Difference in Handlebar width.
 

I have been riding 44 cm handlebars for a very long time. And I have always had sore shoulders after long rides.

I changed my LeMond to a 42 as a test and it made a remarkable difference. No more sore shoulders on the hard rides I've been doing.

Yesterday I rode the Colnago on the metric and when I got back from the ride my right shoulder was so painful I couldn't rotate my elbow above shoulder level.

On Friday I had changed the 100 mm stem on the LeMond to a 120 carbon fiber model that has a full contact front piece. In this process I didn't fully align the stem properly. Today riding out on a short 21 mile recovery ride my LEFT shoulder began hurting and leaning down and looking closely I could see that the stem as only a couple of degrees off perfect. Midway I stopped in a store and got a coffee and then pulled out a multitool and aligned it as well as you could by sight. Riding off the pain was completely gone.

So not only is the bar width pretty important but the alignment has to be a whole more closer than you might had suspected.

Yesterday's Metric had a 14.5 mph average and I had missed breakfast so stopped and got a Breakfast Jack which I sure won't do again. I had a slight stomach ache all day. So I started the ride a little low on energy and the stops sure didn't help any. Trail mix and bananas?

On the second rest stop I had half of one of those plastic glasses of Gatoraide which I also don't like. My brother had showed up early so I didn't have my extra water bottle with Propel in it.

In any case, I'm sure that the stress on me yesterday made me more sensitive to the alignment of the bars today but it did show that the alignment has to be really close.

Difference in Handlebar width.
 

On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 2:44:52 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
I have been riding 44 cm handlebars for a very long time. And I have always had sore shoulders after long rides.

I changed my LeMond to a 42 as a test and it made a remarkable difference.. No more sore shoulders on the hard rides I've been doing.

Yesterday I rode the Colnago on the metric and when I got back from the ride my right shoulder was so painful I couldn't rotate my elbow above shoulder level.

On Friday I had changed the 100 mm stem on the LeMond to a 120 carbon fiber model that has a full contact front piece. In this process I didn't fully align the stem properly. Today riding out on a short 21 mile recovery ride my LEFT shoulder began hurting and leaning down and looking closely I could see that the stem as only a couple of degrees off perfect. Midway I stopped in a store and got a coffee and then pulled out a multitool and aligned it as well as you could by sight. Riding off the pain was completely gone.

So not only is the bar width pretty important but the alignment has to be a whole more closer than you might had suspected.

Yesterday's Metric had a 14.5 mph average and I had missed breakfast so stopped and got a Breakfast Jack which I sure won't do again. I had a slight stomach ache all day. So I started the ride a little low on energy and the stops sure didn't help any. Trail mix and bananas?

On the second rest stop I had half of one of those plastic glasses of Gatoraide which I also don't like. My brother had showed up early so I didn't have my extra water bottle with Propel in it.

In any case, I'm sure that the stress on me yesterday made me more sensitive to the alignment of the bars today but it did show that the alignment has to be really close.

Maybe it was a width change. Maybe a drop change. Maybe a reach change. Bar shapes are varied these days, and you can get super scientific with lever position. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY0RzAT4YI0 I'm more sensitive to reach changes than width changes.

I rode two hours in the pouring rain today and was disappointed in my super-awesome Shower's Pass jacket which probably needs some Nikwax because it has grown leaky with old age (old Elite Pro model superseded by the Spring Classic jacket) Every jacket soaks through after a while, but it happened too fast today. Last week was a "metric" with one stop at Crown Point for a 60 second selfie. https://tinyurl.com/yxu8f7bu I got slaughtered on the way home by a headwind. Low mileage this weekend. Oh well, I'm not training for anything.

Clothes today were Showers Pass base layer (wool/poly), historic 40 year old Kucharik wool long sleeve jersey because its just right under a jacket in fall, my Showers Pass jacket, Amfib tights, so-so neoprene booties, cleats, short gloves and helmet -- which oozed salt and god-knows-what from the sweat band. A good soaking clears out the sweat band. 28mm 4-Seasons on my full-fender Synapse super disc rain bike. My glasses were so wet and fogged that I was descending by Braille. And the steep slopes were like stream beds. At least I didn't get chased by a landslide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ufHp8jcRk&t=54s That road is part of the ride up to Pittock Manson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtXy-UfKDLE&t=28s

-- Jay Beattie.

