I'm getting to the point of considering giving up road riding. I really enjoy it but can't get comfortable and it's getting worse.

After about 20 miles, I get numb hands, a burning pain in my left shoulder, pains and muscular spasms in my chest, front and back. I've been seen by a neurologist and had an MRI (essentially normal); osteopath hasn't been able to help. No amount of adjustment of the bar/stem/saddle seems to help. I'm using gel pads on the bars and thick bar tape, spesh BG gloves, good shorts, comfy (for me) saddle.

6 months ago I only had problems beyond 50 miles. Now I'm struggling from 15-20 miles. I just can't ride long enough to get myself tired or fit or to ride with groups.

Mountain biking is fine, no problems at all.

So, is there anything anyone can think of that might help, before I sell up and quit road riding?

(If anyone wants to tell me that a bling carbon bike would fix everything, that's be fine too!)

Cheers,
GF

Sorry to hear it – not much to add other than how's your general flexibility? Could this be an issue?

osteo says it's pretty good for a cyclist. I don't get a sore neck when riding and can easily touch my toes.

Tried a sports physio?

One diagnosed and corrected my knee injury where a knee surgeon failed.

My hamstrings are terrible (can't get past mid shins when trying to touch my toes), but it never affects my cycling. But, when my lower back is tight, I get really uncomfortable on the road bike on longer rides which sometimes can make my hands go a bit numb too – I have no idea if that's really linked…

I tend to fix it by lying on my back and pull my knees up in to my stomach (legs bent), both together and alternatively. I can feel the stretch in my lower back and if definitely helps me. Might be worth a go if you don't do it already…

It's not a fit issue is it- I know you say that it's a fairly recent phenomenon and that your performance is degrading, but it may be worthwhile contacting cyclefit or similar, and looking at things from that perspective, rather than your body failing?

Blame it on the bike.

definitely try a physio.

Not really. A physio looked at my shoulder a couple of years ago and didn't really help much. After spending a lot of money on physio for a knee injury two years ago, my confidence in them is very low indeed.

However, I have thought of going to see Martin Earley, with my bike, to see if he can help. Low way from me though.

Performance isn't getting worse. still feel fast and strong. Can't see how it could be a bike fit issue, at least not in terms of size.

Hamstrings and flexibity are pretty good. Very little lower back trouble.

Photo of me on the bike.

Slightly OT – Best line from my sports physio.

"I won't be here next week. You'll be seeing that bloke over there. He's a pervert and he will hurt you."

How tall are you and what size is that bike? Might just be the picture but it looks tiny on you…

I'm 5ft 11in. It's a 56. Has a very sloping top tube which I suppose makes it look smaller.

looks to me like you're over extending your legs. at the bottom of the stroke your leg is straight, don't know if that will make a difference,but i'd lower the saddle a couple of inches

Having lots of gel/thick tape/thick gloves can mean that you end up having to really hang on as it were, and also you look as though your arms are quite straight.
By clenching your hands you then stiffen up your arms, shoulders and transfer all the road into your body.
Is it your or MrsF that rides with the saddle pointing down? This may also contribute if that's the case as you're constantly having to push yourself back up the saddle.

That was was 2 years ago, before I had all the trouble. i just put it up to show size and approx position. Saddle has since been up and down, forward and backward. Nothing has helped.

The saddle is just about flat at the moment.

Try riding with thin or no gloves to see if you're having to hang on too much with all the tape/gel/gloves. Also consciously relax every now and then and drop your shoulders.

I suppose, thinking about it a bit more, while it has got worse recently, it's always been uncomfortable. I know it looks a little small, but it feels as though a longer reach would be even worse, putting more weight on my hands and shoulders and bending my neck further back, getting further away from my (comfy) mountain bike position.

aP – Until recently I rode with unpadded MTB gloves.

I spend the whole time thinking about my shoulder/chest position, but it doesn't really help. It helps the shoulder pain, but increases the chest problems. It doesn't affect the numb hands.

You could also try a slightly higher bar position and also rotating the bars back so that a line through the bottom of the drops goes through the rear axle.

id give racescene in barnsley a call rich they have one of those fitting machines just to check you out. Could be worth a shot

I had to give up with the road bike as i was in a lot of pain,no problem on the mountainbike,i have arthritis in the hips + sciatia!When i used to ride on the road i got set up by Paul Hewitt well worth the money,no neck or back pains.
Del.

AP – I've tried the bars as high as they'll go and I've tried rolling the bars back too.

