly cause the pain. You are doing something else different. Different bikes is obvious. Your 100 mile rides were probably at a much lower intensity than your first back pain causing ride.
I used to experience lower back pain only during races, the pain was due to a bad bike fit and it only manifested itself during hard and long efforts.
Did you have a different cadence with the 52? Different course? Different shoes or pedals?
Everythings the same,maybe riding more flats now,so i might be staying in one position longer,as far as bike setup,maybe not perfect but after taking photos of myself on my old TT bike and the new one, positions are the same,and i have TTed in this position for a lot of years, In years past it was not uncommom to have sore gluts after a TT( useing a 52),i have not had this in years(useing a 53),just after changing to the 52t ring now i get a little soreness in the gluts,cadence really has not changed
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More than likely your 52t setup has a 195mm crank on the right and a 145mm crank on the left. I’d check for that.
i wish it was that easy, i think i will put the 53 back on and do a ride
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randall t,
I doubt very much that it has much to do with switching from 53 T to 52 T chainring as much as it has to do with switching from road bike geometry to time trial geometry. I am especially led in this direction by your comment that you don’t ride the TT bike very often/much.
I think it is more the hard effort and the different/unfamiliar/unaccustomed position of the TT bike that is most responsible for this condition. You probably have to ride the TT bike a little more often so your body becomes more familiar/comfortable with it. Or perhaps it is a bad position and maybe getting a proper fitting to correct a bad position could be the solution to your condition.
My 2 cents. FWIW.