yup, shorter bars worked for me, too!! Just got my ritchey biomax bar installed on my bike and did a 2 3/4 hour 63 km (almost 40 mile) road ride with DH yesterday. That's the longest road ride I've EVER done before! yay!

I did have some numbness in my fingers on the long scary decent, which went away soon enough. And I did get that same numbness shifting into my lightest gear in the back....just have to avoid that as I get stronger All in all, the pain in my upper body (neck, shoulders, upper back) is minimal, only what was already there from life in general, so that is a huge improvement. I used the advice I found...somewhere on line...anyway it said, measure your shoulders bone to bone in centimeters and buy a bar exactly that width. Mine were 36 cm, but I know I like a wide stance with my arms, and my previous bar was a 44 cm so I thought it would be too huge a jump and opted for the 38 cm. so far so good!

Now I just can't wait for my new saddle to get here so my "Queen of England" can stop hurting on the rides!

Happy riding everyone!

Namaste,
~T~