I've just used an online fit calculator (competitivecyclist.com) which suggests that for most comfort, I should be riding something with a longer top tube than I have and a longer stem. Their suggested fit would be a 3cm longer reach than I have.

yours does look short on the pic but can be deceiving with angles and sloping tubes etc

Just looking at the 58 specializeds, the tarmac would have a 2cm longer toptube, but would also put the bars 2cm higher.

I like to ride long/large mountain bikes with 24inch top tubes. Maybe the bike is simply too small? That seems really counter-intuitive though. It's not how it feels when I'm riding.

i rode a 54 for ages and kept changing things as it felt long i in the end got measured and i now ride a 56 with a 110mm stem and it feels great which is mad as i always felt my old bike was too long . Ive now gone up a size on the cx too

I think I need to try a bigger bike. I agree though, I don't feel cramped at all, but keep moving hands around, adjusting stuff etc.

This is almost certainly the lamest "help" you're going to get but here goes…

I'm fairly new to roadieing and for the first few weeks wore my standard mtb gloves and had no probs. After a month or so I bought some Spesh BG mitts and they killed me! Not only did I get hand/forearm cramp within about 5 miles the 2 or 3 times I wore them, it's lasted off the bike and I can still feel the dull ache even after about 3 weeks of not using them.

Probably not the cause of your dramas but they might not be helping.

Sounds to me like you need to relax. If you tense up muscles and don't relax them you reduce the blood supply to these muscles causing what basically is cramp in them Probably the ones at the top of your back / neck. You then get spasm which spreads to other muscles

Try consciously relaxing your shoulders and rolling both your shoulders and your neck every few minutes

See a sports physio.

Email me and i'll send you a bike fit size guide spreadsheet. It helped sort out my bike fit. me at georgelupton dot com.

some thoughts…

sounds like your core strength is poor and your not able to maintain position for long periods due to fatigue from poor fitting bike

try to relax more and move position more to compensate… not ideal

cant really tell from the picture but the bars could be too narrow, try wider ones

frame too small, too much weight forward over bars numbing hands?

make sure saddle is level, if you cant support your weight on saddle without bars your going to have issues

in that pic saddle too high for sure

What's the pain like when you're on the drops?

Edit: I'm not convinced by Spesh BG gloves either for what it's worth

Everyone else is having a go, so I might as well too;

Pain in your hands, arms, shoulders, neck etc all stem from having too much weight on your hands. The reason you are ok mountain biking is that you sit back a bit more on the MTB.

Your saddle does look too high, which also encourages you to tilt forwards.

Remedy; saddle down and back.

This will also extend the reach on the bike, and you might benifit from a shorter stem until you get used to it.

You are aiming for a position where, when on the hoods or on the drops, you can let go of the bars without falling forwards.

Lose all the padded stuff as well; by making your hands comfy, you are encouraged to take more weight on them.

You should be able to ride with both index fingers as your only support on the bars; not trying to do a handstand..

Looking at the picture your bike fit is crap.

Your saddle is about 3" too high, you are too cramped (as you sit too far forward on your bike). This would cause all of your issues.

To ease it a bit, lower your saddle and slide it back on its rails, fit a shorter stem and see how that helps. Perhaps lower your stem too.

Umm – have you considered that it may be hand problem translating to arms and chest. Numbness in hands sound like median nerve compression – carpal tunnel syndrome to you and me. Easy to fix minor op. In the meantime try flat section handlebars – distributes pressure more evenly, and go see your doc.

"Your saddle is about 3" too high"
LOL, you are joking right? 3 inches??? It's less than 1cm higher than I have on my mountain bikes. I might try saddle down and back, but not 3 inches!

I currently have wider bars (46cm) and a shorter (90mm) stem than it that photo. Not helped.

I'm starting to think it's just too short.

I get/used to get very similar problems to you and was very close to selling my road bike due to this. I got it both on my road bike and my mounatin bike.
I tried loads of different things, such as changing my possition (up/down/longer/shorter), got measured by a bike fitting specialist (turned out my possition was pretty much spot on before I started messing about with it, shorter not always best as it so often made out to be!!!), acupuncture, physio, streghting exercises and the lastest an osteopath. The osteopath has made a huge difference, not sloved it yet but I can now do 3-4 hours on my MTB with no pain and about 2 on the road bike where as before I could only do about 45 mins before the pain hit me.

A lot is to do with stifness in the spine/muscles in your mid back and the the mucles in the shoulders getting shorter and weaker and reduced blood flow.

I would try finding another osteopath, I really can't stress how much better I feel, it's not cheap but better than giving up riding, and will make you alot quicker than say a new pair of wheels e.c.t.

No I'm not joking. In the photo you have your toes fully extended. You want to be doing a similar motion to scraping dog shit off your shoe.

Thanks for all your help.

cyclefit people may help