During rides/races when I put out a hard effort in the drops or even riding in the drops for a long time I feel lower back pain. It usually happens after a hard effort where I need to push a big gear, or a while into the race when I have been riding in the drops for a while. It goes away somewhat when I ride on the hoods, but once I go back down to the drops, or start to push a hard gear to accelerate I can feel it again. I am young (16) and I was wondering what some good excersises or routines where that I could do to stop this. This is stopping me from being able to give a full all out effort during the end of the race and making me very uncomfortable. I have been doing hamstring stretching and some core excersises but I wanted to know more cycling specific stuff or a good routine. Thanks.

I think you will benefit greatly from strengthening your core. This is your abs and lower back. I'm deffinately no expert here, but Im pretty sure this is the area that your legs are pushing against as you pedal. Google exercises to strenghten this area.

3 sets of 20 reps. When you are coming up twist your trunk to the right and then to you left on the next one. As you progress use an inverted incline board. And/or hold a weight to your chest while doing crutches.

A good stretch after a ride or crunches to help is to just bend at the waist while holding onto a table or top tube of the bike with your arms fully outstretched and then bend your trunk until you feel the tension in you abs back and arms. Hold for about 30 seconds.

As for stretching, there are several. And to do it justice, I'd rather recommend a really good basic to intermediate stretching book - "Stretching". the authors last name is Anderson, I don't remember his first name. The edition I have (about 15 years old) is about 8.5" X 12" and has a brown cover with an illustration of a guy stretching on it.

I'd agree with the core strengthining exercises too. Again there are numerous things to learn here. Since you're still there, you might talk to the physical education teacher and track coach at your high school. The track coach is probably the the person who'll come closest to understanding cycling. They should be able to help you find the combination of exercises that will benefit you the most. Some movements work best for one group of people and other movements will work for others.

Last, but not least be sure that your bike position is as good as it can be. You will continue to grow for a few more years, which means your bike position will change for a while.

Good luck
Bob