Lower back pulling

Thanks to everyone here I managed to nail my seat height and position,
and cleat position, nicely - I now no longer get any knee problems and
my thighs have built up plenty of strength and they dont even ache
after 50 miles at my max pace (maybe i should be pushing harder).

The problem I have is that my lower back and buttocks feel like they
are pulling. I'm assuming its because Im too bent over with a very
high seat position and fairly low bars, but I feel like im sat fairly
upright, especially in comparison with some of the road bikes ive
tried. I end up with cramping around my back and buttocks after about
20 miles and need to get off and wiggle about for a few minutes to get
it happy again.

So my question is - is it my stem height/length or do i just need to
get more flexible, or a combination of the two?

CoyoteBoy writes:


...after 50 miles at my max pace (maybe i should be pushing harder).

If you can push harder then presumably it's not your "max" pace for 50
miles

On 17 Jul, 10:35, Paul Rudin wrote:
CoyoteBoy writes:
...after 50 miles at my max pace (maybe i should be pushing harder).

If you can push harder then presumably it's not your "max" pace for 50
miles

Fair point OK, max comfortable pace - not ending with thighs
burning and lungs bursting! That distance was/is very hard for me to
judge pace-wise, only done it 3 times before - we set off fairly
slowly and worked up but hadnt really hit max by the end, though the
hill at the end (through the tunnel) did grind me down. I think power
work is needed for that, I rarely stand up.

Ive really found great fun in road riding that I never thought I
would. I'm primarily a MTBer (I have 4 of them ranging from DH to
trials) and only took to riding the rigid MTB as a means of commuting,
suddenly found that I enjoyed the fitness challenge as much as I enjoy
the off-road skills challenge.

In article .com,
CoyoteBoy
says...
Thanks to everyone here I managed to nail my seat height and position,
and cleat position, nicely - I now no longer get any knee problems and
my thighs have built up plenty of strength and they dont even ache
after 50 miles at my max pace (maybe i should be pushing harder).

The problem I have is that my lower back and buttocks feel like they
are pulling. I'm assuming its because Im too bent over with a very
high seat position and fairly low bars, but I feel like im sat fairly
upright, especially in comparison with some of the road bikes ive
tried. I end up with cramping around my back and buttocks after about
20 miles and need to get off and wiggle about for a few minutes to get
it happy again.

So my question is - is it my stem height/length or do i just need to
get more flexible, or a combination of the two?


If you feel like you're sitting fairly upright then you might benefit
from a longer stem - if you're more stretched on the bike your pelvis
will tend to rotate forwards, reducing tension in the lower back. The
down side of this is that you may need to adjust your saddle position.
:-)
Presumably you already have bar ends so you can vary position. Maybe
consider some tri-bars?