Originally Posted by YosemiteGirl .
Thanks danfoz! It was about 2 hours in before it got really bad. I have a really awesome licensed physical therapist that specializes in sports (I ride horses so that is how I found her!) that I am going to have work with me on this again, and she said it is mostly concentrated in my right upper trapezius.
I'll ask her, but I'll throw it out to the forum community too since you guys have so much experience - are there any exercises I can do to make the fitness come faster? It is irritating since my legs aren't even really that tight/sore after the right, but my neck/upper trap area is a mess!
Hey, at least you seem to have the business end of the bike setup (saddle) all sorted...
For me setting up the front end of the bike is somewhat counter intuative. For years I always thought that raising the bars and bringing them closer was the way to go to mid to upper back and neck woes. After listening to the likes of John Cobb (ace aerodynamicist and bike fitter) the opposite seems to be true and after trying it, it seems to work. It's almost like your looking to "balance the back" between the effort of your legs as you push down with the rest being done by your arms.
The changes don't have to be all that big to make a difference and sometimes you can even try them out without having to make a physical change to the bike. If you normally ride on top of the brake hoods with the thumb/first finger either side of the lever then something as simple as resting the bottom of your hand in the same place and grabbing hold of the "nub" ontop of the brake lever with your bottom few fingers will move your hands out an inch or so and give you a temporary stretch. Go for a ride and when you're cruising get in that position and see how it goes. Likewise, if you currently spend most of the time with your hands on the bar tops then move them to the regular position on the brake hoods.
Of course, women are built a little differently than guys and not just in the obvious ways. Most bike fitters are used to fitting guys who tend to have longer torso's and arms - womens specific bikes tend to be shorter for this reason. Your bike fitter may not take this into account. If you try the things I pointed out above and they get worse then this is likely the case but it somewhat highlights the sometimes haphazzard nature of "bike fitting" Everyone is different and sometimes is a game of trial and error.
One thing to avoid is locking out your elbows. Sure, we all do it at some point especially when we're toast but it's not good for the upper body especially if the roads are a little bumpy.
Another little thing that might make a difference. If you're pretty small and fairly light then running a little less pressure in the front tires might help. 110psi might work fine and dandy for 160lb guys but that might be a little much for the lighter weight folk around here. Of course a gentleman would never ask a womans weight but this is something that you might want to look into. The late, great Sheldon Brown had lots to say on the matter:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html
The section "pressure recommendation" has a handy dandy little chart. This references the weight (load) on the wheel, not the total weight on the bike. Make use of the LA yellow pages and stuff it under your back wheel and you put the front on your bathroom scales. Sit on the bike and see what it says...