I once read a quote somewhere regarding cycling and it went some way
along the lines of 'Your back's supposed to hurt,isnt it?'

I dont know about around the kidneys but I know whenever I used to
ride my 'good bike' I would always get back pain in the left lower
back area - every race. And towards the end of races i would be
arching my back,strectching it to gain some relief. Like the quote
above - I just accepted it. However my training bike never had the
same problem and I could ride any amount of miles on that no bother.
It lead me to believe that it must be position on the bike or
measurements etc. Although as far as I could tell, the saddle height
etc was exact across all my bikes.

I still get bad backs now - but that is partly due to riding home with
a rucksack, sometimes full of shopping (well some of those deals in
Morrisons are too good!!!) I think the record weight for my rucksack
was 1 stone 4lb! All good training - but then, Im from the old skool
of what doesnt kill you makes you stronger!!

On another note, one thing which has concerned me but i have always
been plagued by this problem and thats my left shoulder. When Im right
on the rivet and suffering, I quite regularily get a sharp shooting
pain in the top of my left shoulder.... I once read in a book 'Sports
Health Handbook' that pain is the bodys warning signal but doesnt
necessarily mean in the place of the pain. It gave examples of left
arm pain - heart (as everyone knows) and left shoulder pain could be
spleen problems..... curious!
Has anyone else in here any similar aches and pains

Dr Micky G.T.F