Difference in Handlebar width.
 

On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 7:58:06 PM UTC-4, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 2:44:52 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
I have been riding 44 cm handlebars for a very long time. And I have always had sore shoulders after long rides.

I changed my LeMond to a 42 as a test and it made a remarkable difference. No more sore shoulders on the hard rides I've been doing.

Yesterday I rode the Colnago on the metric and when I got back from the ride my right shoulder was so painful I couldn't rotate my elbow above shoulder level.

On Friday I had changed the 100 mm stem on the LeMond to a 120 carbon fiber model that has a full contact front piece. In this process I didn't fully align the stem properly. Today riding out on a short 21 mile recovery ride my LEFT shoulder began hurting and leaning down and looking closely I could see that the stem as only a couple of degrees off perfect. Midway I stopped in a store and got a coffee and then pulled out a multitool and aligned it as well as you could by sight. Riding off the pain was completely gone.

So not only is the bar width pretty important but the alignment has to be a whole more closer than you might had suspected.

Yesterday's Metric had a 14.5 mph average and I had missed breakfast so stopped and got a Breakfast Jack which I sure won't do again. I had a slight stomach ache all day. So I started the ride a little low on energy and the stops sure didn't help any. Trail mix and bananas?

On the second rest stop I had half of one of those plastic glasses of Gatoraide which I also don't like. My brother had showed up early so I didn't have my extra water bottle with Propel in it.

In any case, I'm sure that the stress on me yesterday made me more sensitive to the alignment of the bars today but it did show that the alignment has to be really close.

Maybe it was a width change. Maybe a drop change. Maybe a reach change. Bar shapes are varied these days, and you can get super scientific with lever position. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY0RzAT4YI0 I'm more sensitive to reach changes than width changes.

I rode two hours in the pouring rain today and was disappointed in my super-awesome Shower's Pass jacket which probably needs some Nikwax because it has grown leaky with old age (old Elite Pro model superseded by the Spring Classic jacket) Every jacket soaks through after a while, but it happened too fast today. Last week was a "metric" with one stop at Crown Point for a 60 second selfie. https://tinyurl.com/yxu8f7bu I got slaughtered on the way home by a headwind. Low mileage this weekend. Oh well, I'm not training for anything.

Clothes today were Showers Pass base layer (wool/poly), historic 40 year old Kucharik wool long sleeve jersey because its just right under a jacket in fall, my Showers Pass jacket, Amfib tights, so-so neoprene booties, cleats, short gloves and helmet -- which oozed salt and god-knows-what from the sweat band. A good soaking clears out the sweat band. 28mm 4-Seasons on my full-fender Synapse super disc rain bike. My glasses were so wet and fogged that I was descending by Braille. And the steep slopes were like stream beds. At least I didn't get chased by a landslide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ufHp8jcRk&t=54s That road is part of the ride up to Pittock Manson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtXy-UfKDLE&t=28s

-- Jay Beattie.

I remember way back in the 1980s reading about adjusting bicycle fit and the experts said to adjust one thing at a time and do the adjustments in small increments so you could tell afterwards which change helped or made things worse.

Cheers

Difference in Handlebar width.
 

On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 7:58:06 PM UTC-4, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 2:44:52 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
I have been riding 44 cm handlebars for a very long time. And I have always had sore shoulders after long rides.

I changed my LeMond to a 42 as a test and it made a remarkable difference. No more sore shoulders on the hard rides I've been doing.

Yesterday I rode the Colnago on the metric and when I got back from the ride my right shoulder was so painful I couldn't rotate my elbow above shoulder level.

