Overdoing it

I’m concerned about the setup of my new bike, but I don’t know enough about frame geometry to really know what to do about it.

I’m noticing that my forearms are really getting tired when I ride. Much more so than when I ride either on flat bars or on drops aimed a little farther down. I have to reach a bit more to get at my brakes, and that may have something to do with it. On the other hand, my latest theory of bodybuilding is that all I need are shoulders and forearms and everything else can just go to hell. So if I’m overtiring my forearms, that’s a good thing, right?

What’s a little more disturbing is that I’ve been noticing strain starting in my lower back and all the way down into my groin. This could be in part due to riding with a shoulderbag with the weight mostly on my back, but I’ve never had this kind of strain before, and it doesn’t feel like tired muscle, it feels different, like a muscle that’s been overstretched.

I kinda wish I knew more about my anatomy and about the physics that go into frame geometry.

That said, I did kinda go after some steeper hills last night on the way home than I have in a while. The gearing of the bike has a lot more low-end than my racing bike does, so I figured that I could handle it. I climbed up to the top of Nob Hill from my office in Fisherman’s Wharf just for kicks. The tough part was Sacramento between Stockton and Mason, then I went around Grace Cathedral to take Jones up to Jones and Sacramento, having given myself a little rest on California and on Taylor.

But this is perplexing: how did I strain my groin bicycling?