Riding in the drops question...
 

I have a CX bike which I love due to it's comfort and fit but have a question about my reach with the drop handle bar. Not knowing what a true road bike feels like, I was wondering how should my bike fit when riding in the drop but in the "tuck" position like when you are trying to go downhill fast. It feels like my elbows are too close to my hips and rather cramped. Is this normal or should I be a little more stretched out? Keep in mind that I have a CX bike that is a little more upright and feels perfect to me except when I tuck in. A longer stem will help in my tucks but will it ruin my comfort and ability to go up hills effortlessly? I guess I might need to try one out but trying to find out what "normal" is...

You could also switch to bars with a longer reach or more drop -- that would minimize the impact on your position when riding on the top of the bars.

Long descent like Mt Tam in Marin County?

What length is your current stem? The one that grants you the "ability to go up hills effortlessly"?

Gotta get me some of those!

How close are your elbows to your hips? Will a reasonable change in stem length alleviate the discomfort?

If your elbows are next to your hips, that seems awfully cramped. Try a longer stem.

Back in the day...30 some years ago...I rode mostly in the drops and set my bikes up for best that way. Today I prefer/use a more upright position, ride on the hoods and rarely in the drops, and....set my bikes up for best that way and the drops are not optimum. Can't have it both ways I'd think. Do what works overall best for you would be my advice.

wider handlebars that flare out in the drop position?

Elbows overlapping your knees is pretty common when in a tuck on the drops.

Now, if you like your position climbing, that suggests you like where your hips and shoulders are. There is something you can play with that will make the feel descending quite different but will not appreciably change your comfort climbing (or yhour aerodynamics going fast). You can rotate your handlebar location up and forward about and arc centered at your shoulder ball. Don't rotate the handlebars; you seem to have them set up nicely. Instead, think about your position as a viewer would see it from the side. Your arms are basically sticks you can bend at the elbows and that you can swing about the balls of your shoulders. As you swing them forward, your hands come up, in a near flat arc over a say 6" distance. Now to simplify things, you can replace that arc with a slanted straight line. For me, that straight line would have a slope of roughly two cms forward over 1 cm up. In fact, quite conveniently, it is closer to 2 cm forward and one cm up and back along the line of the headtube, steerer and stem.

This means I can set up a bike with say a 11 cm stem slammed or raise it 1 cm and go to a 13 or raise it 2 cm and go to a 15. They all work. And guess what? As you do this with your bars, your elbows are doing the same thing to a lesser degree and pulling away from your knees.

This "Rule of thumb" is only dead simple with traditional horizontal stems. But it works regardless. If you have a threadless setup, sketch out what you have with a ruler and protractor, then place a mark one cm up and back from your current handlebar tops along a line parallel to your headtube and 2 cms forward horizontally. Draw a line between your current handlebar position and your new mark and beyond. Figure out what stem and spacers you need to put your handlebars at a new location on that line and try it.

I have several bikes set up with the handlebars in very different places along that line. The bikes are quite different and fell quite different but all climb like customs (fitwise - several are not light at all workhorses!). And all feel right from the start, even if my last ride was on another bike. (I do have to think about where my bars are the first time I ride no-handed. I have forgotten and missed!

Document what you've got before you change anything. any setup that climbs effortlessly is a keeper. Best dimensions are vertically and horizontally from the bottom bracket to the tops of your handlebars and from the BB to either the nose or a place you can find again for your seat. (I like to put a piece of tape halfway between the nose and back. Easy to find again, little affected by changes of tilt and pretty close to my sitbones, the point that matters. I have even made permanent marks there on my seats.)

Ben

Thanks all for your inputs. I meant to say my elbows are close to my knees and not my hips.

Ben had an interesting point where I could increase my stem length and still keep the same bent ratio if I add some height to steerer tube. Will think about trying that. Not sure if my steerer tube has enough height to add spacers though. Will need to check.