Back of neck to my head is sore

irahelp

Since these long rides and always looking up all the time to see where im going or looking at power meter. The back of my neck is sore for days on in as well as back of my head. I don't remember being this way last year. Of course I never bike that long ever week neither.  Is this a riding position problem of having to look up all the time to see where im going or what.  Any changes that need to be made would be helpful?

Steven Ford

Two things to look for is bike fit and sunglasses, if your not fitted right you are working hard to see which is causing strain. I know some people have talked about sunglasses affecting the way the look down the road cause of the frames getting in the way.

 

My 2 cents

 

Coach Rich

It's a training adaptation, ie, the more you do it the better it gets, as your neck muscles get used to it. I have a pair of "training sunglasses," with a frame, that I wear that force me to look up the road and strain my neck. Then I have a pair of racing sunglasses, with no frame, so I don't have to look up so much on race day.

irahelp

what kind of racing sunglasses are you recomending?

Coach Rich

Cheap and anything that doesn't have a frame. I found a pair of Tifosi's (?) on the IMAZ bike course while spectating. Picked them up and they seem to be working for me when I ride with them.

Michele Cellai

On Matt Ancona's suggestion I picked up frameless sunglasses to wear with aero helmet. Now I wear them always on the bike. That said, I look up a lot more in training than I did in the race. It takes many weeks for my neck to tolerate riding the TT bike outside. This year it took the entire summer. I did OS on my road bike and only switched to TT bike in May, 6 weeks out from first race of season. In the mean time- massage every 2 weeks with literally half the time spent on my neck and traps.