On Friday I had changed the 100 mm stem on the LeMond to a 120 carbon fiber model that has a full contact front piece. In this process I didn't fully align the stem properly. Today riding out on a short 21 mile recovery ride my LEFT shoulder began hurting and leaning down and looking closely I could see that the stem as only a couple of degrees off perfect. Midway I stopped in a store and got a coffee and then pulled out a multitool and aligned it as well as you could by sight. Riding off the pain was completely gone.

So not only is the bar width pretty important but the alignment has to be a whole more closer than you might had suspected.

Yesterday's Metric had a 14.5 mph average and I had missed breakfast so stopped and got a Breakfast Jack which I sure won't do again. I had a slight stomach ache all day. So I started the ride a little low on energy and the stops sure didn't help any. Trail mix and bananas?

On the second rest stop I had half of one of those plastic glasses of Gatoraide which I also don't like. My brother had showed up early so I didn't have my extra water bottle with Propel in it.

In any case, I'm sure that the stress on me yesterday made me more sensitive to the alignment of the bars today but it did show that the alignment has to be really close.

Maybe it was a width change. Maybe a drop change. Maybe a reach change. Bar shapes are varied these days, and you can get super scientific with lever position. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY0RzAT4YI0 I'm more sensitive to reach changes than width changes.

I rode two hours in the pouring rain today and was disappointed in my super-awesome Shower's Pass jacket which probably needs some Nikwax because it has grown leaky with old age (old Elite Pro model superseded by the Spring Classic jacket) Every jacket soaks through after a while, but it happened too fast today. Last week was a "metric" with one stop at Crown Point for a 60 second selfie. https://tinyurl.com/yxu8f7bu I got slaughtered on the way home by a headwind. Low mileage this weekend. Oh well, I'm not training for anything.

Clothes today were Showers Pass base layer (wool/poly), historic 40 year old Kucharik wool long sleeve jersey because its just right under a jacket in fall, my Showers Pass jacket, Amfib tights, so-so neoprene booties, cleats, short gloves and helmet -- which oozed salt and god-knows-what from the sweat band. A good soaking clears out the sweat band. 28mm 4-Seasons on my full-fender Synapse super disc rain bike. My glasses were so wet and fogged that I was descending by Braille. And the steep slopes were like stream beds. At least I didn't get chased by a landslide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ufHp8jcRk&t=54s That road is part of the ride up to Pittock Manson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtXy-UfKDLE&t=28s

-- Jay Beattie.

Way back in the late 1970s or early 1980s I read about fitting a bicycle to oneself. The advice was to change only one thing at a time and to make the changes small. That way you'd know what made the fit better or what made the fit worse.

Cheers

Difference in Handlebar width.
 

On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 6:58:06 PM UTC-5, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 2:44:52 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
I have been riding 44 cm handlebars for a very long time. And I have always had sore shoulders after long rides.

I changed my LeMond to a 42 as a test and it made a remarkable difference. No more sore shoulders on the hard rides I've been doing.

Yesterday I rode the Colnago on the metric and when I got back from the ride my right shoulder was so painful I couldn't rotate my elbow above shoulder level.

On Friday I had changed the 100 mm stem on the LeMond to a 120 carbon fiber model that has a full contact front piece. In this process I didn't fully align the stem properly. Today riding out on a short 21 mile recovery ride my LEFT shoulder began hurting and leaning down and looking closely I could see that the stem as only a couple of degrees off perfect. Midway I stopped in a store and got a coffee and then pulled out a multitool and aligned it as well as you could by sight. Riding off the pain was completely gone.

So not only is the bar width pretty important but the alignment has to be a whole more closer than you might had suspected.

Yesterday's Metric had a 14.5 mph average and I had missed breakfast so stopped and got a Breakfast Jack which I sure won't do again. I had a slight stomach ache all day. So I started the ride a little low on energy and the stops sure didn't help any. Trail mix and bananas?

On the second rest stop I had half of one of those plastic glasses of Gatoraide which I also don't like. My brother had showed up early so I didn't have my extra water bottle with Propel in it.

