genejockey 

Update you don't need on a story you don't care about: I finally took the Ritchey out for a ride with the new stem and bars. First thing I noticed is it felt "taller", which is odd because I measured and adjusted the height of the bars to exactly match what it had been. Second thing I noticed was that, instead of the bar blocking my view of the front hub while in the drops, the hub is clearly visible behind the bar - which I guess makes sense, since the stem is 1 cm longer, but the bar has 7mm less reach. This is a little disconcerting because I've always used 'bar blocks view of hub' as an indicator of proper position.

After 8 miles. I rotated the bars down. That was a bit too much, so 4 miles later I turned them back up about halfway. The rest of the ride, about 8 miles, was into the wind, so I spent most of that distance in the drops or on the top of the hoods, which felt pretty good. No lower back issues, reach to brakes felt right, hands comfy on the drops.