I've been experiencing pain while riding ever since I started in June. I think this comes under the heading of "neck pain", although it's actually lower, around the shoulder blades. It starts after about 5 miles and is really sore after 10. Whenever I stop & stand, and especially if I turn my head, I get intense sharp pains. I now have a chronic mild pain on the left side in this area. While I'm riding the pain is on both sides.

I brought the bike back to the LBS where I bought it, specifically to address this. They swapped out the stem, to raise the handlebars. They also slid the seat closer towards the handlebars. They went through the whole routine with taking measurements. These were fairly minor adjustments that haven't helped the situation.

This is the LBS that recommended a 44 cm frame. I've had a few people mention that the bike looks too small. I'm 5'4. In my reading about this, it seems that there are different camps on frame size - "smaller is better", especially for women, or - "get the largest frame you can stand". This makes me wonder if I've just got the wrong size frame.

At this point I'm not sure what to do. Has anyone else had to troubleshoot this?