Too late. I did 15 miles yesterday on my Schwinn Varsity with tourist bars. I felt 100% fine during and after the ride, so I did our club's breakfast ride this morning, on my Raleigh Marathon with drop bars. When I went down into the drops I could really feel the pull on my back and feared that taking a bike with drop bars was a big mistake. After 42 miles and a hot shower, though, I feel fine.

The soreness I've feeling at this point is clearly in the "muscle ache" category and not spasms or anything worse. I think I'm just gonna have to ride through it. The two concessions I'm making are that I am not standing on the pedals to accelerate, and I'm staying a gear or two lower than I normally would to keep the rpms up and the forces on my legs and back down.

I bet if I had physical therapy for this they'd have me on a stationary bike anyways. The first day I took a bike out (Wednesday night), I was a little sore the next day. The last two rides which involved extended periods of moderate pedaling (especially coming home; I live "up hill" from my usual haunts) seem to be working out the kinks.

And oh GAWD does it feel good.