Bike fit tweak and body adaptation

per the articles on this site, i tweaked my positioning to get a steeper seat angle and a lower more aggressive front end position. this was not a retrofit of a road bike, but adjustments to a tri specific bike. the biggest change was lowering the stack height a few cm’s. now after riding in the aero position, i get a bit of post-ride soreness in my neck/upper back. i don’t notice any discomfort while riding in the position though–this is a residual soreness. i am wondering if this is a matter of having my body get used to the new position or if i need to raise the handlebars a bit. should i have my body adjust or should there be no pain if this position works for me?

You are right- this is a matter of adaptation I bet. I think you just need to put in the appropriate amount of miles to get accustomed to riding in that position. It’s impossible to say without seeing the position but it is likely conditioning as opposed to a bad position. I say that becasue we hear it so often.

I would agree, in fact I find the same thing when I first ride the tri bike after riding my road bike over the winter. And I believe Slowman mentioned the same thing in one of the articles on this site. I think the reason is that you are using those muscles in your neck and upper back to hold your head up “higher” than you were.

Richard

It’s likely a matter of adaptation. Perhaps you should make adjustments in smaller incriments over a period of time rather than all at once. Also realize that not everybody can ride comfortably in an aggressive position, particularly those that have neck problems or low back inflexibility.

I just did the same thing; however, I kept the frame on the trainer for a couple of weeks before I put it on the road for a long ride. (I DID have to move my TV - lower.) I took it out on the road for 2+ hours for the first time yesterday - No problems in the neck or back.

On the other hand, all these posts and articles on this site about how you make contact with a saddle came home to roost! I won’t call it a problem but it was really weird. Did you have a similar experience?

i haven’t had any problems or weirdness with contact with the saddle. i think it is mostly due to the fact that i have a rounded back, and so my pelvis doesn’t really rotate forward when i am in the aero position. if i really think about it i can rotate forward and get a more flat backed position, but that takes way too much concentration and i don’t notice any difference in speed when i do.