Good Pain VS Bad Pain: How To Tell The Difference On The Bike
64K views · Nov 14, 2025 · Sports
Comments · 160
@gcn · 10 months ago · pinned
What's the one piece of advice you wish you'd had about dealing with pain on the bike? Share your experiences below! 👇
5
@philipcooper8297 · 10 months ago
The worst pain I've ever experienced riding a bike was psychological pain from getting dropped by people on MTBs... then I replaced my rear cassette for 11-36t.
92
@billmccaffrey1977 · 10 months ago
You left out two major reasons for pain: scar tissue from injuries and age. I'm 69+ and have had many spinal surgeries and pain has become a part of everyday life. Learning how to manage the pain while staying active is hard but doable. Not all of us are young and injury free.
19
@JimKJeffries · 10 months ago
For me, I was far too intense with bicycling & skiing for a long time in my life. I became far healthier once my goal became simply spending time with the sport I love. Know your/you're love
32
@janwillemkuilenburg7561 · 10 months ago
Perhaps a follow up with a physiotherapist that can explain common muscle and joint pain issues and what to do about it?
16
@Tex735 · 10 months ago
Kinda crazy that you dropped this video right now... Two days ago, I wound up with some pretty nasty lower back pain from a particularly grueling workout where I pushed through the cramping and burning in my dominant side lower back erector muscle during some extended hard efforts. Overuse injury. And now I'm off the bike for a couple of weeks... Got carried away and now I'm paying for it...
8
@martinaxe6390 · 10 months ago
Take those joint pains seriously. March of 2024, I suffered an injury from over training. My knee cap popped out of place. I was out for 6 months, and took three months of physical therapy. In the same leg, I developed Achilles tendinitis in October 2024. Can’t say definitively it was related, but it’s possible. It’s been over a year and I’m still in recovery for the Achilles injury. Today, I did my first 30 mile ride in over a year and a half. I have missed out on a lot of riding.
2
@mistakay9019 · 10 months ago
Hot desking was not on my GCN bingo card this week!
6
@vikindumaquis · 10 months ago
Hey team. Very interesting topic. Personally, I'm extremely undertrained, but I really enjoy ultra-distance races where pain management is a very common issue. I tend to easily ignore pain. Okay, it allows you to go further without training, but pain is supposed to protect us. Listening to your body is how you go far, not fast.
1
@francisprenen · 10 months ago
The expression "no pain, no gain" originates from the world of strength sports. So, muscle pain. Other pain should always be avoided. Often, it's the competitive urge that ultimately leads to the wrong kind of pain. Sometimes it's also a kind of snobbery, wanting to look cool on the bike and adopting a posture that's feasible for young riders but should be avoided later in life. A great video that clearly explains this topic.
2
@StephenRussell-c8v · 10 months ago
Would be good to have further focus on bike fit causes of certain pains, neck and back could be too aggressive position for rider flexibility, knees could be seat too low, hips could be cranks too long, seat too far back, seat too low etc.
6
@seanmorgan4099 · 10 months ago
I have found that my threshold for effort at 60 has diminished enough so that I don’t push myself hard enough to get pain when riding. I know my body and have found if I back off that last 5-10% of effort I can survive and have no pain. I find now my biggest limitation is my maximum heart rate - pushing it over 190 now and I am done !
1
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