I’ve come to realise that when I ride & the going gets tough, I tend to raise my shoulders / pull my neck down 1nto my shoulders. Is there a technical reason I could be doing this.. ie are my handlebars too high…. I do have a stack a good 30mm from the top of the frame to the underside of my bars because I like a more upright position… However, could this be a problem & is raising my shoulders my bodies way of telling me to sort it out.

it’s more likely because you’re tensing your shoudlers when stressed rather than bike layout.

I find I do that on my road bike when climbing.

Are you locking your elbows when you’re doing that? Just try dropping your elbows and shoulders and only laying your hands on the bars – in other words don’t lean on the bars at all.

I think I’ll drop the bike onto a turbo trainer, loose the stack & see how I get on.

@wwaswas, I do tense up when this happens but I’m hoping that its a riding position & I can overcome the tensing & hunching. The side effect of this is that when it happens & I don’t realise I’m doing it my shoulder starts to really hurt… old cycling accident a few years back when I broke my shoulder blade & collar bone at the same time.