Bike fit / correct riding position

It's on a Surly so all normal methods go out the window. Think I should just have lowered saddle and not moved back, so gonna put the saddle where it was initially and work from there. Made too many adjustments at the same time.

Moved saddle forward ( to original position) and left seatpost lowered for the homeward commute, hands and wrists didn't ache and undercarriage felt a lot better. Will leave it like this for now, see how I get on. May switch to a rear rack and pannier rather than using my ( rather small ) rucksack, just to get the weight off me and onto the bike. Cheers for the advice chaps.

get the weight off me and onto the bike

Always a good move for on-bike comfort.

Currently have 172.5mm cranks on my TT bike and have the option to get a powermeter with 165mm arms. Any reason why I shouldn't change to shorter arms?

Any reason why I shouldn't change to shorter arms?

You might not be able to reach the handlebars?

I struggle with lower back pain on the bike. It is mainly provoked by pushing hard, but if/when it arises, I'll struggle with it for the rest of the trip, and I may feel it for days after.

When it happens, it feels like the muscles surrounding the point at which the spine connects to the bottom of the V formed by the hips become tonic/do not release/do not get enough bloodflow/have significant lactate build-up or something along those lines.

Standing up on ascents can help if I move my weight from side to side. But on longer rides, it gets stiffer and worse as time goes by, and can really ruin the fun.

I've been trying to lower my saddle, and will lower it further before my next ride tomorrow to test. But now I am at a point where lowering it much more seems to significantly affect my pedalling power.

Any tips?

Hamstring stretches after every ride. Every ride.

Also concentrate on rotating at the hips and not bending the back when riding.

Cool, stretches I’ve been doing, but have (shamefaced) been a little lax for the last few months. As for the hip rotation, I’m already very aware of my hip position from having had lower back pain (also outside riding) for a long time. Physio advise: try to “let down” lower back into a curve the way it naturally tends to do when you slouch a little sitting on a straight backed chair. I’ve been trying to mimic that on the bike as well, but not easy...

Every ride!

Which hamstring stretch do you rate?

the muscles have different aspects, so use a variety of stretches

padangustasana
adho mukha svanasana
supta padangustasana 1 and 2
janu sirsasana

Gesundheit!

Hahaha! DJ: Thanks for suggestions.

If you're gonna stretch your hamstrings, make sure you stretch your quads and hip flexors aswell. This stretch against a wall is a good one. When doing it, tense your glutes for full effect.

Can someone reduce DJ's meds? He's fallen asleep on the keyboard again.

The best one is supposed to be the single leg on a table one but I never had coffee tables in the shower (I know, how did I cope) and I'm a sucker for efficiency so I'd just touch my toes with a slight bend at the knees (dropped the soap, again?). At home I'd do a single leg sitting one because you can work each leg separately so you can adjust as needed. It helped my lower back pain a lot in the early days. I'm sure there's some physios doing examples on youtube.

adho mukha svanasana - did a bit of downward dogging (lovin' this thread) in more recent year

janu sirsasana - this is the sitting one

I don't like the other two.

Will try!

I couldn't figure out the single leg sitting one (janu sirsasana), but single leg on chair works a treat, as does bending over, and d-f-d (to an extent). Also find a seated version of a simple "pigeon pose" very good for the glutes/whatever those muscles that connect to the outside backside of the hip are called.

I also used to do a hip flexor stretch and a glute stretch. The hip flexor like the one above without that stupid leg against a wall part and the glute one was lying on my back, ankle over left knee, hands behind left knee, elbow into right knee and pull back with hands while pushing outwards with elbow.

Maybe this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE6mJ0VjK7Y

When it happens, it feels like the muscles surrounding the point at which the spine connects to the bottom of the V formed by the hips become tonic/do not release/do not get enough bloodflow/have significant lactate build-up or something along those lines.

This sounds like exactly what I have, albeit maybe slightly higher up the same group of muscles. They start feeling stiff, contracted and painful over longer distances.

My bike fitter pointed out excessive movement in my lower back during the pedal stroke as the key and suggested that the glutes were not doing their job of stabilising my back. This caused the back muscles themselves to try and take up the slack, hence the pain, stiffness etc.

The solution was stretching and glute exercises (single leg glute bridge, clamshell etc) more than bike adjustment. There does seem to be some improvement if I do these both before and after time on the bike

My god this was painful! Tense hip flexors from hell...

Cool! Will see if I can find those exercises.

That video is the one I do sitting on a chair, I find it easier to use my upper body to push down than my arm(s) to pull against me.

Sounds about right! You should deffo do it if you're stretching your hamstrings, as your pelvis will get pulled further forward if you've got loose hamstrings but tight quads/hip flexors.

If you want a good glute stretch, here's one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qby3ZsiidMY

Uses a wall, but you don't need to put any effort in at all to get a really good stretch.