ROADHOUSE ATLANTA
HOW ’ S YOUR
BACK ?
BY : T . R .
Picture this with me . You ’ re leisurely riding on the open road . Maybe you ’ re on a journey to somewhere specific or maybe to nowhere at all . Either way , you ’ re on your way to having a big time , or at least that was the plan . Then , out of the blue , your back starts hurting . You ’ ve never had a back injury , nor have you had any back problems , chronic or otherwise . Do you know why ? Do you know any preventative measures you can take ? Although you may have been riding for years , you may not know how to take care of your back while riding .
Most of the time if a rider has lower back , neck , and shoulder pain ; they ’ ve got a problem with tension in their muscles . It might not even be the fault of whatever is sore . Muscles are connected , so if you are causing tension to one , you are probably tensing many . Really take a good look at how you are when you ride if you ’ ve got any of this confounded pain . If you ’ ve got a strangle hold on the handlebars or have your shoulders up around your ears , you just might be riding a bit more tense than you originally thought . Now that I ’ ve got your attention , I ’ m going to teach you a little something about how to prevent riding pain . Take my word for it , if you just follow a few simple rules of thumb , your rides could end up being again … and maybe even pain free .
First , posture is always important , ( your mom probably told you growing up ). Even when you make the effort to keep your spine straight , your back may be “ giving out ” while on a long ride . The biggest part of having good rider ’ s posture is where you ’ re handlebars and foot pegs are relative to both you and each other . They gave this the fancy term , “ ergonomics ”. Hell , they ’ ve got ergonomic keyboards , fishing rods , hand tools , tooth brushes , and just about every other thing out there . I ’ m here to tell you that there ’ s ergonomics in motorcycles as well . It all starts with the style of bike we choose to ride
On a cruiser , like you see most bikers on , the rider is slightly reclined with his or her feet positioned ahead of the knees , and the handlebars are generally higher than on a standard bike . The reclined position opens up hips and helps to prevent lower back and hip pain caused by tight hip flexor muscles . But reclining on a bike also causes problems if you ’ re going above a low or moderate speed , as on a highway . To keep the air pressure pushing you back , you need to lean forward by pulling on the handlebars . This can cause shoulder , neck , and upper back strain . On the other hand some riders like to have their handlebars high enough for their hands to be at head level with their elbows hanging down . It surely looks pretty tough , but high handlebars can cause shoulder pain . Then you ’ re tough as nails look can end up causing strains and spasms that turn twistin ’ and grinnin ’ into grittin ’ and cursin ’.
To help keep this from happening , handlebars should be high enough to prevent the rider from having to overreach ( strain ) or bend forward to use them . For instance , if you have shoulder or upper back pain riding a standard bike , you might need to raise your handlebars . If you ’ re one who has lower back and hip pain , it might be because of improper foot peg placement . You see , if the pegs are set too far back , your upper body will pitch forward and your hips will have to work hard to keep your legs in place . Also , foot pegs should be close enough to the rider to properly support the leg . If they are too far away , the leg and hip muscles will need to work to keep the leg from falling . This unnecessary muscle use can cause strain in the hips , legs and lower back . Taking that a step further , you can prevent a lot of the back , neck , and shoulder pain just by reminding yourself to loosen your grip and keep your shoulders relaxed .
Considering that many call riding “ wind therapy ”, it ’ s probably not a great idea to add tension into the mix . After all , the whole point is to eighty-six the tension that life crams down your throat every day so we can put off losing our minds a bit longer . In the end , if you take the time to learn what might be causing your pain on two wheels , there ’ s a better than average chance that you can do something prevent it too . Then we can all get back on track trying to find that big time . Resources include author : Ameel and Back pain soultions
32 Thunder Roads Magazine Louisiana / Mississippi | November 2017 | www . thunderroadslams . com
2017 Rally Wrap up
On September 21st through the 24th we attended the first Louisiana Rumble Rally in Arcadia , La . This was a 21 and over adult rally and was definitely not for the faint at heart ! Bikers and campers came from all over to join in the party which included some of the oldest biker games ever to be played at a rally . Some of the stage contests were , Best ass Contest , Peach eating contest , Wet T shirt contest , Pole dance contest , Pantyhose bowling , worst tattoo , and a hilarious group of performers for the Sexy devil contest .
A few of our Thunder Roads Crew attended and in our opinion the bands were the best and made for a great weekend . My personal favorite was Tom Rhodes and the band Road House Atlanta , and The Hillbilly Orchestra from Texas . There were some awesome food vendors , and a special “ bar on wheels ” where the drinks were made to order by one of the most entertaining bartenders I personally ever experienced . Fun and games were had by all and I ’ ll tell ya for the first of its kind bike rally in Louisiana , these promoters did an amazing job . It doesn ’ t stop here though . By popular demand , the promoters decided to do it again in the spring of 2018 ! Reserve your spots now for the weekend of April 26th through the 29th @ www . louisianarumble . com – See ya next year !
ROADHOUSE ATLANTA