ISPringle

Anyone else get dizzy when you spend too much time at a high effort in the drops?

Before I go into any detail, I'm going to go to a doc. soon so I'll talk to him about it then, but I figured I'd ask here in the mean time, as I suspect it may be an issue with fitting/form

When I ride at a high cadence while also in the drops, with my head and eyes looking forward I get dizzy. I can fix this problem in one of two ways, either by lowering my head and looking about a meter in front of my tire or by slowing down the cadence/reducing my effort.

Because of the connection with the angle of my head I thought it may be that my form is bad or my fit is bad, which is why I figured it may be a decent idea to ask you guys, since a doctor probably won't know anything about that stuff, and I doubt my insurance wants to cover me seeing a sports doc.

linnefaulk

I would see a chiropractor. You might be pinching a nerve when you bend your neck like that.

Vicegrip

Just a guess based on personal experience. I bet you are constricting the blood flow to your brain. I have about a 3 inch drop between the seat and bar height and ride in the drops 90% of the time at least. I can do just the same thing by bending my neck way up as if looking at the sky while in the drops. As soon as I lower my head a bit it goes away. The harder i am hammering the easier it is to do. Makes me fee a bit out of breath too. I can also do just the same thing by gently pressing on the sides of my neck without bending it at all. Check your back angle and drop your shoulders can help. Less upper body workouts too. I break the rules and work out my upper body. More shoulder mass does not help.

hueyhoolihan

agree. a very typical and immediate symptom of hypoxia. see wiki... then the doc. it helps to have some idea of what may be the problem so as to better inform the doc of your symptoms.

StanSeven

What's the advantage of riding 90% in the drops then?

ISPringle

Yeah that's what I was thinking too. I tried to recreate it by looking straight up, but nothing happened, I think I'll give it a go on a stationary bike or something and see if I can recreate it.

But the good news is, I'm already ahead of you on the upper body thing, I don't do any upper body workouts! I got enough muscles up there to make my pecs move, and that's enough to satisfy me.

Vicegrip

I would guess less aero drag. I seem to ride in the drops more than those that ai ride with for the same kind of riding and ride a bit lower to the top tube. Just chugging along is in the drops and I tend to be the last to come up on the hoods when climbing. Don't make effort to ride the drops for any reason other than it just seems to feel right. I can place both palms flat on the floor so I guess I might a bit more bendy than the standard Fred/MAMIL.

But we digress....

ISPringle

I do the same, which is mostly why this concerns me. If I didn't ride in the drops the majority of a ride I wouldn't be as worried. For me it's honestly more comfortable. I have a strong core, both front and back, and I am very flexible. My core is from when I used to weight lift semi-competitively and my flexibility is a super power I was born with and have never had to work at. I find sitting more up right hurts my hands more in longer rides, so I've just decided drops for the win.

A little update. Went for a ride today. I tried to replicate this, and while I could, I found that by lowering my shoulders closer to the bar and sort of extending my neck forward, rather than just bending it up, I eliminated all dizziness problems. So perhaps it is just posture, which is really good because it may take me a few months to see a doc., apparently it's very difficult to get a physical when you don't have a primary care doc...