In any case, I'm sure that the stress on me yesterday made me more sensitive to the alignment of the bars today but it did show that the alignment has to be really close.

Maybe it was a width change. Maybe a drop change. Maybe a reach change. Bar shapes are varied these days, and you can get super scientific with lever position. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY0RzAT4YI0 I'm more sensitive to reach changes than width changes.

I rode two hours in the pouring rain today and was disappointed in my super-awesome Shower's Pass jacket which probably needs some Nikwax because it has grown leaky with old age (old Elite Pro model superseded by the Spring Classic jacket) Every jacket soaks through after a while, but it happened too fast today. Last week was a "metric" with one stop at Crown Point for a 60 second selfie. https://tinyurl.com/yxu8f7bu I got slaughtered on the way home by a headwind. Low mileage this weekend. Oh well, I'm not training for anything.

Clothes today were Showers Pass base layer (wool/poly), historic 40 year old Kucharik wool long sleeve jersey because its just right under a jacket in fall, my Showers Pass jacket, Amfib tights, so-so neoprene booties, cleats, short gloves and helmet -- which oozed salt and god-knows-what from the sweat band. A good soaking clears out the sweat band. 28mm 4-Seasons on my full-fender Synapse super disc rain bike. My glasses were so wet and fogged that I was descending by Braille. And the steep slopes were like stream beds. At least I didn't get chased by a landslide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ufHp8jcRk&t=54s That road is part of the ride up to Pittock Manson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtXy-UfKDLE&t=28s

-- Jay Beattie.

In my part of the country its September 15. Mid Fall. I have a pair of Pearl Izumi Amfib tights. The ones with nylon on the front of the tights for windproofness. And extra thick material for the tights to make them warmer. I wear them when I need warmer tights than regular tights. I understand you have mountains in Oregon. But its only September 15.

Difference in Handlebar width.
 

On 16/9/19 3:30 pm, wrote:


In my part of the country its September 15. Mid Fall. I have a pair
of Pearl Izumi Amfib tights. The ones with nylon on the front of the
tights for windproofness. And extra thick material for the tights to
make them warmer. I wear them when I need warmer tights than regular
tights. I understand you have mountains in Oregon. But its only
September 15.


It was warm (32C), dry (19% RH) and windy (30km/h gusts) today for my
90km ride.

It's only mid September, so I expect the heat and humidity has a long
way to go up before it peaks.

Clothing is required for protection from the sun.

--
JS

Difference in Handlebar width.
 

On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 10:30:20 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 6:58:06 PM UTC-5, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 2:44:52 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
I have been riding 44 cm handlebars for a very long time. And I have always had sore shoulders after long rides.

I changed my LeMond to a 42 as a test and it made a remarkable difference. No more sore shoulders on the hard rides I've been doing.

Yesterday I rode the Colnago on the metric and when I got back from the ride my right shoulder was so painful I couldn't rotate my elbow above shoulder level.

On Friday I had changed the 100 mm stem on the LeMond to a 120 carbon fiber model that has a full contact front piece. In this process I didn't fully align the stem properly. Today riding out on a short 21 mile recovery ride my LEFT shoulder began hurting and leaning down and looking closely I could see that the stem as only a couple of degrees off perfect. Midway I stopped in a store and got a coffee and then pulled out a multitool and aligned it as well as you could by sight. Riding off the pain was completely gone.

So not only is the bar width pretty important but the alignment has to be a whole more closer than you might had suspected.

Yesterday's Metric had a 14.5 mph average and I had missed breakfast so stopped and got a Breakfast Jack which I sure won't do again. I had a slight stomach ache all day. So I started the ride a little low on energy and the stops sure didn't help any. Trail mix and bananas?

On the second rest stop I had half of one of those plastic glasses of Gatoraide which I also don't like. My brother had showed up early so I didn't have my extra water bottle with Propel in it.

In any case, I'm sure that the stress on me yesterday made me more sensitive to the alignment of the bars today but it did show that the alignment has to be really close.

