Some Body Part Needs Strengthening

[Kano]

Karen, I wouldn't recommend changes to your bike fit without seeing you and your bike. ...

My sense is that your discomfort is from riding in a new position. ...

This has been my feeling, Velo, since I have "problems" mostly when I'm doing downhill on this particular hill even -- I'm very comfortable on the bike otherwise! I've needed only very minor adjustments to the bike to get rid of the discomforts I started with, and didn't even notice this issue until I decided to do this hill twice instead of my usual once. (one change that cleared up several things at once was actually a new pair of gloves!)

Are you descending in your drops? You should be. Really try to focus on keeping your elbows soft/bent and your shoulders relaxed/down. Write yourself a little note for your stem if that will help you remember.

No WAY am I descending in the drops! I can work on focusing -- that will be like thinking "uncurl your toes, silly" the first few weekends we ski each year! But the drops for descents? Oh, I don't think I'm ready for THAT! (maybe I'll try on the straight-away one of these days...)

What type of brake levers do you have? Can you place at least one knuckle of your first two fingers around the lever while you're in the drops? If not, you might want to consider having the levers shimmed. This will bring them closer to you and make it easier to depress them.

They do need shimming. I figured that out the other night while playing in a new, empty area in our subdivision. They're Shimano 105's, and they work the shifting too. Last time my bike and I were in the shop, one of the guys suggested that we may need to do that. They've been encouraging me to get used to the new position before making too many changes to the bike.

You mentioned making the brakes "sensitive" instead of "soupy." I might like something somewhere in between there, and I think mine may be more on the "soupy" end of things.

It sounds like you don't like the switchbacky descents even though you're comfortable with the fast straight descents. That's natural for a newer rider. I recommend learning how to counter-steer (it's a cornering skill and it's been discussed at length elsewhere on the forum). You should use counter-steering to be stable on switchbacky descents.

You got it, girl! I want to see what's ahead of me, and know I can do it! It's really good to know that I'm "normal" in that, too!

I will go searching for the counter-steering stuff, read, experiment, and see if I can't find someone nearby in the real world who can help me out a bit with these techniques too. I figured a lot of my problem was my own -- body strength and my head. The reason I asked about strengthening my body off the bike was cuz I figured if there's something I can do that will make my body more apt to hold a "good" body position, I want to take advantage of that!


Thank you Velogirl, for sharing your wisdom and experience!

Karen in Boise