I didn't want to scare anyone from my story of neck pain progressing to spinal cord compression. It took 18 years of a WHOLE lot of riding including 11 double centuries to get my neck so damaged. I had some earlier clues, but I didn't know what they were so I ignored them--getting dizzy after riding, for 2-4 days, even though I knew I wasn't dehydrated was the first symptom I had and I probably had that going on periodically for 2-3 years before my feet went numb.

Unfortunately, given how long it took me to get a diagnosis, if I had tried to get one when my milder symptoms first started occurring, I would not have been able to.

If any cyclist is having neck pain and mysterious symptoms that the docs can't diagnose, switching to a recumbent for at least a few months trial might be a good thing to do, just to see if there is improvement or not.