Stretching after a ride

[sabreguy801]

I am kind of new to the forum so if this has already been discussed, I apologize.

After riding 70-100 miles I get a fair amount of stiffness in my upper back and neck. The obvious thing is to do some stretching of the neck and back during the ride and I try to do that, especially at water breaks. But a day or so after a ride the stiffness is there. Do any of you have any tricks or stretches to prevent/cure this?

 

[DancenMacabre]

Welcome, welcome First thing could be to check the bike fit. I have learned the hard way that you can get away with so-so positioning on short rides. On those 4+ hour rides, every little bit you are off on the bike fit is magnified. Too much weight on your hands? Over extension of the shoulder? Poor saddle position? All these make a difference.

Maybe your bike fit is OK. Then it could be getting used to those hella long rides. How long have you been doing them??? Your butt/shoulders/hands take a while to get used to being onboard for that long. Do it enough though and you will be OK but only if the bike fit is alright. Last tip is to keep stretching while you ride. Oh, you could also vary your hand positions often. On the long rides I kinda like to rotate my hand position often, 5 minutes tops then 5 minutes drops, 5 minutes hoods, etc.

 

[wiredued]

... After riding 70-100 miles I get a fair amount of stiffness in my upper back and neck... But a day or so after a ride the stiffness is there...

Could be bike fit... and/or low sodium high potassium diet maybe... A low sodium vegetarian diet would do this to me even without a long bike ride.

 

[sabreguy801]

Could be bike fit... and/or low sodium high potassium diet maybe... A low sodium vegetarian diet would do this to me even without a long bike ride.

Thanks for the tip. I will recheck the bike fit. But this point is interesting. It hits pretty close to home.

 

[rparedes]

I am kind of new to the forum so if this has already been discussed, I apologize.

After riding 70-100 miles I get a fair amount of stiffness in my upper back and neck. The obvious thing is to do some stretching of the neck and back during the ride and I try to do that, especially at water breaks. But a day or so after a ride the stiffness is there. Do any of you have any tricks or stretches to prevent/cure this?

regarding the stretching issue: "yoga for athletes"; "yoga for inflexible people" are good starting points....
Core strengthening also helps...