Very Personal Discomfort as a result of poor bike fit and maintenance?

Sounds like trouble to me.

So today was a Brown Lunch day like you've read about. Apparently so much so that E___, of poop emergency bailout fame, asked me in the middle of last Sunday's ramble if I had any lentils and a stove. I wished I had. But we had 'em today, and it was good. Added a little rice and some tempeh (+ Tabasco for me, which was spicy and reminded me of the poison oak cooking near-disaster) so it went down a treat.
It was Pebble thru the Monterey Mystery Spot, and then down the hill (swoopy twisty quickness) to the usual Frog Pond to Stairs. Overcast and cold in the wind, but with a humidity beneath it. Sun came out in the woods breifly, and it was SPRING! for maybe 20 minutes. L has the camera in the LBC for a conference, so no photos.
Keep wishing I'd changed the slicks for knobbies so we can climb some dirt through Pebble. Maybe tomorrow. Gotta bring some more variety to this whole "ride your bike" thing we've got going on here. It's time to beat the hell out of this trailer. Basically, all I'm sayin' is again with the rides down #50 in Ft. Ord, or whatever.

So. While there's all this riding going on, my brain is rattling around the physical issues I'm left with today, which are: a vague disjointed feeling in my left wrist,




a bigtime (Bigtime) pull in my left Psoas, and general dis-ease in the crotchal zone from lengthy saddle time on a -well, I'll say "Swole" crotch. "You like that? You like that?" (J says to me when he's parroting my parenting with the Golden Rule Style.) And it occurs to me that I'm compensating an awful lot for my played out pedal springs by holding my legs at the hip to reduce the slop. I had just dismissed it as play from the beatdown cleats and shims but I've replaced those and it's still sloppy. And, I'm using 2 pairs of (damn near the same)shoes, and 2 pairs of (the same model, different year)pedals so I just let it all be while I chased the variables down. I'm at pedals, now. Tomorrow I'll ride with flat pedals and check it out.

In part because I've got a recently acquired 3 Day Tour coming up on Monday and I'm thinking hard about gear choices...


At this stage in thinking about this relationship between my physical self and my bike(s) it seems that discomfort (of the very personal kind, but really, is there any other?) can result from A]Bike Fit, i.e. cleat placement or B] Mechanical Issues, i.e. a floaty pedal. And I/you have the following course of action: 1) Diagnosis (of the non-litigious non-medical common sense variety, I'm neither a doctor nor an actor), i.e. "my psoas seems effed up" 2)SelfCare, i.e. rolling on the tennis ball in the right spot, stretching, getting a massage, taking hardcore drugs 3)Maintenance/Fit Change as required. Hope that's remotely clear. It make sense to me and I'll splain it to you for $30. Where are all the damn donations anyway?!?! What a bogus congregation...

Finally. Do you think the Muslims have it all over us because they literally get off their ass 5 times a day and get down to pray? I mean, fundamentally that's got to be gooder for you in a strictly secular/physical sense than sitting on your self all day and then once a week hitting your knees. If that's how you roll...I know we all roll and roll on, and that's Church Service for us, but in general...

Body Massage...GO!

As a therapist, it hits so close to home...soon I'll see y'all at the races, but first I gotta get a Hummer and some tanktops.

And speaking of Body Massage, lets talk about Pectoralis Major. It matters to us as cyclists. That's the big "Hulk" chest muscle you see so well developed by Lou Ferrigno .It has 3 movements & 3 sets of fibers which perform these movements. 1) The upper fibers of Pec Major pull the arm up and across the chest, 2) The middle fibers of the Pec Major pull the arm straight across the chest, and 3) You guessed it, the lower fibers pull the arm down and across the chest. Performing the opposite of these 3 actions is a good idea for us as people( but even more specifically as cyclists) because fundamentally: STRETCHING IS A GOOD IDEA.

And. Plus. Moreover, a common problem we see in our profession/obsession (& many others as well that tend to put the body in a forward head, rounded shoulder posture- with the shoulders and arms suspended in front) is a process called Adaptive Shortening (AS). AS is defined as a tightness that occurs as a result of the muscle(s) remaining in a shortened position for an extended period of time. Sound like you and yours? Unless the opposing muscle(s) are able to pull the part back to natural position or some outside force (Stretching...) is exerted to lengthen the short muscle, it will remain in a shortened condition. Meaning that just because you're not holding the bars anymore, your muscles which have been engaged for extended periods will not fully ease up and return to their full length on their own. They will hold the shape they've assumed during your long exertion. This WILL become chronic if unadressed, and has potential to alter the shape of our bodies. Those geezers walking around hunched & stooped? Not all of that is osteoporosis- much is due to chronic muscle contraction. Now I get to say: "Wolf's Law formulates that bones react to external forces so as to conform to them", which means your skellington will adapt to whatever pull or friction, etc. it is subject to, and change for reals. Formulating theories, postulating equations. Dropping science like Gallileo dropped a orange...And by geezer, I mean you personally. If you're 22 and think this is putting the beach in a sack, just you wait, Slappy. Age or die, the choice is yours. This process doesn't happen overnight, it takes time.

One of the imbalances we experience in our profession/obsession are tight/shortened Pec Major, Pec Minor (what a sleeper, and the subject for another day)& Serratus Anterior (another sleeper seldom adressed in casual massage). All pull the shoulders forward & protract the scapula. This creates overstretched and weakened Rhomboids (chevron shaped muscles in our upper-mid back which retract, or pull back towards the spine, our scapulae) Infraspinatus & Teres Minors (again Sleepy PeePee.)

What we need to do for ourselves (or trade money to a therapist with a sense of humor & touch to do for us) is: a) Stretch the Pecs & Serratus Anterior (more of a Spiderman type muscle- the muscley fingers reaching around from back to front under the Pecs along the ribs). Quality massage and stretching of these muscles in front will "take a load off" the muscles in back (typically the ones to feel sore or tender) and allow them to regain some of their natural/balanced positioning. Bob Anderson's book, Stretching is a great resource. Yoga is real nice, too.And, b) strengthen the back-Rhomboids, Mid Traps, Infraspinatus & Teres Minor muscles. See your Trainer for expert advice on the strengthening...but I'd hazard a guess that flys would help in this regard. And now's a great time to start/be doing some weight training. Or heavy drinking, as you like. If you feel this might be you, DON'T have (or let) your therapist dig into your back-these muscles are already overstretched and weak (which is one reason they may hurt). Any deep massage or overstretching will further relax/stretch/weaken them. They need strengthening before massaging or stretching deeply.

As for me...on long tours, I've found I can get nice release (yeah,yeah) by placing my fist next to my spine as high up my back as possible and pushing in with it while pulling the same shoulder rearwards and arching my back. But that's me, and when I get all excited and tell my accomplices that, it doesn't always work for them and they look at me like I have 3 heads (instead of the normal 2). But I hang around some real degenerates, and it's worth a try for your sake, if only because they probably can't follow those kind of specific instructions. Or they're resentful, surly and frequently drunk...

So. Stretch yoself, Fool!