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On longer rides over 4 hours or so I begin to get aching shoulders.
I`m 5ft 11 riding an M/L Giant Defy.
The standard bars are 42 cm.Would going to 44cm bars or wider help this? Also current bars are standard drop and reach, I was wondering if I should try compact,or shallower drops
hmm. I'm 6ft and riding a Medium TCR, given that the M/L was too stretched out for me. depends where in your shoulder aches as to what you can do about it.
the bike could be too long for you, it could be too short for you, the bars could be too narrow, or have too much drop, or you could just be riding with your upper body all tense causing shoulder pain
on longer rides i have to consciously relax otherwise i get a tight right shoulder
oh, and FWIW i'm the same height as you and the M/L would be perfect for me, if a little short, if you want internet bike-sizing advice, which is about as useful as asking what size shoe you need for a specific height 🙂
What does your current set up look like? Maybe putting the bars up may help.
Its in the shoulder/neck area.
I tried the Medium, but it felt much too small for me.
I fiddled with reach of stem and bar position and that feels right,not stretched at all.I`m very unfashionable and using all the spacers under the stem.
I do have fairly broad shoulders so was thinking wider bars might help?
I tend to ride mostly with hands on the hoods, if that makes any difference?
Or it may be just down to lack of flexibility/tensing...............
Any specific exercises that would help?
As everyone else will say - a million and one things could cause this. FWIW I'm same height, riding same size Advanced. Also primarily ride the hoods. For starters - raise the stem (or get a higher one). Don't worry about fashion.
44cm bars probably a good idea anyway, but I don't think will resolve this issue. Also try "angling" the hoods up - even more unfashionably so. Finally - neck exercises.
Good luck.
The one thing I don't think will help is wider bars.
Probably got your weight too far forward leaning on the bars rather than sitting on the seat.
Try playing with your saddle angle a bit, tilt it back if it currently tilts forward.
It's probably too much weight on your hands and arms; saddle back and saddle down by 1-2 cms if possible.
Get more weight on your bum and less on your hands.
bar height was my problem when I hAd this .
You could try rolling the bars forwards or backwards in the stem to change the angle of the hoods but 4 hours is always going to make you ache a bit isn't it? I definitely spend more time on the drops with shallow drop bars which if nothing else means I'm moving around and changing position a bit more which I would have thought might help reduce aches.
Some good suggestions there.Many thanks.
I will look at tweaking the saddle up and bar position first.
Having said that the lack of miles covered this year probably isn`t helping either...........