Maybe it was a width change. Maybe a drop change. Maybe a reach change.. Bar shapes are varied these days, and you can get super scientific with lever position. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY0RzAT4YI0 I'm more sensitive to reach changes than width changes.

I rode two hours in the pouring rain today and was disappointed in my super-awesome Shower's Pass jacket which probably needs some Nikwax because it has grown leaky with old age (old Elite Pro model superseded by the Spring Classic jacket) Every jacket soaks through after a while, but it happened too fast today. Last week was a "metric" with one stop at Crown Point for a 60 second selfie. https://tinyurl.com/yxu8f7bu I got slaughtered on the way home by a headwind. Low mileage this weekend. Oh well, I'm not training for anything.

Clothes today were Showers Pass base layer (wool/poly), historic 40 year old Kucharik wool long sleeve jersey because its just right under a jacket in fall, my Showers Pass jacket, Amfib tights, so-so neoprene booties, cleats, short gloves and helmet -- which oozed salt and god-knows-what from the sweat band. A good soaking clears out the sweat band. 28mm 4-Seasons on my full-fender Synapse super disc rain bike. My glasses were so wet and fogged that I was descending by Braille. And the steep slopes were like stream beds. At least I didn't get chased by a landslide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ufHp8jcRk&t=54s That road is part of the ride up to Pittock Manson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtXy-UfKDLE&t=28s

-- Jay Beattie.

In my part of the country its September 15. Mid Fall. I have a pair of Pearl Izumi Amfib tights. The ones with nylon on the front of the tights for windproofness. And extra thick material for the tights to make them warmer. I wear them when I need warmer tights than regular tights. I understand you have mountains in Oregon. But its only September 15.

The weather oscillates this time of year. We'll probably see some warmer days and then it will turn to fall. It was cold rain yesterday and apparently a record. https://www.oregonlive.com/weather/2...d-records.html It will soon be time to fetch the shoe dryer from the attic. The next thing is switching to fatter tires for the slippery leaf heaps.

-- Jay Beattie.

Difference in Handlebar width.
 

On 16/09/2019 9:55 a.m., jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 10:30:20 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 6:58:06 PM UTC-5, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 2:44:52 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
I have been riding 44 cm handlebars for a very long time. And I have always had sore shoulders after long rides.

I changed my LeMond to a 42 as a test and it made a remarkable difference. No more sore shoulders on the hard rides I've been doing.

Yesterday I rode the Colnago on the metric and when I got back from the ride my right shoulder was so painful I couldn't rotate my elbow above shoulder level.

On Friday I had changed the 100 mm stem on the LeMond to a 120 carbon fiber model that has a full contact front piece. In this process I didn't fully align the stem properly. Today riding out on a short 21 mile recovery ride my LEFT shoulder began hurting and leaning down and looking closely I could see that the stem as only a couple of degrees off perfect. Midway I stopped in a store and got a coffee and then pulled out a multitool and aligned it as well as you could by sight. Riding off the pain was completely gone.

So not only is the bar width pretty important but the alignment has to be a whole more closer than you might had suspected.

Yesterday's Metric had a 14.5 mph average and I had missed breakfast so stopped and got a Breakfast Jack which I sure won't do again. I had a slight stomach ache all day. So I started the ride a little low on energy and the stops sure didn't help any. Trail mix and bananas?

On the second rest stop I had half of one of those plastic glasses of Gatoraide which I also don't like. My brother had showed up early so I didn't have my extra water bottle with Propel in it.

In any case, I'm sure that the stress on me yesterday made me more sensitive to the alignment of the bars today but it did show that the alignment has to be really close.

Maybe it was a width change. Maybe a drop change. Maybe a reach change. Bar shapes are varied these days, and you can get super scientific with lever position. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY0RzAT4YI0 I'm more sensitive to reach changes than width changes.

I rode two hours in the pouring rain today and was disappointed in my super-awesome Shower's Pass jacket which probably needs some Nikwax because it has grown leaky with old age (old Elite Pro model superseded by the Spring Classic jacket) Every jacket soaks through after a while, but it happened too fast today. Last week was a "metric" with one stop at Crown Point for a 60 second selfie. https://tinyurl.com/yxu8f7bu I got slaughtered on the way home by a headwind. Low mileage this weekend. Oh well, I'm not training for anything.

