As I approach the wrinkled old age of 35 I find that I cant rely upon essence of the Pocket Fox and the blood of innocent children to maintain my suppleness so I’ve recently started some Pilates and rather enjoying it.

But…one thing that really stood out (and Ive been aware of from the occasional visit to the physio) is that my shoulders are a bit knackered from riding.

I notice that when your weight is balanced between arse and hands you will naturally suspend your body between the two contact points which forces the arms to push your shoulders back and up into your neck area: hunched. To ride with the shoulders down seems very uncomfortable, forced and unatural.

Is this normal for all riders, pro, elite and weekend warriors alike? Or is it just me? And if the latter, how do the rest of you maintain your posture on the bike (both road and off-road)?

I know what you mean. I tend to sag like you describe when I’m tired on a bike. I’ve got fairly strong shoulders though, so It doesn’t overly bother me until I’m proper tired.

Perhaps you should consider some resistance training to strengthen your deltoids, traps and Lats?

does that mean you think that I should be suspended on back/shoulder muscle rather than mechanically on the shoulder joint?

Have a look at your riding position, you shouldn’t be ‘suspended’ at all, if your riding position is placing you somewhere where that tends to happen, maybe you need to take a proper look at how you’re sitting on the bike. Your core muscles should be holding your trunk and shoulders in a strong position, not the other way round. Sounds like you need to do some core / upper body strengthening work and have a look at the relative position of your bar / stem / saddle and so on.

And if you regard anyone who takes care of themselves as a ‘body nazi’ then frankly I’m not really surprised 😉

BWD – you imply that your weight then should be born entirely by your arse, not balanced across you arse and hands as I alwaays thought was advised…

Since Ive now started doing pilates (primarily to activate lazy core posture muscles etc) , I am now a trainee body-nazi myself thank you very much 🙂

I don’t think you can separate the two, but stronger shoulder girdle muscles will support the joint and help to prevent it sagging IMO.

As BWD says though, the base of all strength is Core Stability/strength.

as BWD says.

try taking up other sports as well. At your age spending too much time on a bike will only lead to calcium leaching from your bones anyway. 🙂

you imply that your weight then should be born entirely by your arse

I think he means your legs and lower back. Sitting down is for wusses. 🙂

try taking up other sports as well.

I’ll have you know I have a black belt in Socialist baiting and represented England in the 20yrd Last Orders pub dash.

As I have become older, (and riding has changed as well), I have shortened my stems, my bars have become low risers, riding is more fun and my back shoulders are OK (ish). Worth some experimentation.

I can’t believe anyone thinks 35 is old or that you start to need to make allowances at that age! I’m 21 years older and haven’t noticed anything yet…

SFB in stubborn lack of self awareness shocker 🙂

EDIT: Anyway, its more a case of not taking my body for granted and starting to do regular mileage servicing to keep it running well long into the future.

SFB in stubborn lack of self awareness shocker

perhaps I’ve not noticed anything because it still works properly ? I do take mine entirely for granted which appears to be exactly the right thing for it.

It’s a characteristic of self awareness that it doesn’t extend to other people…

If your shoulders are taking that much weight, then maybe you have too much bias towards the bars and should be thinking about a shorter, higher stem and maybe higher risers. I was only only joking about body nazis btw 😉

try taking up other sports as well. At your age spending too much time on a bike will only lead to calcium leaching from your bones anyway.

And isn’t there some research that suggests that mountain biking is better for maintaining bone density than road riding?

I was only only joking about body nazis btw

after our amusing email exchange last week and now this with you unaccountably explaining yourself I’m wondering what’s up ?

senility is commonly diagnosed at 55.

And isn’t there some research that suggests that mountain biking is better for maintaining bone density than road riding?

Just as running is better at maintaining bone density than mountain biking – but whatever you do – don’t take up swimming.

+1 for core stability training. Especially important on a road bike as you tend to lean out further forward. The other half who is a physio and pilates instructor keeps telling me to work on core strength but generally I would much rather go out for a ride and then moan about being uncomfortable afterwards.

senility is commonly diagnosed at 55

I intend to kill myself the day before I lose the ability to do it :o)

why wait?

why wait?

thanks for your concern but I think I’ll just hang on a little longer :o)

after our amusing email exchange last week and now this with you unaccountably explaining yourself I’m wondering what’s up ?

I’m busy lulling people into a false sense of security, that’s all… 😐