Originally Posted by
oldbobcat
Before you go spending money on shorter/higher stems, you need to get your weight off your hands. You have too much weight on your hands because your center of gravity is somewhere forward of your feet and your death grip on the handlebar is the only thing keeping your face off the pavement.
Level the saddle and slide it back to where you can feel your center of gravity over the feet, where you can maintain your riding position with little or no pressure on the hands. This sounds counter-intuitive because it will increase your reach to the handlebar, but you can deal with the reach later. You can't walk, run, jump, skate, ski, hit a golf ball, or fire a gun without your center of gravity over your feet. Riding a road bike is no different.
You will soon find that once the falling-on-the-face sensation is gone, your confidence in your control of the bike will grow, too.
You're absolutely right about needing to get rid of the death grip. I'll try your suggestion on the seat. It's not even a falling-on-my-face sensation, but just scared shi*less of the speed (and I ride a 150cc scooter up and down the mountains here--haven't figured that one out yet).
In my previous response, I said that I wasn't neck sore, but that's not quite true. I did get a crick/soreness in my neck, but I think it goes back to that death grip. Whenever I faced a steep decline, I would tense up until I got to the bottom. I also was never comfortable with my hands in the hoods (?) of the bars (or whatever the underneath area is called) so that may also have added to the problem.
I really don't think the bike is a bad fit since the shop worked w/my measurements and the one in Guad seemed to think it was good when they changed the stem. They had me riding on it as they did the various checks. When I did my trip, I didn't get off of it all sore, etc, but I just never felt comfortable with the low angle (head down, buns up). Maybe this is just something I need to get over with more practice. I'd been "training" on a hybrid with straight bars, so I guess I just didn't transition too smoothly.
BIG thanks for the help and suggestion!