Clothes today were Showers Pass base layer (wool/poly), historic 40 year old Kucharik wool long sleeve jersey because its just right under a jacket in fall, my Showers Pass jacket, Amfib tights, so-so neoprene booties, cleats, short gloves and helmet -- which oozed salt and god-knows-what from the sweat band. A good soaking clears out the sweat band. 28mm 4-Seasons on my full-fender Synapse super disc rain bike. My glasses were so wet and fogged that I was descending by Braille. And the steep slopes were like stream beds. At least I didn't get chased by a landslide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ufHp8jcRk&t=54s That road is part of the ride up to Pittock Manson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtXy-UfKDLE&t=28s

-- Jay Beattie.

In my part of the country its September 15. Mid Fall. I have a pair of Pearl Izumi Amfib tights. The ones with nylon on the front of the tights for windproofness. And extra thick material for the tights to make them warmer. I wear them when I need warmer tights than regular tights. I understand you have mountains in Oregon. But its only September 15.

The weather oscillates this time of year. We'll probably see some warmer days and then it will turn to fall. It was cold rain yesterday and apparently a record. https://www.oregonlive.com/weather/2...d-records.html It will soon be time to fetch the shoe dryer from the attic. The next thing is switching to fatter tires for the slippery leaf heaps.

-- Jay Beattie.


Here in Quebec it depends. We have some cool days in the fall and some
hot days.

Yesterday was nice. Started off at around 15C and got up to 19C but the
wind kicked up at the end and the clouds rolled in and it got chilly.
But no snow yet so we'll take it.

Vision (was: Difference in Handlebar width)
 

On Sun, 15 Sep 2019 16:58:04 -0700 (PDT),
jbeattie wrote:

...My glasses were so wet and fogged that I was descending by
Braille.

Oof. Sounds disconcerting, to say the least!

I had trouble seeing the road a couple of times on MTR this year.
On Saturday, my wife and I got poured on for the last 8 or so
miles, and it was hard to see at times. More due to the heavy
nature of the rain, I kind of doubt a visor would have helped.

On the last day (Labor Day), the fog was so thick it condensed on
my glasses and made it very difficult to see the road. I kept
wiping the lenses with my fingers, but it didn't help much. Maybe
some kind of heated lens is needed?

--
Ted Heise West Lafayette, IN, USA

Difference in Handlebar width.
 

My bikes are set up to within a millimetre by a long process of changing only one thing at a time and then testing it. I find that any other setup gives me pain in the small of my back by the weight of my arms pulling on the muscles down my back. Any other pains I ascribe to creeping age.

I sit on a big triple-spring Brooks saddle (guaranteed to give the weight weenies a fainting fit) and I try not to adjust it every year, as advised, because it upsets my bike fit.

I swapped bikes with a guy I met on the road who had a much more powerful version of my motor fitted, for only about twenty minutes, and the next day was lying across the bed reading a book on the floor because I couldn't sit in a chair. Nothing wrong with his bike, good fat balloons too, just that it forced me into an unaccustomed "sporting" position. He said something like that about my bike too, though he couldn't be more than forty and looked pretty limber.

Here it was 18C yesterday, for Ireland pretty near a heatwave. I rode out for an hour, choosing the biggest hills to make my own air conditioning on the downhills, and came home soaked, with my heart rate over the permitted level for the entire ride. Feel better for it today.

Carried a banana but it came home with me.

***
I'm particularly sensitive to vibrations in my hands, even micro vibrations.. About ten years ago I bought Brooks grips consisting of thick rings of leather used end on and held in cast ali end pieces by short bicycle spokes (I kid you not). I bought them as a novelty, maybe a joke. But they've proven to be better at keeping vibrations out of my hands than any of the gel grips I ever tried.

Andre Jute
You never know on which road you find salvation -- St Peter