 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
On my commute in and home (about 7 miles, approx. 30 mins depending on traffic)I find my arms get very uncomfortable. I am riding a Boardman CX comp and have been for about 3 months now. This is my first drop bar bike but 98% of the time I am riding on the hoods. I find that after about 20 minutes or so my triceps start to get uncomfortable. I assume it must be something on the set up that I need to adjust but can anyone recommend what? I am thinking my weight might be too far forward so I am putting too much pressure through my arms rather than supporting my upper body through my core.
Cheers
I'd be working on my core strength if it were me.
I'm fine on the hoods for my 9 mile commute, but I'm really having to work to be able to spend more time on the drops. I'm getting sore palms and really tight shoulders. Core strengthening seems to be helping a bit.
But I have precisely zero education or clue about this sort of thing.
You're using your triceps more than you have done before, so they will hurt until you get used to it. You can speed up the process by strengthening them with resistance work. Here's a video with some exercises for you, the first one is prob too easy so you might want to skip it. If you don't have any weights then a large plastic milk carton full of water is a good start (1 litre water = 1 kg)
Ideally you should be struggling to complete 10 reps. (aim for 3 or more sets of 10 reps every alternate day)
As shermer75 says, it could just be a bit of tricep weakness that you can fix with those exercises.
OR, it could be a bit of core weakness, which means more of you weight is born by your arms. You can find lots of bike specific core strengthening exercises on the web.
OR, your seat might be too far forward, throwing more of you weight over the front of the bike - before anything else, check your bike is set up for you. There's lots of info on the web regarding 'bike fit' for road bikes, ask google, he knows.
OR, it could be a bit of core weakness, which means more of you weight is born by your arms. You can find lots of bike specific core strengthening exercises on the web
Yep, your postural muscles can never be too strong! Always a good place to start. Proximal stability = distal efficiency etc
In addition to good pointers above I do a simple overhead tricep extension with a 4kg weight or resistance band. It's not 'strengthening' exactly more 'de-tensioning'. Because my arms are nearly straight for each (commute) ride the triceps are being denied a full range of motion and are going excessively tight. Watch out, a tight tricep is going to be prone to strain / tear when up against any resistance before it has been fully warmed up.