Pain in lower abdomen after cycling with drop bars

[aynjrz]

I wonder if anyone can suggest anything to help with this. I put drop bars on my bike a few months ago, having been unhappy with the swept-back bars I had been using before that. While I like the drop bars in many ways, I've found that riding with them causes pain/soreness in my lower abdomen - between the navel and groin, roughly. It usually begins several hours after finishing a ride, and happens even after rides of only a couple of miles. It's not severe pain, but I feel the effects for quite a few days after riding, and it affects my ability to walk and carry. I've persisted with this for a few months, without any improvement.

I will probably have to change to straight bars - I know from previous experience that a riding position where my hands are level with the end of the stem is OK for me. However, before I give up on drop bars completely, I wanted to ask if anyone could suggest anything else to try.

The drop bars are about an inch or so lower than the seat, and about 2 inches above the top tube at their highest point (it's an older bike, with a level top tube).

I'm grateful for any advice.

 

[pawl]

I had a pair of shorts labelled as med which were actually large.,the pad was causing me a similar pain to that you describe.I think it was pressing on my groin.

Using my usual med shorts give me no problems

 

[aynjrz]

Thanks for the suggestion - I don't use any bike-specific clothing, though, and I don't think I'm wearing anything that's having that effect.

 

[Globalti]

Sounds to me as if you may be causing bruising or irritation to the pubic bone or area.

Please answer:

1 - Are you not wearing proper cycling shorts at all?

2 - Are you a girlie or a chap?

3 - Can you post a picture of the bike taken from the same height as the saddle, from the side, against a plain backgound?

4 - Can you post a picture of yourself on the bike, taken from the side, in your normal riding position, leaning against a wall?

Posting pictures from your mobile or laptop is easy, see the "upload a file" option below.

 

[aynjrz]

OK - here are the photos. I'm male. I always cycle in normal clothes (the way I'm dressed in the photo is quite representative), but I don't cycle long distances (20 miles is the absolute max), or go at great speed. I don't use padding or anything like that.

Although I know I mentioned the groin in my original post, the pain/discomfort feels more as though it's in the belly - from a little above the navel down to perhaps 1.5 inches below it. I don't feel as though bruising or irritation is involved - there's certainly no visible sign of it.

 

[vickster]

Presume you don’t have a hernia that is being impacted by Cycling position?

 

[Serge]

Caveat: I'm about as far from a cycling expert as you can be and still have a pulse.

But: your saddle angle looks wrong to me. The front of the saddle looks far too high. Levelling it may help, you're stomach muscles may be constricted by having your hips tilted so far.

Please feel free to shoot me down in flames!

 

[aynjrz]

vickster: I don't think so - I actually mentioned this problem to my doctor, and he didn't suspect anything medically sinister.

Serge: That's an interesting point, and I think I'll experiment with that a bit - thank you! In the past with this bike, I've often felt a little as though I was sliding forward off the seat, and so got in the habit of tilting the seat back a bit. However, that habit predates the drop bars. This is the first bike I've ridden as an adult, and I probably don't have a clear idea what a comfortable bike should feel like.

 

[Globalti]

The saddle is tilted waaaay too far back. It should be flat or a degree or two up at the nose. It also looks too low. This means you are riding in a scrunched up position, meaning your stomach muscles are struggling to keep everything together, which might explain the pain. Alternatively, as I suspected from your first post, you are bruising your pubic bone thanks to the too-high saddle nose.

With respect, wearing those clothes you are never going to be a "sports" cyclist and a road bike setup is not what you need. Somebody has fitted that poor bike with a rising stem and tilted the bars and hoods too far back then dropped the saddle in an attempt to make it feel more like a flat-bar roadster. That doesn't suit the bike; on a sports road bike the bars ought to be a little lower than the saddle allowing the rider to adopt a more aerodynamic position. I would suggest you go and buy a flat-bar bike, generally called a hybrid nowadays, from a proper bike shop, not a bike supermarket, that can get you properly set up with the right frame and seat height.

Alternatively get the bike shop to fit you with a modern sports road bike that was built to take drop bars. The lower position will mean your arm and shoulder muscles will ache for a while but the body adapts to new strains and it won't be long before you are enjoying the higher speeds that come with the lower posture and more efficient saddle postion and height. If you want to continue wearing clothes that soak up rain and flap in the wind, at least get some padded cotton under shorts to pad your saddle area.

 

[Kajjal]

If you put a spirit level on the ground to make sure it is flat and then use it to set your saddle level. If you can’t find flat ground just set the saddle to the same reading as the ground which means it will be flat. Having the saddle tilted too far back will put pressure on your lower back and muscles as they work to compensate.

 

[mickle]

Are you wearing a big fancy cowboy style belt buckle? Like maybe a pair of guns crossed over the stars and stripes? Or a map of the USA and maybe Florida is jabbing you in the crotch?

 

[Globalti]

There's another problem with that saddle - fat squishy saddles may feel comfortable in the shop but they don't take the weight on your sit bones, which is where your weight is supposed to be carried. Instead the sit bones sink in and the weight is transferred to soft tissue, which is not supposed to be weight-bearing. This causes sweating, chafing and bruising.

PS: This also means that thick squashy shorts pads are not a great idea. My most comfortable shorts have a thin pad, which is more like a felt than a sponge. The pad is supposed to soak up moisture and prevent creasing and folding, not compensate for the wrong shape of saddle.

 

[mickle]

You've got an adjustable stem on there which gives you a fantastic opportunity to fanny about with bar position.

 

[Globalti]

Because the Brooks supports your sit bones by cradling them.

 

[Broadside]

OP- I’m not a doctor but with what you are complaining of i would be getting checked out for a possible hernia.