Neck gets sore when biking...

I'm going to assume this is a road bike...

Many things cause a pain in the neck :-)

I've had the same sort of neck pains, especially when I first started riding and if I ride a lot. Aero position makes it worse.

See a PT for real medical answers, but my armchair guess is you need to strengthen yourrhomboid muscles. I have had that as well as a weak trapezius, specifically the upper fibers.

http://www.criticalbench.com/exercises/rhomboid-exercises.htm
http://www.criticalbench.com/back-muscles.htm

The last four months I've been doing shoulder shrugs and rows in the gym, and it's been getting much better.

Other things to think about:

Are you leaning too hard on your arms? You should be holding much of your weight with your core muscles. If you have weak core muscles then you can't hold your upper body up, you lean on your arms, your shoulders and back hold your body up, and bingo neck pain.

Does your bike fitt? It's easy to they lean too far forward because you're too stretched out (frame too big, stem too long, seat too far back).

Are you sitting firmly on the seat? Many people lean forward and even lift themselves slightly up with their leg muscles because they don't put their full weight on the seat.

When riding, do you "push back" or "hold up" your upper body with your shoulders? That can be very exhausting. I've worked to not hold my body up but to let it drop down between my arms. Sort of hard to explain, but I hope you get the idea.

Yes, (assuming that you don't have a serious bike fit problem) it's normal. Every part of your body has to adjust to riding a bike. If you regularaly ride 10 miles and then the day that you ride 15 (50% more), your rear and neck and arms will probably hurt and be sore. IMO, if you want to be a serious bike rider, rather than doing things to alleiviate these normal pains (like a new seat, more shorts padding, etc), it's better to ramp up miles very slowly and let your body adjust naturally.

I can remember when I returned to bike training 2.5 years ago having these pains at 15 miles. Now I can ride 100 miles completely pain-free one day, recover overnight, and do another long ride the next day.

I would add, I had the same pain when I first got my bike last year.  I took it to a LBS and they put me on a trainer.  Then after a few minutes they said I was not forward enough.  They changed my 90mm to a 120mm.  I have not had the pain since.

Joe

It does sound like a poor fit. From you description it sounds like too short reach (increase by a longer stem or in worst case, new bike) or that the handle bars are too low for you (you can add spacers under the stem if you have enough steering tube left or flip the stem to get a high position, or again worst case scenario, new bike). This is the exact reason why I always recommend getting a bike fit BEFORE getting a bike... hopefully it's an easy fix and you can get comfortable on this bike, but worst case scenario is that you can't...

Also, keep working on your core and flexibility (especially the glutes, hamstrings and lower back). This will help a lot of neck pain.

I have the same pain occasionally. Especially if I zone out and keep my head down. I assumne it's worse on the left, because i'm always looking over my left shoulder for cars coming up behind.

Thanks for all the suggestions, i'll keep putting time in the saddle and work on my posture and core.

I just bought a new bike, so hopefully the bike fit is fine....They adjusted a few things (wider handle bars, higher handle bar postion, etc.), so i'm pretty comforatable with the fit.  I'm sure there may be some small adjustments along the way.

I may try to take the visor off the helmet and see if that helps.

In the meantime, i'll keep biking along and see what gets better and get more comforatble with the bike.

Most likely due to improper fit/need more time in the saddle, as others have said, but something else to think about: How often do you crane your neck to look for traffic? What about signaling?

I started getting neck pain on my right side a while back. Brought it up after a ride, and someone said it was due to improper fit...

BUT THEN, someone else said it might be because I was craning my neck to the right to check for traffic and signaling with my right arm, and I wasn't used to that (traffic is backwards in Japan). Sure enough, I started noticing how it flared up more when I was getting ready to make a turn.

Not convinced it is the cause, I'm still going to have my fit checked out, but something to think about.

Edited by BurghGuy 2009-09-11 9:29 AM